When my younger daughter was two, there was no rain in Minnesota. The grass was crunchy. Leaves fell prematurely. When it finally rained, she screamed in horror.

But that isn’t the point of my story. Our neighbors were good irrigators. They had always watered their lawns diligently and did their best, even after the drought began and within the limits of the watering restrictions, to keep their yards beautiful. We simply couldn’t justify using a precious resource like fresh water just for green grass under any conditions.

When the drought began, our lawn turned brown and crunchy. Eventually, our neighbors’ lawns turned brown too. 

When the drought ended and my daughter screamed, our lawn greened up. The roots had gone deep and the plants had gone dormant. Our neighbors’ lawns stayed brown. They were really dead. Shallow roots. Death, not dormancy. Our neighbors had to start over with sod. And an abundance of fresh water.

I firmly believe that fresh water is a limited resource. I also believe that survival of the fittest is good lawn and garden policy, except when it comes to vegetables, of course.