Still trying to love drought

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Hi All,

After living 10 years in southern California, I find myself re-learning the same lesson every year.

Though I appreciate the subtle beauty of the browning hills, I can't seem to garden in harmony with them.

I'll reduce summer irrigation in the garden to mimic the natural cycle here, and find my garden just looks tired and bedraggled.  

Even drought-tolerant plants like lavender and rosemary look much, much better when they receive water once or twice a week (as opposed to once or twice a month), and softer-leaved plants will just go dormant.  

The monardella and fragaria I've planted beneath olives eke out a living, but would look much better if I watered them more.

I have never learned to love a garden with expanses of mulch between plants.  And I've tried repeatedly.

How do other gardeners cope with drought?  Do you all water your lavenders to keep them blooming, or do you let them go grey until they're cut back in September?  Do you envy the neighbors' lush stands of agapanthus beneath crape myrtles?  Or are you content with a garden that may look its worst when most gardens look their best?

Just wondering.

-Ben Armentrout-Wiswall

Simi Valley, inland Ventura County, southern California