Thursday, May 2, 2024

Dry gardens: how to design a drought-tolerant backyard

drought tolerant landscape design

You can always amend your soil by adding compost, sand, and other substances until it’s just right for your garden. You can’t completely change the soil into something alien to your area, but you can spruce it up a bit so that your plants will grow better. First, determine the growing seasons in your area, as this provides valuable cues for planting, fertilizing, and other maintenance to expect.

drought tolerant landscape design

WATER SAVING IDEAS

She showed off the bold shapes and colors of modern design in the flower beds framing the front door. She brought in naturalistic elements including a dry riverbed of various stones flowing alongside the driveway. This fusion of styles works together to create a welcoming entrance to the home. A variety of grasses, flowering shrubs, and hardy groundcover plants are resistant to deer and the intense Texas climate while adding lush, tropical texture and color to the space.

Can drought tolerant landscaping be implemented anywhere in the US?

The easiest way to design a drought-tolerant landscape is with plants that don't require a lot of water to thrive. Native plants often make good choices because they're well adapted to your region's growing conditions. Plants from drier areas of the world, such as lavender shown here, also are naturally quite drought tolerant.

California Poppy

Adding mulch also helps to retain moisture and keeps the roots of the plants cool. If you live in an arid environment, a xeriscaped space can help you enjoy plant life with little maintenance and little water. Xeriscaping is also a good option for those who want to use fewer resources in general and invest a minimal amount of labor but still want a nice outdoor plant space. This is because of their lower water needs, but because these types of desert-oriented plants in this habitat are also quite hardy. Are you considering setting up your home with the perfect Xeriscape landscaping design?

You can also use river gravel, lava rocks, pumice, and even crushed concrete as a decorative accent in your drought-tolerant landscaping. Bare soil is vulnerable to erosion, the seeds of weeds take root and it leads to water waste, but mulching has benefits that counteract all these. There are many types of mulch available and the main rule is 'the more the better'.

Desert Eve™ Yellow Yarrow

Deep red bracts surrounding attractive cone-like flowers top the branches from late winter into spring. A great frost and drought tolerant accent for minimal-care, low-water landscapes. Smooth, blue-green leaves with yellow-edged, red margins form a single, symmetrical rosette.

drought tolerant landscape design

Using Succulents for Low-Water Container Recipes

Not all plants are as drought tolerant as cacti or succulents, and you’ll want to choose plants that grow to various heights so you can plan on putting taller ones farther back. Many ornamental grasses are drought-tolerant, requiring little supplemental water once established. Blue fescue provides multi-seasonal interest, with evergreen foliage and elegant wheat-colored seed heads that hold on all summer long.

Hen and chicks produce mat-forming clumps of rosettes with fleshy leaves in shades of green, blue-green or red. These succulents are virtually maintenance-free and adapted to dry conditions and lean soil. Some soils allow water to drain quickly, while others retain moisture. While some drought-resistant plants prefer rich soil that’s amended with compost or other organic matter, others such as cacti and succulents prefer leaner soil. In this garden, gravel serves as an inorganic, low-maintenance mulch around drought-tolerant succulents and grasses.

Gardening & Landscaping Ideas - Southern Living

Gardening & Landscaping Ideas.

Posted: Thu, 01 Jun 2023 20:43:23 GMT [source]

Here, a collection of water-wise plants, including lavender, catmint, goat's beard, and lady's mantle, all require minimal water to create a lush-looking garden. This drought-tolerant garden uses several water-saving strategies. A mix of tough but colorful perennials such as the red-flowered penstemon don't require much supplemental moisture to thrive. Several varieties of evergreens that don't mind dry conditions offer structure, height, and color. An oversize boulder fills in a gap between the plants, adding an unexpected focal point.

A cheerful-looking wildflower, the Black-Eyed Susan brightens gardens with its large, daisy-like blooms. This flower features dark brown centers surrounded by golden yellow petals. With its spreading habit, Bugleweed is ideal for filling in bare spots under trees or shrubs. It creates a dense carpet of foliage that helps suppress weeds. Geraniums are a group of long-lived perennials that offer a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. The many species of geranium can be tall and stately for borders, low-growing for edging, or even trailing varieties for containers.

If you are looking for the perfect landscape ideas to save water around your home, Xeriscaping is one of the best and most popular design types. Find out everything you need to know about this type of design, and what you can expect. Small rose-like flowers occur in a range of bright or pastel hues. This South American native is tolerant of heat, drought, poor soil and neglect.

Also known as dryland farming, this method uses plants that have evolved to use water stored in the soil from the previous winter’s rainfall. Lifestyle journalist Sarah Wilson has been writing about flowers, plants, and garden design and trends since 2015. In addition to homesandgardens.com and livingetc.com she's written for gardeningetc.com, Modern Gardens and Country Homes & Interiors magazines.

Unlike other types of landscaping, with xeriscaping, there is a limited amount of turf or grass, and water-efficient plants get priority. Soil amendments and mulches are also equally as common in xeriscaping as they are in other types of landscaping because they help the ground retain moisture. Xeriscaping still promotes biodiversity similar to other types of landscaping; however, this landscaping goes beyond the cacti, and gravel people typically expect when they hear this term. A garden that uses xeriscaping principles might include a wide variety of plants or a single type, and some of the plants that fit with this style of gardening look surprisingly lush.

The soil caused some challenges for us because it was clay and most of these perennials prefer more freely draining soil. So I asked my mom, "What is doing well? Let's see what's thriving and plant more of that." And what was thriving, even in the clay, were a lot of the succulents. Yes, the streaked iris foliage and the soft ­amethyst allium blooms are lovely in this simple combination. But what really stands out is how the threadlike stems and filament-like flowers of the alliums contrast with the wide, smooth leaves of the iris. If your low-water spot can only hold a couple plants, selecting ones with contrasting textures is a recipe for success. Every plant you purchase has a tag that lists the anticipated height and width of that plant.

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