Brown is the New Green: Where's the most xeriscaping in the desert southwest? (Phoenix: hardwood floors)

[City-Desiderata]

It's not easy being green... averse! Golf golf everywhere, and not a drop to drink! Ok, I do know all about the monsoonal rains and the rivers and history of cultivation, and indeed the naturally occurring fauna and flora are delightful, but c'mon now... we're not in Peoria (!) anymore ha...

I'm looking to move to the desert, and seeking to avoid pervasive and treasured grass lawns and excessive irrigated water as much as possible, and yet live in something upscale and contemporary enough to offer, for example, hardwood floors and 9 foot ceilings (though not so upscale that the monthly housing nut exceeds $1100!). Commuting, schools, nightlife are non-factors; Trader Joe's, Sprouts, Whole Foods and Costco aren't.

Which EXPANSES -- which cities, communities, developments, and apartment complexes in southern Arizona (and for that matter anywhere in the desert southwest)'on the ground' best reflect the notion that we don't need no stinkin' golf courses!

[Bondurant]

You'll see a mix of brown and green, I think, anywhere. I'm of the opinion the desert landscape should be embraced. To each his own.

[DetroitN8V]

North Scottsdale, Cave Creek, Carefree. $1100 probably won't work though without a healthy down payment.

[WilmaWildcat]

Tucson started xeriscaping decades ago and has made a nice art of it; they really don't have enough water for turfgrass. They had enough ground water for probably 40k population, but that figure occurred about 1950. The U of Arizona and the community have developed lots of good looking desert landscaping. Here's an image of the golf course at the Westin La Paloma, which was designed in 1984.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a3/78...3062cfd4fb.jpg

[Canine*Castle]

Originally Posted by WilmaWildcat

Tucson started xeriscaping decades ago and has made a nice art of it; they really don't have enough water for turfgrass. They had enough ground water for probably 40k population, but that figure occurred about 1950. The U of Arizona and the community have developed lots of good looking desert landscaping. Here's an image of the golf course at the Westin La Paloma, which was designed in 1984.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a3/78...3062cfd4fb.jpg

That's really pretty!

[WilmaWildcat]

Originally Posted by Canine*Castle

That's really pretty!

It is!! Designed by Jack Nicklaus...

[City-Desiderata]

Thanks for those interesting and even useful replies; Tucson and environs are high on the current list --and I'm gonna add those Scottsdale burgs to the agenda, at least to drive. No doubt it's a mixed bag...

I have such an aesthetic and sensual affinity for the desert biome that even dratted par-3s as in the !inked picture can stir my soul! Ha, well, let's not get carried away -- the desert's surpassing singular beauty is far more despite it, than because of it, but hey first-world problems right? ...

No, what I'm after (and even at my prices) is a much more nuanced if not entirely less 'artificial' rendering. To wax unrepentantly pretentious:

There's an at once elegiac and sprightly eternity in the bone-dry stillness of a 90 degree night (viva la concrete) -- an irreproachable otherworldliness that yet feels the very Platonic eidos for terrestrial innocence and purity -- the antithesis of the corrupt and sweaty (even if concrete) jungle: Those spindly spiny plants like crystalline sculptures proudly yet delicately in stark relief against the soft neutral backdrop of glass-powder -- and solitary succulents a minimalist's dry-dream !

Even more than the recent realization of my ambition to the absolute white and blue of Finland's tundra and taiga, I sensed in my Colorado Desert years a specifically insuperable peace -- an ethereal communion of exhilaration and tranquility, severer than Lapland's cold, but, especially in the shadowless night, gentler in its embrace... and which not even an Aurora has yet abrogated! Amen!

Now, when you add into the equation the respective peculiarly humanoid fauna, ha, well, hmm, that's an entirely (if unfortunately!) other matter!...

[JGMotorsport64]

Unfortunately we haven’t legalized marijuana yet.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by City-Desiderata

It's not easy being green... averse! Golf golf everywhere, and not a drop to drink! Ok, I do know all about the monsoonal rains and the rivers and history of cultivation, and indeed the naturally occurring fauna and flora are delightful, but c'mon now... we're not in Peoria (!) anymore ha...

I'm looking to move to the desert, and seeking to avoid pervasive and treasured grass lawns and excessive irrigated water as much as possible, and yet live in something upscale and contemporary enough to offer, for example, hardwood floors and 9 foot ceilings (though not so upscale that the monthly housing nut exceeds $1100!). Commuting, schools, nightlife are non-factors; Trader Joe's, Sprouts, Whole Foods and Costco aren't.

Which EXPANSES -- which cities, communities, developments, and apartment complexes in southern Arizona (and for that matter anywhere in the desert southwest)'on the ground' best reflect the notion that we don't need no stinkin' golf courses!

Maybe you should consider New Mexico. Both ABQ and Santa Fe city government encourage and promote water conservation. There are golf courses, but not like in PHX. And the norm is xeriscape, not grass. Just a thought.

[More Rock]

I have been all over this state. Outside of the Rim, it is mostly brown dirt and rocks.

The exception is my Phoenix 'hood, full of old trees, lawns, and water from the nearby Arizona Canal. You would hate it.