Reader Mail: A low-water garden doesn’t have to mean succulents, cactuses and rocks

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In response to Emily Green’s premiere Dry Gardening column, Olof Hult wrote in to tell us that he and his wife have been on a mission to show that ‘drought tolerant must not mean only rocks, cacti and succulents.’ Over the past year they replaced the grass lawns and rose garden that came with their midcentury home in Cheviot Hills with drought-tolerant trees, bushes, sages and ground cover. ‘We use only 33% of the new water allotment and have eliminated the need for mowing grass,’ he wrote.

You can see more pictures of Hult’s lush low-water garden after the jump.

Hult recommends that readers interested in growing low-water gardens of their own take the Surfrider Class.

And I recommend that readers with awesome gardens send them to me at deborah.netburn@latimes.com

--Deborah Netburn