Xeriscapes are a hot trend in landscape design right now, especially in states like California, Kansas, and Texas. Because xeriscaping creates a landscape with low water demands it’s perfect for regions under strict water usage restrictions. Plus, it’s an environmentally friendly and low-maintenance alternative to traditional landscaping. Even if water usage in your area isn’t restricted, xeriscaping can be a good option.
As a landscaping professional working in commercial and residential areas, offering your customers the option to xeriscape can set you apart from the competition. As this trend catches on more and more people will want to transform their commercial properties or home lawns to need less water and less maintenance.
What Is Xeriscaping?
The term “xeriscape” comes from the Greek word xeros and literally means “dry landscape.” Don’t confuse it with “zeroscaping,” which is a type of landscaping that uses hardly any plants at all. With xeriscaping, the focus is more on which plants you use than on minimizing the number of plants in the landscape. Styles can look similar to classical landscapes, be full of flowering plants in a cottage-garden design, or resemble a desert.
Which Types of Plants Work?
Most xeriscapes take advantage of native plants that are already well-adapted to weather conditions in the area. You can also use non-native plants with similar growing requirements. In a typical xeriscape, you’ll have more landscaping than lawn grass in the yard. And for the parts of the yard where there is a lawn, you can replace thirsty grass species with a more drought-tolerant type like buffalo grass.
What Are Some Benefits of Xeriscaping?
You can sell your clients on xeriscaping by describing it as low-water, low-maintenance, and environmentally friendly. It’s the type of landscape design that will keep looking nice without your clients continuing to pour money into it season after season. There’s less mowing, less weeding, and less watering. That also means lower water bills and they can use the extra time they would have spent on lawn up-keep to enjoy their yard.
Will Xeriscaping Cost Me My Clients?
If your company also offers maintenance services such as lawn mowing, xeriscaping a client’s yard doesn’t have to mean you’ll lose their business. Many xeriscape designs still include lawns that require mowing. They’ll also still need year-end maintenance like cleaning up fallen leaves. Xeriscapes still require some maintenance; it just takes less time than before.
How Do You Get Started?
The Texas Agricultural Extension Service lists seven principles of xeriscaping:
- Planning and design
- Soil analysis
- Practical turf areas
- Appropriate plant selection
- Efficient irrigation
- Use of mulches
- Appropriate maintenance
You can learn more by clicking here to read their article. We’ll also be talking more about how to get started with xeriscaping in a follow-up post here on this blog.
Richardson Saw carries all the tools you’ll need to xeriscape. We’ve got edgers and trimmers to define the new landscape beds, maneuverable lawnmowers to handle smaller lawns, hedge trimmers to keep native shrubs from taking over the rest of the landscape, and much more. Just stop by to see our selection and talk with one of our equipment experts. We’ll be happy to help you find exactly what you’re looking for.
