Xeriscape – Emphasize Efficiency & Sustainability in Landscape Design
Create Beautiful, Healthy, & Water Efficient Landscaping
Looking for xeriscape ideas, or specific xeriscape plants to use in your xeriscaping design templates? We have collected modern xeriscaping ideas for you to use on your front, and back yards and broken them down into various articles to offer a how to guide on xeriscaping.
What is Xeriscaping?
The core of xeriscaping is identifying plants that require little to no water, reducing the impact landscaping and lawns have on local water supplies. When droughts happen, watering your lawn on regular intervals to keep them green is one of the first things to go. Water isn’t regulated as other commodities in the country are, resulting in it not being seen as a valuable commodity within communities – that is, until there isn’t any more.
Identify what your water priorities are and set up life practices around your priorities. You don’t have to give up a beautiful landscape for water priorities. Enter xeriscaping. The term xeriscaping comes from the Greek “xeros”, which means “dry”, but you can also think of it as hardiness. You can break the practice down into 7 principals.
Xeriscaping Principals
The xeriscape principals include:
- Planning & design
- Low water use plants
- Appropriate turf
- Efficient irrigation
- Soil improvements
- Mulch
- Maintenance
The principals are highly reflective of the local environment & climate and add to creating symbiotic living and a sustaining environment. Symbiotically living includes being apart of the natural environment within which you live, instead of imposing your idea of what your environment should be, which, in the desert, usually ends up in dead plants. Here is where the symbiotic living really takes off, by focusing on the natural environment, and emphasizing the possibilities it offers, the xeriscape plants will, over time, add shade, increase energy efficiency, and extend living spaces, allowing us to spend more time outside.
Because the xeriscape plants are local, and thrive in the natural climate, over time they will thrive, grow, and propagate additional xeriscape plants. In essence, there is potential for the xeriscape system to thrive without additional effort from you. Be part of the environment, without impacting the environment.
Xeriscape Process
The xeriscape process isn’t a one and done type fandango. Instead, just like the plants thriving in the xeriscape, it’s a living entity that needs to be on a continuous process. The steps include:
- Plan & design a yard
- Install xeriscape plants & irrigation
- Maintenance – keep landscapes healthy & beautiful
- Revise
Hopefully, the irrigation system installation was done properly and this doesn’t need to be redone, or repaired often. But in the process you will find the xeriscape plants that work best for your climate, but also fit into your creative design.
Xeriscape ideas allow for you to be as creative as possible. The ideas are as endless as your mind. What’s even better is generally there is a front and a backyard, which allows the creator 2 different blank canvases to try more options, create more atmospheres.
Now you have the basic principals of xeriscape, check out the articles to further step into the adventure of xeriscape.
Xeriscape Articles
8 Ways to Avoid Xeriscape Front Yard Faux Pas
When designing your shrubs consider:
34 Colorful Xeriscape Plants Ideas
Understanding the Intriguing 7 Xeriscape Landscaping Principals
Xeriscape Landscaping Planning Checklist