Albuquerque Xeriscaping Landscaping—It’s Here to Stay
Xeriscaping is a landscape design method that lowers or stops the requirement of irrigation. Xeriscape landscape normally requires small to zero water other than the natural water provided by the atmosphere.
Over the last 30 years xeriscaping has become a favorite landscaping
choice of both homeowners and commercial property owners in low precipitation areas
of the United States. Droughts have been the norm since the 1950’s in the
western part of the country, making water a natural resource scarce and costly.
Albuquerque, NM was one of the first metropolitan areas of the country to both
support and start using xeriscaping on a broad basis. The Albuquerque Water
Utility Authority is a strong proponent of property owners using far lower amounts
of water for gardens and lawns.
Xeriscaping grew to become a top choice for landscaping here because it’s good
for the environment and its saves water and money. Xeriscaping is good for the
environment because it employs plants that are right for the dry southwest climate.
Plant vegetation that does well with small to no water at all such as cactus, yucca
and buffalo grass are prefect for xeriscaping. Normally xeriscaping at an
existing property requires the existing plants like lawns and water thirsty
flower beds be replace with decorative gravel and native plants that require
little to no water. There is a wide selection of plants to choose from that are
both beautiful and perfect for xeriscaping.
Xerophytes are plants that have evolved over time to thrive in low precipitation
regions. Desert areas like Albuquerque, NM give landscaping companies the opportunity
to populate new landscape installations with a huge variety plants perfect for
the dry climate in the Duke City.
Xeriscaping advocates are quick to let people know it can lower the use of
water 75% to 90%. Some cities give homeowners financial incentives in lowered
water bills if they change their landscaping from heavy water use grass lawns
to xeriscaping. With today’s technology water use monitoring equipment cities see
the big water use savings front and center on newly xeriscaping properties in
the form of lower water bills for homeowners that have completed the change.
Xeriscaping also includes putting in highly efficient water irrigation systems.
Plants are set up with drippers and soaker hoses which target water straight to
each plant. This lowers the amount of wasted water due to over spraying and
evaporation of watering plants with hoses and sprinkler systems. In xeriscape
landscaping plants are installed in set groups to improve irrigation water use.
It’s a fact that xeriscape landscaping requires far less work and costs far
less than landscaping with grass and plants that need a lot of water.
plants.
Low Water Plants
Cactus is easily the most often used and drought tolerant plant in xeriscaping. There are so many choices to look at for xeriscaping when it comes to cactus. The features of cactus that make it one of the most drought tolerant plant on the planet are needles, big round shaped thick stems and the waxy skin of the plant
There are plenty of other plants perfect for xeriscaping including sedums (Sedum spp.), hens-and-chicks (Sempervivum tectorum), hardy ice plant (Delosperma cooperi) and the self-sowing annual moss rose (Portulaca grandiflora).Corsican stonecrop (Sedum dasyphyllum), candytuft (Iberis sempervirens), moss phlox (Phlox subulata) and mossy saxifrage (Saxifraga x arendsii). For those interested in xeriscape landscaping for their Albuquerque, NM property, call the professionals at R & S Landscaping today at 505-271-8419 for a free quote.