Water-Smart Landscaping in Las Vegas

Very often people make the assumption that landscaping in Las Vegas and other desert climates, makes use of nothing but barren yards dotted with rock and cacti. For a true desert landscape, or xeriscape as they are becoming more commonly known, nothing could be further from the truth. The term “xeriscape” (pronounced zeer-i-scape) comes from the Greek word xeros, which means dry. In order to be able to survive the heat, winds and low humidity characteristic of the Mojave Desert, plants must be tolerant of the drought like conditions found there. The beauty behind these plants is that if the right combination is used they can actually be quite striking and beautiful all year round. Xeriscaping is a somewhat new approach to landscaping ones property that uses water-efficient plants to create a lush, beautiful yard that conserves both water and money.  This is common in desert or drought prone areas such as Nevada and other places that that suffer from water shortages due to over development such as parts of California and Arizona. If the principles of xeriscaping are applied correctly you can have a great looking landscape without using much water at all.

Believe it or not desert landscapes have several advantages over other more lush areas that favor greener plants. For instance, the growing season is typically quite a bit longer due to the warmer climate.  In fact a properly set up xeriscape could allow different plants to bloom at different times of the year providing you with a beautiful property that appears to change and evolve as the year progresses. Additionally, because the plants in a xeriscaped environment need much less water then in other areas, your water bill will likewise typically be much lower. Plus, because there is usually very little grass deployed in a desert xeriscaped environment there should be very little to no maintenance necessary to keep your property finely manicured. Finally, should your area suffer from a significant drought and be forced by your water authority to restrict your water usage, your plants will still survive and look great while your neighbors evironments that require much more water will start to turn whither and may even die.

Obviously living in a desert is not all roses (pun intended) and does have its fair share of disadvantages as well.  For example dry areas where xeriscaping tends to work well normally receive less than 10 inches of rainfall in any given year. This can make growing green plants very difficult if not impossible to say the least and when an individual does create such an environment it is usually at the expense of having to utilize an exorbitant amount of water. The ground in these areas is also typically classified as coarse and loamy, comprised mostly of sand and hard clay.  For this reason water doesn’t usually penetrate the substrate sufficiently enough to reach the roots as well it does in a landscape that is primarily comprised of soil. Because of this it becomes extremely important that you are able to minimize the amount of rainwater runoff and evaporation your xeriscape suffers from so that your desert garden is allowed to retain as much of the water provided to it as possible.
 
Designing plant beds that maximize the amount of water that is allowed to be held by the soil and used by the plant life while also minimizing runoff is one of the central focuses of setting up a properly xeriscaped environment. For instance, if you are designing a portion of your property that lies on on a slope focus on placing the plants that require the largest amount water at the lowest elevations of the slope. Doing this allows the plants at the lower elevations to benefit from any runoff water coming from the plants at the higher elevations in addition to the normal water that they receive.

Xeriscaping or landscaping in Las Vegas and other areas of the Mohave Desert does not have to be boring just because you do not have access to many of the greener grasses and flowers that people in other climates have access to. You can be creative in how you choose to lay your plants out as well as how they will be arranged. If you stagger the heights and locations of the various plants you have chosen, the xeriscape will look different from every angle.  In order to keep your garden colorful you would be best served by choosing plants that bloom at different times of the year as most of the plants you choose will not be in a constant state of bloom. You can choose from a wide variety of flowers, grasses, cacti, shrubs, vegetables, and trees which can thrive in areas such as Nevada with low water. Some specific examples of these types of plants would include the various types of Tecomas, Mexican Honeysuckle and Birds of Paradise, Lantanas, Cacti, and Cassias.
 

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• Thu, May 21, 2009 -- Las Vegas Landscaping for Beginners (1)