Xeriscaping: good for nature – and gardeners

The water-saving gardening technique is friendly to the environment and 'lazy gardeners' alike.

from the April 12, 2007 edition

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Armed with a plan, a can of orange spray paint, and a shovel, I dug in. Following the orange, peanut-shaped outline I had painted on the lawn, I dug up large chunks of my once-lovely sod.

Shovelful by shovelful, I removed the grass, piled it into an old red wheelbarrow, and wobbled it across the street to a neighbor's house. As quickly as I was digging the grass up from my yard, he was laying it down in his. I was delighted. Every piece of turf delivered to my neighbor meant less lawn for me to water, weed, rake, fertilize, and mow.

Every weekend that May. I'd pull on my worn leather work gloves early on Saturday and dig until the sun made it too hot to continue.

I worked in phases. Phase one, dig up a large section of grass. Phase two, plant water-wise native flowers and shrubs. Phase three, spread mulch on top of the soil around the new plants to conserve any moisture in the ground. Then I'd move on to the next section.

I grouped colorful, low-care perennials according to their water needs – from moderate to xeric. This method, called hydrozoning, makes watering more efficient. Plants that need the most water were placed nearest the irrigated turf area; xeric plants were placed farther away.

Downspouts were positioned to flow directly into the garden. A transition zone of hardy plants was created between the grass and the sidewalk to capture the water before it could run off.

It was backbreaking work, and I'll admit that it occurred to me that moving a hose from place to place around the yard wasn't that strenuous after all.

Often neighbors would drop by to chat about what I was doing. While kneeling in the dirt, calculating the distance between planting holes for the Western sand cherry shrubs, for example, I had to stop and answer questions.

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