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Sustainable Landscaping Ideas for Dry Climates

The finishing touch to every new home project, house remodel or commercial building is Landscaping.  It’s what makes the home’s exterior beautiful and complete.  Landscaping also should be designed and installed to accent the architectural feel of the building or home.  Landscape Designers and Landscape Architects often provide excellent ideas in residential and small commercial landscaping – such as landscape design, exterior environments, backyards, and residential landscapes.  At the same time, landscape designers should be conscientious of upfront costs, maintenance costs, and long term upkeep. 

My design experience stems from many years in Phoenix, where upfront costs were negligible, and the yearly maintenance costs (i.e. water & landscape maintenance bills, etc.) were slim to none.  Hence came the important aspects of low maintenance, low water consumption, and desert landscapes for southwestern regions.  Desert landscaping and xeriscaping is a way to provide low water-use landscaping for dry desert climates such as the southwest.  Many new and existing homes are not allowed to have grass; in fact, in some cities, cash rebates are offered to convert high-water consuming turf to desert landscaping or xeriscaping.  Xeriscaping has been a very popular method of landscaping, and landscape designers have adapted this style for many of their clients.

As a Arizona landscape contractor, it’s the landscape designer’s job to design all aspects of desert & xeriscape ideas.  From Sonoran desert landscapes & Phoenix Landscaping, which include many assortments of Arizona cacti, saguaros, and agaves to Southwestern Xeriscapes that usually include many mid-level desert environments that can’t quite tolerate the hot Arizona summers.  Desert landscaping & Xeriscaping often include many of these following types of plant species:

1. Traditional Color Plants- These desert landscaping species are standard, normal xeriscaping plants that require standard water usage.  Some of these species are known to attract hummingbirds, bloom continuously for months, and have lots of flowers.  Some common species that landscapers love are the cherry and russian sages, the penstemon species, yarrows, red valerians, coneflowers, and lavendars.
2. Arizona Desert Plants- Many of the species above would not sustain an Phoenix summer, which is the reason for a secondary list of Arizona desert plants.  Some popular choices in Phoenix climates is the Red Bird of Paradise, Arizona yellow bells, orange jubilee, texas sage & fairy duster.  Other common plants you may see in hot desert climates may be Mexican honeysuckle, creosote bush, bursage, chuparosa, ruellia, bougainvillea, or cassias.
3. Xeriscape Grasses- Xeriscape designers use grasses for accents or to fill in over-sized areas.Desert landscapes wouldn’t be complete without some of the larger growing grasses such as pampas, fountain grass, purple fountain grass, and muhly grass.  It’s incredible fall blooms makes muhly grass a great ornamental grass selection.  To bridge large landscape areas, some southwestern climates can handle blue fescue, grama grass, or many other ornamental grasses.
4. Agaves- There are many various species of agaves, that range from the unique agave parryi to the huge 70″ tall agave americana.  The southwest xeriscape plant of choice is ofter an Agave because of it’s minimal water use and little to no maintenance.
5. Cacti-  Arizona xeriscaping designers have the great selection of many selections of cacti – but most commonly, the Saguaro cactus (native to Arizona).  Saguaros make an excellent, bold impact on any desert landscape because of it’s huge mass and ability to look great during low-water conditions.  Cacti in xeriscaping will drastically cut the need for water usage, and some incredible cacti considerations are:  Fish Hook, Organ Pipe, Mexican Fence Post and Ocotillo.
6. Desert Trees- Desert climate trees also require less water and less maintenance.  A natural wind break and some shade can be provided by properly placing trees and large shrubs in your xeriscaping project.  Some common desert trees are Acacia, Desert Willow, Sumac, Mesquite, Palo Verde and Elms.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN YOUR LANDSCAPING PROJECT:

• Review the city requirements for xeriscaping species, plant locations and restricted species.  Check your local rules and regulations for high water use plants like turf – it may not be allowed.
• Research landscaping & xeriscaping plants that are best for your specific region.  Not all species grow in all areas – some may do very poorly if introduced to the wrong space.
• Research annual rainfall for your region and this can assist you find species and setup & plan for a proper drip irrigation system.
• Use groupings of plants, different colors, and mounding.  Large trees and shrub species are excellent for specimens, and grouping smaller plants around for a great presentation.
• By watering in the morning, you can avoid excess evaporation, and more water will be used by your trees & plants.
• Great irrigation habits can be achieved by training your plants to require less water, and infrequent waterings.
• Snip wilted flowers & foliage to increase blooms & blooming seasons.
• If you have sod or turf in your xeriscape, then make sure you irrigate properly and reduce runoff.
• The use of a landscape designer in Phoenix is a superb investment when considering the best of SW landscaping & Xeriscaping.