Low Water Landscaping Ideas
Water drought issue in California has made me browse through xeriscaping or also knows as low water landscape design. Some of our neighbors have changed their front yard with very minimal grass and plants. Where we live currently, there’s an incentive reimbursement program from the water company to change our landscape into a low water style of landscape. Check with your water company if they have any incentive program before you plan any changes with your yard. When I think about low water yard, I immediately think of desert landscape with lots of succulents and the only succulent that I can think of right away is cactus. Cactus is certainly not too exciting for me other than the lower water bill. As I browse for options, there are a lot of gorgeous low water yard ideas other than cactus.
Drought-Tolerant Plants
Yes, there are a lot of low water plants other than cactus. Lavender, sage, daisies, hydrangea and some other perennials will give beautiful colors nice smell to the yard while keeping it low maintenance.
Build an Outdoor Living Space
Create an outdoor living space in the backyard or front yard. Instead of a big lawn of grass, use stones or concrete to create a sitting area, an outdoor bar or an outdoor kitchen. It is fun and great for an extra space for entertaining while also cutting down the area of grass that needs to be watered.
Mulch, Gravels or Pebble Stones Instead of Grass
While giving your yard a nice color and nice smell, mulch will fertilize your lawn and also prevents weeds to grow. It is the best option for low water low maintenance yard. You can also create some kind of art design with the pebble stones or gravels in the yard. It will be your one of a kind of yard.
Use Potted Plants
I like potted plants. You can put different plants in each pot. I feel like that I have more control with the plants in the pot since their growth is limited to the size of the pot. Potted plants can be hung on the wall or simply put them on the floor. The pots are easy to move around. With different sizes and colors, they certainly fun to be used for decoration.
Consider Rain Barrels
When in drought, rain is the best water resource. This collected rain water later can be used to water the lawn. There are lots of nice barrels that can be incorporated into the yard design,it is useful and yet unique. If you don’t want to incorporate rain barrels into your design but still want to have some rain water contained, you can just simply use garbage bins to store the rain water.
Artificial Grass
If you have little kids, a dog/dogs or other pets, it’s nice to have a nice green lawn for their play area. Kids and pets certainly need an area to run around. In drought situation, artificial grass is a good option to create that space while keeping it as a no water yard.