Desert Plants and Grasses

Grasses

• Desert grasses grow in clumps, bunches or mounds. They are often used in xeriscape landscaping as a way to break up the landscape and provide color. Mexican thread grass, or Stipa tenuissima, displays foliage that flowers in spring and turns brilliant yellow-green in fall. Landscape architects can choose from feathery grasses to blue grama's tall spikes or deer grasses' gentle mounds. In their natural environment, grasses lessen erosion and are capable of tolerating high-salt soils and air.

Cactuses

• Classical desert landscapes are incomplete without the Saguaro cactus, a slow-growing plant that reaches up to 20 feet. Homeowners in hot, arid, desert regions who are interested in landscaping with cactuses should consider planting golden barrel cactuses, or Echinocactus grusonii, which are often planted in groups. Colorfully, blooming cactuses such as Engelmann's hedgehog, or Echinocereus engelmannii, complete a colorful garden.

Sagebrush

• Found in northern Asia, Russia and the American Great Basin states -- Nevada, Montana and Wyoming -- sagebrush and its species make a home in cold, semi-arid deserts. One of the most prolific species in North America is the big sagebrush, or Artemisia tridentata. The evergreen bush is identified by its aromatic scent, its silver leaves and its squat, gnarled appearance.