Go Native, Save Water: Xeriscape Gardening

Growing a great lawn or garden requires just a few necessary ingredients: dirt, sunshine and water. However, while the supply of soil and sunlight seems relatively limitless, the same can’t be said of water. Dry conditions and drought have limited the water supply in many places, making it harder and more expensive to irrigate your landscape.

“Last summer, 41 out of 50 states had water restrictions in place during parts of the season,” said Greg Seaman, founder of Eartheasy.com, which offers eco-friendly advice and products. “There is an urgent need to reduce water use in many municipalities, and over 50 percent of water use in residential homes is for lawns and gardens.”

Enter xeriscaping, an approach to creating aesthetically appealing landscapes while conserving water.

Xeriscape, Not Zero-scape

Xeriscaping began in Colorado during the 1980s, after a particularly devastating drought left local governments struggling to use dwindling water supplies more efficiently. The goal then was to “get away from the turf-centric approach” to landscaping and come up with a “low-water gardening concept using good horticulture,” according to Jeff Tejral, acting conservation manager for Denver Water, Colorado’s largest and oldest water utility.

The term “xeriscaping” comes from the Greek word “xeros,” which means “dry.” However, it’s a word that can often be misunderstood. “Unfortunately, when people pronounce it, it becomes ‘zero-scape,’ ” said Judith Phillips, a landscape designer and a member of the Xeriscape Council Of New Mexico. “People misunderstand and think it means no or very few plants, but that has the effect of really heating up the air and isn’t what xeriscaping is all about.”

Xeriscaping is about finding the right mix of plants and turf to suit the part of the country where you live. “It makes no sense to grow plants that need 8 inches of rain in a place where you get 40, or vice versa," said Phillips, owner of Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Judith Phillips' Design Oasis. "The push is now to focus on either native plants or plants well-adapted to a similar climate as yours. The idea (with xeriscaping) isn’t to get people to stop gardening; it’s to get them to start gardening in terms of where they live and not use resources they don’t have.”

To get started, ask your neighbors if they're xeriscaping or using native plants and peek into their yards to get some ideas for what you might like to do with yours, Seaman suggested. Also, local colleges or botanical gardens likely grow plants, shrubs and trees unique to your region that flourish with the precise amount of rainfall you get there.

“Local plants are the easiest to grow and the most hardy for their region," he said. "Often, they can be found in vacant lots, or other homeowners will give you cuttings from their plants. In any case, small transplants suitable for xeriscapes are usually inexpensive since they are local and easily propagated.”

The Seven Principles Of Xeriscaping

Xeriscaping relies on local plants for the best use of water, so what you’ll need varies based on where you live. However, according to Denver Water conservation specialist Jeff Tejral, seven xeriscape principles apply everywhere.

Planning and Design: Determine where “you want to have turf, have a garden, have your dog play,” he said. “Figure out what’s a functional landscape.”

Soil Amendment: Learn what helps your soil retain water, whether it’s adding compost to sandy ground or more gravel in desert lands.

Irrigation: Understand the proper way to water each type of plant you have. Turf requires sprinklers, while plants and shrubs need drip emitters or sprayers.

Zone Plants: Plants with similar needs should be grouped together so you don’t have “plants with high water use in the middle of others that are low use,” Tejral said.

Zone Turf: Restrict grass to high-use areas. “If the only time you use your lawn is to now it, you probably don’t need it,” Tejral said.

Mulching: A coat of bark or rock mulch will keep the moisture in and help the look of your yard as well.

Maintenance: Low-maintenance doesn’t mean no maintenance, so it’s critical to follow a watering, fertilizing and pruning plan year-round.

Less Water, More Beauty

If you want to pay a little more to get started, you can buy seedlings and starter shrubs at a local garden center. The best way to plant them is to first use landscape cloth to cover the ground, then cut slits where the transplants will be planted, Seaman says. Once the plants are in, cover the cloth with mulch. “Bark chips are common for xeriscapes,” he said.

Not only will these native plants use less water because they are more suited to your climate, according to Phillips, they can also add more beauty to your yard because as they flourish, “they’ll be very fragrant and aromatic, which will attract butterflies and hummingbirds.”

Seaman also recommends learning how large these native plants will ultimately grow before putting them in. “This will enable you to plant them at the correct distance from each other,” he said. “Also, you want to tier the plantings so the bigger plants are in the background and the smaller ones are up front.”

The more plants you add, the less lawn you’ll need, which will help conserve water as grass needs the most irrigation. The general rule, according to Tejral, is to limit grass specifically to areas of high use.

“People put turf in as default because they don’t know what else to do,” he said. “But if the only time you use your lawn is to mow it, then you probably don’t need it.”

Tejral suggests starting small, applying xeriscape principles to your yard one section at a time so as not to feel overwhelmed with the process.

“Do it in pieces, maybe 500 square feet at a time,” he said. “So many people try to dig up their blue grass all at once, and there’s no reason to remove it all like that.”

He also insists that xeriscaping's core goal of conserving water makes it a valuable gardening tool for anyone across the country looking to preserve both natural resources and money.

“It’s catching on in places with drought that have need for it,” Tejral said. “But I’ve seen xeriscaping materials sold in Maine and Nebraska, and those are places that have water. I don’t know if they’re pushing fast for it in those places, but I know that they’ve talked about it more and more as the years go by.”

Gardeners in all climates are discovering the xeriscape approach “can be a rewarding process,” Phillips said, noting that some cities now offer incentives for converting your yard to a more water-efficient landscape.

“Your water bills are diminished, you feel better for helping the environment, and what you produce is beautiful and fun to be in," she said. "There’s really no downside.”