Water Saving Landscapes Do Not Have to Look Like Desert

If you live in the Greater Sacramento area, you have without a doubt felt the impact of the drought. It’s become a problem, and while the last few days have seen the rain, no one wants to worry about what would happen in the drought again.

This is especially apparent when it comes to landscapes. Drive around Sacramento, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, etc. and you will see a lot of homes that have dried up landscapes. Look at any xeriscaping landscapes and you often see the same thing – very dry looking landscape architecture.

For someone looking to improve their landscape, this isn’t very appealing. No one wants to feel they live in Mojave; But water saving landscapes do not have to look like desert at all! . Luckily, Xeriscaping (water saving landscapes) do not have to be dry and boring.

Strategies that Improve the Look of Xeriscaping

There are so many different ways to go about Xeriscaping. Mark, who handles a lot of Xeriscape designs for our team, says that most of his clients are shocked how much color and life you can put into a water saving landscape, and colorful water saving landscapes can be very fun for both the designer and the architect. Ways to create these designs include:

• Artificial Grass – Never forget about artificial grass. These days it feels just like regular grass and requires no upkeep, so you can create that bright green grass all throughout the year.
• Colorful Drought Resistant Plants – Not all xeriscape plants are dull in color. Beard Tongue, Daylilies, and Hydrangeas are all very tolerant plants that need little/minimal watering.
• Colorful Hardscape – Rather than focus on pebbles and rocks, why not rely a bit more on hardscape? Stamped concrete and other hardscapes can come in a variety of colors that don’t look like desert, including blues and whites.
• Colorful Landscape Pebbles/Rocks – Of course, pebbles and rocks are often at the heart of a water tolerant landscape, so why not use colorful rocks instead? Black stones, for example, bring out all of the other colors of the landscape and provide a great contrast for some of the orange/brown tones.
• Bulking Water Plants Together – It’s also important to remember that you don’t have to avoid all watered areas. You can simply group plants together in smaller areas by the amount of water that they need. For example, you can have a patch of turf right near a garden all using plants that require a similar amount of water. Use a sprinkler system and suddenly you both don’t use much water and still have bright green turf and beautiful plants.

Water saving landscapes do not have to be water free landscapes, and they do not have to be boring, colorless landscapes as well. While “desert landscapes” are affordable and can still be very beautiful (we have dozens of satisfied customers that all created a “desert landscape” and love it), those that have talked themselves out of a water saving landscape because of the colors and appearance should still contact us today. There are tons of water saving and water free options that are great for the modern homeowner.

If you live in the Folsom, CA area, we are now matching the City of Folsom’s Cash For Grass program! Click here to read more!