If you are a nerd like me, it is Xeriscape, from the Latin xeric, meaning very dry. Correct pronunciation aside (no judgement here!) if you are looking to save some $$$ on your water bill you are on the right track!
Although I appreciate the push toward water-wise landscaping, I can’t help but notice people are installing something more like zero-scape. As in zip, zilch, nada. A sea of rock with a few sparse yucca here or there. What’s up with that?? It isn’t that it is ugly per say, but it just doesn’t belong here in Colorado. Places where that looks good? Arizona. New Mexico. Nevada.
Colorado, dry as it may be, is still not a desert. It is a GRASSLAND. Let’s repeat: grassland, NOT desert. A sea of landscape rock gets hot, is hard to weed, sucks to walk on barefoot, and fails to improve our native soils…. So please, instead of covering your space with rock, embrace something more “mile high”.
Here in Colorado, water is like gold. Yet newer homes, especially, focus on shedding water. Everything is focused on moving water away from the house and the foundation and straight into the storm drains. What a waste! While yes, you don’t want water pooling at your foundation, there is a better way. A few strategic landscape elements, good soil amendments and water sipping plants can have you well on your way to a beautiful and sustainable yard.
Ornamental grasses, ground covers, shrubs, trees and colorful perennials will fill out your landscape, suppress weeds, and feed native pollinators. Top it off with larger stepping stones, gravel and wood mulch and you have yourself an easy to weed, low maintenance landscape that you can be proud of.
