One of the best ways to do this is to convert your high water-use landscaping into a Xeriscape (pronounced “zeer-escape”).  This can be done anywhere-  from a small home landscape, to a large commercial property.

Many people have an image of Xeriscape as a “sea of rocks, with a few cactus plants”.  But Xeriscape can also be a lush, green and colorful landscape that is interwoven with flowering plants, textures, and beauty throughout each season.  In my opinion it is much more beautiful and interesting than “traditional” landscaping.

The Top 10 Benefits Are:

10.  Less Maintenance
9.  Use Less Water & Better for the Environment
8.  Prevent Water Damage
7.  More Beautiful, Colorful & Unique
6.  Better Wildlife Habitat
5.  Less Fertilizers & Pesticides Needed
4.  Better Suited to Your Site’s Unique Conditions
3.  More Winter Beauty
2.  Better Prepared for Drought
1.  Saves You Money

Now I will discuss each benefit in greater detail and explain what each one can mean for you:

Less Maintenance
Xeriscape takes less maintenance than traditional landscaping- and here is why:  A traditional landscape usually has quite a bit of lawn (turf, sod, etc.).  In order to keep a lawn healthy it requires weekly mowing, trimming around edges, edging the lawn along sidewalks, fertilizing, aerating, treating any number of fungi or diseases, adjustment of sprinkler heads, etc., etc.

Think about all of the time and effort that goes into all of that maintenance and mowing every week.  A well designed Xeriscape on the other hand limits the amount of lawn to maintain.  The plants themselves need little care.  If you give the plants room to grow- they need little to ZERO amount of pruning.  The idea of Xeriscape is to let the plants grow just as they do in nature.  The biggest maintenance items for a Xeriscape are an annual ”spring cleanup” and occasional weeding.

Use Less Water & Better for the Environment
Obviously, a landscape that is more water efficient uses less water!  Why is this important?   Because fresh water is a very scarce resource throughout the world.  Population growth and droughts put a tremendous strain on our water supply, especially in the west and southwest United States. 

And watering landscaping uses a huge amount of water.  For example, here in Colorado the average household uses 50% of their water for landscaping!  And that is after years of conservation efforts.  A well designed Xeriscape with drip irrigation can use up to 60% less water than a traditional landscape.

Prevent Water Damage
This is probably the most unkown benefit on the list.  Water is the primary cause for damage of building foundations, paving, retaining walls, curbs, fencing, and just about anything else man-made.  So by limiting the amount of water you are applying to your landscape and around buildings, you greatly reduce the likelihood of damage and additional maintenance costs to these items.

More Beautiful, Colorful & Unique
The next time you are in a suburban area of the United States that was built in the 1980’s or early 1990’s- look around at the landscaping.  I am willing to bet that you would see the same basic design of the landscaping in just about any city in the US- despite the fact that the local climates in these places are completely different!  How boring is that?!

Low water-use landscapes utilize plants that are either native to the local area, or well adapted to the region.  The choices you have in plants and the design possibilities are almost limitless.  You can utilize beautiful plants that do well in your area and exhibit a variety of interesting colors, forms, and textures.

Better Wildlife Habitat
Low water-use landscapes and Xeriscapes utilize native plants that the local wildlife enjoy and are familiar with.  Flowers attract hummingbirds, songbirds, and insects including bees that are important to nature as pollinators.  Diverse plantings also offer cover and even food to a variety of birds and animals.

Less Fertilizers & Pesticides Needed
Landscapes that are better adapted to the local environmental and weather conditions are less likely to be under stress, and therefor less susceptible to pests and diseases.  Lawns often require large amounts of supplemental fertilizer to stay healthy- native plants thrive under natural soil nutrient and weather conditions.  Additionally, applying large amounts of water to a landscape can promote fungi, mold, and bacteria issues.

Better Suited to Your Site’s Unique Conditions
You know that big, dry, shady patch under the Oak tree where you can never get the grass to grow?  With low water-use landscaping you have many options for lovely plantings that enjoy dry shade.  The same goes for that southwest facing spot that gets baked by the sun all day- there are plants that thrive in those conditions!  Have clay or rocky soil?  You can select plants that prefer those soil types.  It makes more sense than planting lawn everywhere and artificially dousing it with water to keep it barely alive.

More Winter Beauty
Xeriscapes and low water-use landscapes can be stunning in the winter.  You can use a combination of evergreen shrubs, ornamental grasses that catch the winter light and move in the breeze, plants with fall and winter foliage color, and shrubs with colorful and interesting bark to create contrast and texture in a snowy winter landscape.

Better Prepared for Drought
Drought sounds like something that only third world countries should worry about.  But the fact is severe droughts and water shortages occur every year in all parts of the world.  Australia is currently in a prolonged drought that is having serious consequences on their water supply.  And in the early 2000’s Colorado experienced a major drought that caused rationing and restrictions on the amount of water one could use on their landscaping- causing lawns to turn brown all over Denver.  Low water-use plants are better suited to not only survive, but remain attractive during times of drought.

Saves You Money
Water is a precious resource that costs more money every year.  And water rates are projected to continue to rise.  Significant savings can be achieved through a well designed conversion to low water-use landscaping:  in most cases a savings of up to 60%!  Several of the other benefits listed here also save money:  requiring less maintenance, preventing water damage, and surviving drought to name a few.  Raise your hand if you like to save money!

Related Posts:

• How Much of my Water Goes Toward Irrigating my Landscaping?
• The 20 Best Xeriscape Plants for Colorado
• Up to $25,000 Rebates Available through 2010 Aurora Xeriscape Program
• Xeriscape Rebate Programs Provide a Great Opportunity for HOA’s and other Property Owners
• Save Money and Water by Converting Sod to Xeriscape

One of the ways that I challenge myself to learn and to stay on top of the latest trends is to keep my eyes open for good and bad designs and ideas as I travel around my area or out of town.

The fence on the right is located near my home, in what appears to be an HOA (home owner’s association) maintained area next to a single family housing development.  This is just one example of fences like this that can be found all over Denver.  The root of the problem is that they have put sod directly against a wooden fence.  Sod is typically irrigated by overhead spray and the water from the irrigation is discoloring and deteriorating the fence.

Problems with placing irrigation heads directly next to fencing

• Discolored fencing is unattractive:  Obviously this is an aesthetics issue- these fences are a real eye-sore for these developments and the surrounding community.
• Shorter lifespan of the fence:  Water is one of the most damaging elements for a fence.  Irrigation systems often run every day, which discolors the fence and causes the wood to rot much sooner than it would naturally.  The ground around the posts also gets saturated, which causes the posts to rot and even break off at the ground during high winds.
• Boring design:  This type of street frontage design lacks creativity, and does not distinguish a place as unique for pedestrians or vehicles traveling by.  Shrubs and ornamental grasses could be used instead to provide more visual interest-  and choosing locally adapted or native plants give the area a stronger sense of place.  These plantings also can help screen an older fence that is deteriorating.
• Additional landscape maintenance:  Another less obvious issue with putting sod directly against a fence is that it requires additional maintenance to go back and trim the lawn at the bottom of the fence, where mowers can not get close enough to the fence.

Solutions

• Avoid planning and designing landscapes in this way.  Instead of putting sod directly against the fence, design a planting bed that is a minimum of 5′ wide (or wider, depending on the design) against the base of the fence.  Separate sod areas from the bed with an edger, and locate the irrigation spray heads at this new edge.
• If planting is not an option, then create a simple 2′ wide rock mulch strip on each side of the fence.  Again, seperate this area from sod by using an edger and place irrigation outside of this strip.
• If you have an existing property with this problem, hire a landscape architect that specializes in site renovations (we would be an excellent choice) to design a renovation solution that meets your needs.
• Use drip irrigation for any planting beds against a fence.  If there is no way to avoid having sod against your fence, consider using a sub-surface drip irrigation system that is designed for sod areas.

Related Posts:

• What Not to Do – Turfgrass in Parking Lot Islands
• The Top 10 Benefits of Making Landscaping More Water Efficient
• Arvada Residential Landscape Makeover
• Outdoor Design Group Designing Landscape for New Assisted Living Project
• How to Winterize an Irrigation System

Whether you are a commercial property owner/manager that is overseeing maintenance, or a do-it-yourself homeowner, you should know the basics of the winterization process.  Here is a link to a good article from John Deere Landscapes that summarizes the winterization process nicely.  The author is from Michigan, but the process is the pretty much the same for any place that has freezing temperatures.

Is it necessary to winterize?  Some people choose to simply turn off the water and take their chances- I have talked to many people who have done just that without incurring any damage to their systems.  Here in Colorado, we often have sunny warm days throughout the winter.  However, we usually have at least a few days of zero-to-negative degree temperatures- and freezing temperatures can damage an irrigation system that has not been properly winterized.  Bottom line:  If you have invested a lot of care and money into your own irrigation system (or, you are providing maintenance for someone else’s) then it is well worth the small expense and effort to properly winterize.

Related Posts:

• The Top 10 Benefits of Making Landscaping More Water Efficient
• Simple Landscape Maintenance Tips for Winter
• What Not to Do- Placing Irrigation Heads Next to Fencing
• Landscape Maintenance Tips for the Fall Season