Water

Your landscape benefits in so many ways from water. Water is what keeps things alive. How you design your landscape will rely to a great extent on the location of your water source and the amount of rainfall your region receives annually. In a region prone to heavy rainfall you have many choices in what plants to use. If you live in a rather arid climate, your choice will be limited.

Conservation groups have devised and released new guidelines for the usage of water, as well as water-saving tips and more water-smart landscaping techniques. This comes in response to a global concern for the conservation of water. Here are a few ideas for smarter water use.

Perhaps you already know, but it bears repeating: plants get more out of slow, steady watering than quick flash-floods. If a plant is exposed to too much water at once, it will run off rather than soak in. It is better to regularly use a sprinkler to cover an area than to douse with a hose. A tried and true time to set the sprinkler to is early morning. That way, extra water will be evaporated as the sun comes up instead of causing mold-growth (which occurs when sprinklers are set to run at night).

You can't beat Mother Nature at her own game. If you live in a very dry climate, you'll have to reflect that limitation in your landscape design. That doesn't mean it can't be beautiful, however. You just need a landscape that requires very little water. A new technique exists for this express purpose: Xeriscape landscaping. The technique is native to the dry and dusty state of Texas. In xeriscape design, similarly drought-resistant plants are grouped together in certain areas of the landscape that will not be watered as much as others. This preserves water in the long run. Ground covers that require lots of water, such as grass, are eschewed in favor of excellent alternatives like decorative stones, pebbles, or mulch. Xeriscape landscape design is part of the new wave of methods by which we can save water and save our planet. Everyday it becomes more urgent that we put in a helping hand to keep our world blue and green as it was intended to be.