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By Margaret Renkl
Ms. Renkl, a contributing Opinion writer, reports from Nashville on flora, fauna, politics and culture in the American South.
There was a time when we never needed a sprinkler in this yard. The rains were sufficient to keep a drought-tolerant pollinator garden alive, and the trees and shrubs were well established, their roots deep enough to weather dry spells. But the droughts became more common, and deeper. For the first time, in 2019, I found myself dragging a hose around the yard every day, moving a sprinkler from flower bed to flower bed. We couldn’t leave town for more than a day or two, or we risked losing it all.
