When less is more.

Recently I have experienced something that has clarified what I believe to be a universal truth of life (and landscape maintenance).  Less can really be more.

In the world of sub-division landscaping, be it in an HOA or individual residential properties, we see a common, recurring problem.  Installers of new landscape regularly put in too many plants or select plant types without enough thought being given to the down-the-line impact of the plant choices.

The reasons for this are obvious.  New homeowners want landscape that looks good.  We all want our property to look lush and beautiful from day one.  We may not even know what it is called but we know what looks good to us.  Builders and homeowners often specify certain plant types that are popular or recognizable despite their short-comings as to sustainability.  Also, landscapers want their work to be a show-piece that adds to their reputation. I get it and don't fault that.

For the first few years, trees and shrubs tend to grow freely and are easily controlled with an appropriate pruning schedule. A few years down the road, however, the plants begin to mature and hit "critical mass."  The landscape sort of goes "kaboom!" and begins to take on an unwieldy, crowded and in some cases, jungle-like appearance. The problem is exacerbated when desert and non-desert plants are mixed and planted and irrigated on the same drip line. Most landscape maintenance folk are forced to water to the least common denominator, meaning desert plants end up getting too much water in order to serve the water-gulpers that show signs of stress.

Because of different water consumption needs, the desert plants tend to either grow extremely large when over-watered or begin to drown, struggle and die. The non-desert varieties also tend to do well at first but as time goes by, begin to out-grow the water source, be it a 1, 5 or 10 gallon per hour drip emitter.

Another part of the problem is that shrubbery is often installed and irrigated on the same drip line as trees. After just a few years of over-watering, maturing trees and shrubs begin to encroach on one another and become susceptible to pest infestation and/or disease.  Welcome to the jungle.

As the philosopher Axl Rose once said about landscape maintenance:

Welcome to the jungle, we got fun 'n' games
We got everything you want, honey we know the names
We are the people that you find, whatever you may need
If you got the money, honey we got your disease.
- Welcome To The Jungle (Steve Adler, Duff Mckagan, Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Saul Hudson)


This year, in one of our HOA communities we took the "less is more" approach when doing our winter pruning.  With the support of the HOA board, we identified about 100 plants to be removed and not replaced. The net effect has been that the xeriscaped areas are cleaner, more open, the decorative rock is more prominent and, in my opinion, the overall result is more attractive than when all of the original landscape was in place.

The universal truths that I take from this is (1) reduce and simplify the unruly things in my life. (2) Do do things the right way the first time, (3) the process (of change) is painful; but worth it in the end.

Feel free to comment.