Description

Drought or no drought, the town’s palms — even the tall guzzlers along Century Boulevard — are as juicy and sway as beautifully as ever.

This is a handsome specimen, maybe twenty feet tall, if you notice. It’s low-key, understated in a Southwest way. To passing drivers it is incidental, another “one of those kind” of plants. Palm-y and kinda yucca. People strolling beneath it only have eyes for the 180° sweep of Pacific Ocean across the street. So the gradations of light on plump trunks, interesting bands and bends, and topknots like shocks of Muppet hair get little regard, and only fleeting.

Hint: those trunks are juicy-looking for a reason and you don’t want that water bill. Xeriscape at home and take a walk to enjoy the big drinkers around town.