Headline

“The last decade, though, as we learn more about the ecological benefits of plants, we are expecting more out of them than ever before:

We want them to look beautiful in four seasons, and decorate our landscapes, plus clean our storm water and remove pollutants from our soil; to cool our cities and sequester carbon.”

—Landscape architect Thomas Rainer

The desire is easy, but the execution is hard.

Chances are, you live in a state with incentives for "rewilding" your property - think drought resistant lawns, sustainable electrification, wildfire hardening, flood adaptation.

The incentives all make sense: obviously the rebate reward, the low maintenance nature of the replanting (rainwater suffices), a nice and aesthetic yard to look at / for loved ones to roam around - and a nice to have that it’s helping build climate adaptability. But -

Jasmine hears about the rebate program from Santa Clara county - you get money in exchange for replanting your yard to be more water-wise. She becomes a weekend math person. Math out her plantable areas, screen a comically long plant list from the city, choose some based on looks and surface area (??? now we are horticulturist and landscape designer) and contort yourself while trying to source them from local nurseries, plant them, get county approval for her $1.3k rebate. Spend “waaaaaaay too much time” on this.