My grandma's front lawn turned into a desert in 5 years

I visited her house in Phoenix last week and noticed the grass is completely gone just bare dirt now. She said the HOA stopped watering the common areas after the drought rules kicked in back in 2019. Has anyone else watched a whole neighborhood's landscaping just vanish like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

lilya763d ago

Wait, your HOA actually stopped watering the common areas? One of my buddies lives out in Mesa and his whole street's grass just slowly turned to dust over two years. His neighbor tried to keep their patch alive with a hose but eventually gave up after the water bill hit $400 in one month. The whole block looks like a dirt lot now, with random patches of dead weeds poking through.

murray.jana3d agoMost Upvoted

@lilya76 I see where you're coming from but I actually don't think letting the grass die is the worst thing here. A dirt lot with dead weeds sounds ugly but at least it stops wasting water. That $400 water bill your buddy's neighbor had is insane. Better to have a dusty yard than throw money at something that's not gonna survive anyway. I've seen people in Phoenix just let their yards go to native weeds and it actually starts looking kinda natural after a while. Not everyone wants a rock garden but sometimes letting nature take over is the most practical move.

wesley_jones3d ago

Man, that's brutal. I've seen this exact thing play out in a few neighborhoods down here in Tucson. The trick I've seen work best is to not even bother with grass anymore. Get some native gravel or decomposed granite, throw down some desert perennials like penstemons or fairy dusters, and call it a day. One guy I know mulched his whole strip with shredded bark and planted a couple of creosote bushes. Water bill dropped by like 60% after the first month. Your buddy might want to check with the city too. Some places have a rebate program for tearing out grass and putting in xeriscape. At least then the HOA can't complain it looks like a dirt lot because it's intentional.