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Yards with just gravel are just xeri, there is no scaping. So many people react nagatively to 'xeriscaping' because they associate it with yard sized gravel driveways.
Keep in mind that even natives and drought-tolerant species need frequent watering for the first year or two after transplanting. I used to work in landscaping, installing xeriscapes. We would give our clients clear instructions on how to take care of their new plants and trees. It was sad to pass their yards 6 months later at the end of Summer and see dead trees, yuccas, even cacti. It was even sadder when they threatened to sue us for selling them 'bad plants'.
> ... even natives and drought-tolerant species need frequent watering
> for the first year or two after transplanting.
> was sad to pass their yards 6 months later ... see dead trees, yuccas, ...
I wonder how many of those dead plants were from overwatering?
The last time I started a yard from new plants, I watered with a bucket once every few days
-- then once a week
-- then once every couple weeks and so on.
jghoo posted ....
> ... a couple of shots of landscaping ...
Ironically, the yard across the street in the second shot will require about 20,000 gallons of water every month -- just for the grass you can see while the yard in the foreground will need about 2,000 gallons/month the first summer only (then down from there to zero).
This yard is a long way from a picture perfect xeriscape, but I don't think it would hurt Albuquerque to do a little more. With a good landscape design they can be very attractive. The house accros the street is very nice and one of the reasons this house was chosen to update, however as Mort says they are constantly watering and pay over $100 per month to keep it green. The money saved in xeriscape will pay for itself in 3yrs. Remember its also zero upkeep as there is weed barrier under the whole thing.
If I had to do it over again, I'd use only plants that require no supplemental water - makes it sooooo easy. Also I would focus primarily on native plants, as there are many that really thrive and look great. Snakeweed, prairie sage, apache plume, maybe some of the larger bushes & trees that _yb mentioned, and also a few clump grasses like sideoats grama and Indian Ricegrass. For these guys, Albuquerque in June is just another day at the office...
Hang on fellas.. did you say $100/month to water a yard. A lot of the homes I'm looking at buying have large green yards. Does the bubble drip cost that much as well? If this is the case then I need to shift my attention to more xeriscaping yards.
On a side note, I really don't want to clean dog poo* off of rocks. Does anyone do this? Do you just rinse it off with a hose? Grass gets cut and new grass grows.. rocks just stay rocks. I'm just thinking that maybe the rocks would get nasty after a while with 2 dogs using them to go on. Anyone have any experience with this?
Easier said than done.. The wife and I will both be working 8 hour days and they will need to go out. Right now they have a dog door so they go out as they please. No way will they resort back to the hold it for 8 hours routine. They are spoiled.
I'm just thinking if they go on that rock xeriscaping stuff that it wouldn't be a pretty site and cleanup would be tough. What the heck do all the dog owners do? Not everyone has grass?
Back to my other question.. how much does an average size yard (.1 acres or so) with maybe 1/4 of that grass, cost a month to water? Does it help if it's a drip system?
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