Xeriscaping: Water Wise Landscaping

If it were better understood, xeriscaping would be practiced more often than it already is.

This type of landscaping can be very beautiful and generally requires less water, fertilizer, maintenance, and pest control than traditional landscaping.

And, of course, using less of these will save you time and money.

The principles of xeriscaping deal mostly with slope, plants, plant groups, watering methods, and soil. Shape and other aspects of design can be dealt with by traditional principles of landscape design.

The main fundamentals of xeriscape are:

• PLANNING AND DESIGN
• CREATE PRACTICAL TURF AREAS - manageable sizes, shapes, and the right grasses.
• SELECT LOW WATER REQUIRING PLANTS - select native or addaptive plants and group plants of similar water needs together.
• USE SOIL AMENDMENTS - like compost, manure, leaf mold, etc.
• USE MULCHES - to reduce evaporation & to keep the soil cool.
• IRRIGATE EFFICIENTLY - with properly designed sprinkelr systems.
• MAINTAIN THE LANDSCAPE PROPERLY

There are two approaches to xeriscape. One is to "adjust" your existing landscape to be more water wise. The other is to design and construct an entirely new water wise landscape.

The basics of transforming an existing landscape to water wisdom are really very simple. We'll look at xeriscaping basics and principles here and for design considerations, you can go to Xeriscape Design Ideas.

A common misconception is that xeriscaping is strictly rocks and cactus. While this may be one way of doing it, there are a lot of other attractive planting options that you can use.

Plant selection. Besides the native plants already adapted to your area, there are many colorful drought tolerant plants native to other climates such as Southern Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, South Africa, and Australia that will thrive in your garden.

A reasonable knowledge of plants is an essential key to a successful water-wise garden or any landscape design.

You can discover a lot of helpful information about native plants and their properties from: xeriscaping and native plant directory.
However, if you're serious about creating your water-wise landscape, you should have a good plant encyclopedia in your gardening library.

-Steve Boulden
In less than five years, S&S Designed Landscaping,LLC has grown to be one of the top and most sought after landscape companies in the area.