Your garden aspirations shouldn’t be dashed by limits on water consumption or a lack of precipitation. Many lovely plants can survive in arid environments, and you may maximize the moisture you have by using xeriscaping methods. Use these drought-tolerant landscaping ideas to create a stunning yard that uses less water.
Cut Down on Your Lawn
Water-guzzling lawns are common, and many varieties of turf grass need to be watered in order to keep green in dry spells. Adding water-wise plants to your lawn in some portion can help you build a landscape that is more drought-tolerant. Here, parched grass gives way to lovely beds of drought-tolerant perennials near the house and walkway.
Employ ornamental hardscaping components
Rather of relying on water-intensive plants for their spectacular blooms, hardscape components such as this paver pathway around a gravel center provide visual appeal. As an alternative to plants that need water, garden art such as sculptures of an orb and a funny cat may provide appeal. Thanks to the thoughtful selection of evergreens and shrubs that need very little additional watering (except from periods of severe drought), this water-saving landscaping nonetheless appears lush. Particularly on a gradual slope, drought-tolerant groundcovers, like the thyme woven here between huge stones, are a useful method to collect rainfall that may run off the hardscaping.
Establish a Parking Strip
The areas between the sidewalk and curb are frequently referred to as “hell strips” due to their tendency to be dry and scorching. But with the correct water-wise design, they may also turn into a verdant paradise. In this parking strip garden, drought-tolerant plants like artemisia, low-growing evergreens, and decorative grasses help collect precipitation runoff before it reaches the street, minimizing soil erosion and pollution downstream while preserving water.
Put up a Water Feature
Although it may not seem like the best option for a drought-tolerant landscape, a well-designed fountain can absorb and recycle water. This water-wise yard is adorned with a tiny raised pond and a fountain. The vibrant foliage of lamb’s ear and Japanese wild grass works to temper the heat-trapping effects of the pavers and soften the hardscaping. In strategic places, such the large spaces between stones, groundcovers like the thyme seen above also aid in creating a cooling effect.
Count on Water-Sparing Plants
This garden is drought-tolerant and makes use of many water-saving techniques. A mixture of hardy but beautiful perennials, like red-flowered penstemon, don’t need much extra moisture to flourish. Evergreens in a variety of drought-tolerant cultivars provide structure, height, and color. A large rock creates an unanticipated focus point by filling up a space between the plants.
Select Porous Substances
Selecting porous materials for hardscape features can let more water from irrigation systems or natural precipitation reach your plants. In this manner, the liquid might potentially seep into the soil rather than evaporating. This garden walkway uses a porous substance between the paving stones to allow rainwater to seep into the soil instead of cement. In addition to preventing weed growth and lowering water loss, mulch is placed in between the drought-tolerant plants.
Make Water-Smart Slope Designs
Controlling water runoff on a steep slope may be difficult. This raised garden bed provides an answer for an incline. To lessen erosion and water loss, a strong raised bed on one corner, groundcovers, and large boulders all work together.
Plant Thickly
Flowerbeds with dense plantings provide shade, which reduces the rate at which moisture evaporates under the heat of the sun. Additionally, the tightly spaced plants suppress weeds, which lessens the need for mulch. Here, a variety of water-wise plants, such as lady’s mantle, lavender, goat’s beard, and catmint, all need little water to provide an appearance of lushness in the garden.
Select Groundcovers.
In order to reduce water evaporation in your drought-tolerant landscape, use groundcovers as a living mulch. Additionally, these slow-growing plants may reduce water runoff from hardscaping elements like sidewalks and stairs. Water-wise perennials that grow tiny enough to nestle between and around these stone stairs are sea thrift, sedum, and thyme. Plus, their blossoms provide much-needed color.
Maximize the Benefits of Mulch
Mulch is necessary to design a landscape that uses less water. Grit is used in this garden as an inorganic, low-maintenance mulch around grasses and succulents that can withstand drought. Moreover, the permeable pathway created by the gravel helps to stop water runoff.
Plants in Groups with Comparable Water Needs
Using plants that don’t need a lot of water to survive is the simplest approach to create a landscape that is drought-tolerant. Because native plants are acclimated to the growth conditions in your area, they are often excellent selections. Drier-climate natives, like the lavender in this picture, are also naturally highly drought-tolerant. To ensure that they all grow well together, just make sure to put plants that demand comparable amounts of light and water together.