My spell checker doesn't even recognize the word xeriscape. Apparently it originated in Denver. It’s the idea of planting a landscape using plants that require little if any additional water. (Bear in mind that people in Denver carve the trunks of their dead trees into totems...right in their front yard!)
First off, your xeriscape project starts with removal of your lawn. Hmmmm. Houston, we have a problem... But, your water bill will be much lower than before...in fact you can EBay your sprinkler controller. But like all the green ideas, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Your home is likely your largest single investment. To make the yard different than everyone else's yard in the neighborhood reduces the value of your home and the neighborhood. But isn’t that just a function of aesthetics and what's defined as normal you ask? Yes, but until the majority xeriscape, you aren't going to be rewarded for your "greeness" in home equity.
Let’s take a couple steps back. The city is making a big push on water use reduction. The reason is, to meet our growth needs we can either pay for more reservoirs to be built or for T Boone's Ogallala aquifer water (and the required pipeline from the panhandle). Instead they have decided to find that additional water through conservation. Good on them.
Right now our water is cheap...very cheap. (Mine is $.0037 per gallon). So there isn't going to be a majority of xeriscapes in your neighborhood until water is expensive...just like Austin, California, Phoenix etc.
The folks from the city are telling me the price is going up. You can also see many of the city buildings have xeriscapes, or will have soon. Our neighboring, fast growth communities like Frisco are even more adamant about water savings because they cant build infrastructure fast enough.
But back to xeriscaping. Basically the concept is the landscape is covered with drought resistant plants and mulch or gravel. This is where the dreaded yucca comes in. But that's where xeriscape really becomes an eyesore. Planting plants that are native to Phoenix doesn't work.
Local native plants are the best choice. I have seen the most beautiful native landscaping in Austin. But those plants are native to Austin. I am beginning to see some designers and nurseries work in North Texas natives and it shows promise but they still can’t design something that fits into our current home landscape aesthetic.
Bottom Line- Our water is cheap but we shouldn't waste it. However, a homogeneous landscape that adds value to our home and neighborhood is more important than the water. A little water on most of our current landscapes goes a long way.
There are a lot of good ways to stop wasting water but this isn't one of them. (More on the good ways later.)
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It's not clear to me that neighborhood s more important than water. Eventually if we trash our watersheds enough, we won't have neighborhoods, or at least a generation or two from now those people won't.
ReplyDeleteI also think environmental features in a home will, for some prospective buyers, add to its attractiveness.
That said, I think it is possible to have a semi-conventional yard in non-desert climates with minimal water use.
For example, I live next door to my cousin. I have an organic lawn and never water it. He has a conventional lawn and waters it during dry periods. Guess whose lawn browns a bit occasionally in dry periods and then snaps back, and whose lawn get bigs permanent brown patches that do not rebound and have to be reseeded?
Meanwhile my other neighbor has an automatic sprinkler system that waters every day. His lawn is always green, but at what cost to the environment?
I do not understand why water bills are so low, particularly since the watershed where I live is being overdrawn. I think they should be low for minimal, responsible use, and then very high, unless there is some medical or other reason that a household needs a lot of water.
I never water the yard plantings either, except the veggie garden, which I water sparingly and mulch like heck, the latter saves a lot of water.
Mulch is great for reducing water use for various plantings as well. When I lived in a dryer climate it made a huge difference.
What kind of grass is in your lawn? I have St. Augustine because I have lots of shade. I researched Zoysia wondering if it could handle the shade and be more drought tolerant, but it isn't enough difference to really matter. You still have to water here in Dallas.
ReplyDeleteBtw, when I think of xeriscape, there is no lawn.
No idea what kind of grass I have, unfortunately, it's been here forever, like since the early 80s when my Mom remodeled the house.
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