Your Desert Landscaping Project – Is Xeriscaping For You?
- AlexJones
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We think of the excursion marrakech désert as being hot, and it’s true that many of them are, but the defining characteristic of most deserts is actually their dryness. There are actually very cold deserts in some parts of the world. To be a desert, an area usually needs to have less than ten inches of rainfall per year. A significant area of Arizona meets this qualification, which is why using ordinary landscaping techniques in this arid environment is a terrible idea. Let’s take a look at why regular landscaping fails to be a good solution in the Arizona desert and find out what alternatives are available.
It’s true that if you want to expend huge amounts of energy and water, you can make the desert bloom. However, that’s falling out of fashion as we realize that water really is a finite resource. We’re also discovering that the desert has a beauty of its own. A good landscaping contractor will be sensitive to the inherent beauty of a desert landscape, and will understand how to improve it. A good landscaper will draw on the beautiful colors, clear air, and other benefits that the Arizona desert has to offer, instead of trying to reproduce a landscaping project from the northeast.
One major technique in desert landscaping is called xeriscaping. This involves using native plants instead of imports, and choosing the plants you do use for their hardiness as well as their beauty. After all, the natural world is full of attractive desert plants that are already well designed to live in this kind of environment. Succulents are popular choices, and they go well with southwest architecture. Popular options for other plants in the desert include yucca, mesquite, agave, and many others.
Different cultivators of desert plants will give you more colors to work with than the gray, green, and brown, you may think about. Remember that when these plants flower, more colors will be added to the mix. You should make sure they’ll go well together. Plant groups of plants close together to use water efficiently, and consider rock gardens and other lawn alternatives. They can produce a beautiful, and unique, look that no temperate zone landscaping can ever reproduce.
Landscaping in the desert is challenging if you think of it from a traditional perspective. But if you decide to look at it from another angle, it’s surprisingly simple. Be willing to understand the benefits and beauties of the Arizona desert, and work with them, not against them. The result will be truly beautiful desert landscaping.