Garden Tips Newsletter
What in the world is xeriscaping?
June 1, 2009
With temperatures soaring into the 90’s this week, keeping our yards and gardens watered continues to present an economic problem for those of us who are trying to cut back on expenses including water bills. You probably have heard of the term xeriscaping—you may or may not know exactly what it means.
Xeriscaping (xeros is Greek for dry) is the practice of landscaping with drought-tolerant plants to conserve water and simplify maintenance. Denver Water helped develop the concept of Xeriscape and trademarked the logo in 1981.
Today, with a focus on water conservation, gardeners everywhere are looking at this method. Among xeriscaping’s other possible benefits are (1) it uses minimal fertilizer and pesticides; (2) may incur fewer expenses; (3) offers easier maintenance; (4) attracts a wide range of birds, butterflies and good insects (like bees); (5) and is an easy and practical solution for planting difficult-to-landscape areas, such as steep slopes.
With this type of low water gardening, grouping native plants together based on their water needs is important. Traditionally in xeriscaping, plants that have the greatest water requirements are planted closer to the house, and those that need little or no irrigation are planted at the lot’s farthest points. For example, vegetable gardens, container plantings and cutting gardens, all of which need more intensive watering, should be planted closest to the home and the water source.
Some good plant choices for the xeriscape garden include yarrow (Achillea sp.); ‘Valerie Finnis,’ and ‘Powis Castle’ artemisias; Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas); salvias like Mexican Bush Sage (Salvia leucantha), culinary sage (S. officinalis), Texas sage (S. coccinea), and autumn sage (S. greggii): ‘Walker’s Low’ and ‘Six Hills Giant’ catmint; gayfeather (Liatris sp.) and ornamental grasses.
Good sources on the Internet for learning more about xeriscaping methods and plant choices are: http://eartheasy.com/grow_xeriscape.htm, http://xeriscape.org/ and http://www.highcountrygardens.com/.
Lelia Scott Kelly, Ph.D., writes Garden Tips weekly and is a Horticulture Specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Her office is in the North Mississippi Research & Extension Center, Verona.