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How NOT to save water

hose_driveway.jpg
I've just read, quite possibly, the most idiotic piece of gardening advice ever. In an era when conservation is king and limiting our personal use of depleting natural resources is held in high esteem, this wise sage not only condones wasting precious water but advocates it.

A longtime advocate of this arcane practice is landscape architect James van Sweden, who likes to moisten the patio, steps and low walls of his townhouse garden in Georgetown..."It looks like it just rained, and that can be nice," said Van Sweden.

And here I was thinking that the world was finally seeing the light with conservation and were scurring hastily to install their grey water reticulation pipes. Instead, we're being wooed with setting a nice scene in our backyards by hosing it down. Maybe, I've got it wrong and he uses treated effluent?

Great tip Washington Post. I can't wait to see Treehugger get their hands on this one.





Posted by Stuart on September 15, 2006 6:15 AM | | Check to Subscribe to this Comment:


Comments

"It looked like it just rained and that can be nice"

Huh? What is this guy like my kids who wet down rocks beacuse it makes them shiny? Just a bit odd if you ask me.

Posted by: Hanna in Cleveland | September 16, 2006 2:02 AM

He's a big name too. At least his landscapes tend to have low water requirements.

Posted by: Janet | September 16, 2006 7:30 AM

I believe that this is a very "Japanese garden" thing to do--if I remember correctly, some Japanese gardens include regularly wetted stones for effect. (Don't quote me on that, though... it may just be that the first time I ever heard of it was from someone who had a Japanese garden.)

That's so weird coming from James Van Sweden, though... he mostly advocates using native plants and other more environmentally responsible practices.

Posted by: Kim | September 16, 2006 7:39 AM

How odd. When the Washington Post starts putting articles together like this you know the paper is in a long decline. Its so weird I don’t know what else to say.

Posted by: trey | September 17, 2006 12:04 AM

One does despair when reading something like this, especially from someone who should know better.

Japanese gardens often use moss on rocks to great effect, and this requires water. But in these times, that is one feature that can be discarded. They also use the dry stream feature, similating a stream just by the choice and placement of stones. That would be more environment friendly!

Posted by: Val | September 17, 2006 1:56 PM

It is a common practice in Japan and not just in formal gardens or in order to grow moss. Every morning Japanese housewives throw a bucket of water over the entance and entyway stones to settle the dust. And for gardens that are mostly stone, wetting them down produces a nice evaporative cooling effect...something important when typically only one room of the house has AC if that.

Posted by: M Sinclair Stevens (Texas) | September 20, 2006 2:12 AM

I understand the cultural perspective of Japanese gardens but understand the Australian culture in the same context. My grandparents and their generation always hosed down their driveways and paths to clean them.

While it was a successful cleaning method it was also highly wasteful of such a precious resource. We can accept that it was part of their generation and they didn't know a whole lot better back then, but that doesn't give me licence to continue this inane practice.

Posted by: Stuart | September 20, 2006 8:10 AM

Could have sworn I left a comment on this post a week or more ago?!?!?!?

Posted by: valforbes | September 22, 2006 4:47 PM

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