Xeriscaping: Garden designs for a dry climate| xeriscape| xeriscaping

In an attempt to create a landscape that conserves our precious and limited water supplies, Vermont resident Geoff has transformed his, once beloved, tennis court into a Xeriscape landscape. While this landscape features a dry creek river bed, very fancy, it also includes two golf greens, even fancier. Apart from the very practical and obvious benefits as a result of the two golf greens, Geoff's garden also preserves water, protects our fragile ecology and promotes the use of the sometimes undervalued beauty and practicality of Australian flora. While this landscape is absolutely breathtaking it presents the ideal way to use water wisely.

Click on the link to read the full story: Xeriscape: growing a green future

Australia is a big dry. Extended dry periods and harsh water restrictions are impacting on gardens immensely. The fact that many of our gardens are not up to scratch when it comes to ensuring that water-wise plants are being used, does not make this situation easier. People who are not prepared to give up and are fiercely fighting to save their gardens should be commended for their effort. However, it is time to face reality and do the right thing. Now, we must fight to save water. Using drought tolerant plants in our landscape designs helps minimise the amount of water that is being used. There are many Australian native and non-native plants that have evolved to survive in the toughest environments. There are many beautiful plants that are able to flourish in the driest conditions.

Click on the link below to find out what plants you can use:

drought-tolerant plants for xeriscaping

Reality check: we live in AUSTRALIA, a very dry continent. Harsh water restrictions are now part of our daily lives. We do not want and need to design our landscapes using plants that are native to England or some other part of the world that has a completely different climate than we do and are blessed with much higher precipitation.

Reality check #2: your garden is dying on you!!!

Reality check #3: using water thirsty plants in our landscape designs is not our only option.

What we need to get our head around is the fact that our gardens can look amazing even if less water is used. The term xeriscape refers to a landscape that uses less water. It is important to notice that a xeriscape is not a dry landscape! It is not a landscape that was designed using hardscapes only.



A xeriscape is not a "no maintenance" landscapes. As xeriscaping implies the use of drought-tolerant plants, there is less maintenance involved. Xeriscapes, like traditional landscapes, can be designed to require less labour and maintenance. Many of us living in Australia do appreciate beautiful gardens. But, we have limited water available and limited time to spend maintaining our gardens. So, if we use drought-tolerant plants, use appropriate mulches (decorative rocks are always recommended as a mulch that is very decorative, suppresses weeds and does not degrade like traditional mulch), prepare the soil and so on, this will ensue that our gardens are vibrant and full of life, while requiring infrequent maintenance.

It is a fact that we have to be very waterwise during this period of harsh drought. Many of us are struggling to keep our previous gardens against all odds. While gardening is considered a relaxing and calming hobby, lately it has been nothing more but a nerve-racking pastime.
A lot of money, time, efforts, tears and sweat are being invested into ensuring that our gardens become as sustainable and waterwise as they should be. Many come to the stage where there is not much that can be done apart from demolishing the current garden and start from scratch. Easier said than done! All that time and effort and sweat.But what can we do? Has it come to the stage where the only reality is either watching your garden, your tour de force, die or do you destroy it yourself and create a waterwise garden? Are these the only options? Who knows? It is perhaps safe to say that in some regions in good old australia, this may be the only two options. There is only so much that gardeners can do to make their gardens waterwise. Sooner or later it will come to the stage where nothing more can be done; any more work done becomes nothing more than a drain on our already limited natural and personal resources.

Choosing to ignore all the warning signs that climate change is here to stay and we have no other choice but to adapt is perhaps one option. Yes, even native and drought-tolerant plants need to be maintained and watered, but they need much less water. Gardeners may believe that they are capable of facing this weather challenge in that they have ensured that the soil is healthy, water sprinklers are installed, there is sufficient organic mulch, a water tank has been installed, but the question is, how much good will this do if your garden still inhabits water-thirsty plants? The question is do we kid ourselves assuming that plants that are not waterwise can too survive on little water? While we might say that we can provide those plants with minimal watering, the reality is that here in Australia we get to water our plants once a week very early in the morning. With temperatures reaching 40 degree and plus, will this once a week watering help especially if the plants are water thirsty??

Succulents are increasingly becoming more popular in garden designs. Why not? They are more and more becoming THE PLANT to include in landscape designs, coming in a myriad of breathtaking colours and very interesting shapes.
Why are succulents becoming so popular?
Waterwise
Very colourful
Grow fast
Provide a neat and interesting look
Easy to grow (so people say)
Flower regularly
Can be planted with unrelated plants
Ideal for bedding displays.

What makes succulents so special is their succulent leaves and stems which are an adaptation to stress, especially water shortages, extreme temperate and poor soil.

Most succulents are able to grow in a variety of conditions, including shade. However, in some very shade areas, succulents may grow weaker and fade in colour if the wrong succulents are chosen.

The most important thing to note when planting succulents is that they need good drainage.
The main charm of succulents are their bold and vivid textures and colour, and their ability to maintain their attractive look all year round with minimum care.

Succulents need no attention at all to grow, but to have them looking their very best they favour a light check up or clean every 1-3 months.

More reasons why you should choose a succulent:
+ Can be used in dry, windy areas
+ Excellent for erosion control
+ Fire resistant (many are)
+ Bird attracting
+ Decorative mulch
+ Can be used in pots for small areas

To see a list of succulents, click on the link Xeriscaping Succulents

Water-wise garden designs play a crucial role in making our communities beautiful, and most of all, sustainable.

DécoR Pebble, Australia's leading supplier to decorative pebbles and stones, decided to run the 'garden beauty contest' to reward their customers who used pebbles from the Australian Natural Stone range to create a garden that displays water-wise garden principles.

Click on the link to see some of the fantastic gardens and vote:
garden beauty contest