Gardening

The letter (March 11) about gardeners wasting water by washing down driveways in Beverly Hills prompted a talk with my gardener who said that Beverly Hills virtually invented the air blower during a 1976 drought when washing down was banned and then when the rains returned the blowers were banned and gardeners were told to wash down again.

My gardener added that brooming down is fine except when people have six Mercedes parked in the driveway or when clients object to a 20% raise in monthly fee for extra time spent brooming down.

I think it is us, the clients of Beverly Hills, who can’t stand a few leaves of grass on the sidewalks. My gardener says that ecology is messy but wastefulness is tidy. So finally I told my gardener to leave a few leaves and concentrate his valuable time on the dying art of gardening and forget about compulsive and wasteful outdoor house cleaning. He smiled. Do I not have a wise gardener?

GLADYS B. HOODENPYLE

Beverly Hills