Ground cover options for desert areas? (Kingman: day care, house, maintenance)

[nightfly44]

New to Arizona, never really loved the mowing of lawns. Now I have dirt. I had seen pebbles down the Jersey shore, are pebbles acceptable as groundcover? And how do I stop weeds from coming through? House has septic tank and drain field, so do I have to consider that?
Other ground cover suggestions, too, please, only low maintenance. I don't want to waste water, either.
Concrete and asphalt are not options.
Thanks.

[PartIrish]

One way you can create a lovely yard is by xeriscaping (which is a fancy way of saying adapt planting to the local environment). It will involve creating a few islands of plants that do well in heat, and then filling out the rest of the yard with crushed or decomposed granite. Once planted, you will need to run drip irrigation to the plants. Yes, you will need to remove the grass if there is any. Once removed, and covered in crushed granite, the grass is unlikely to return. I tried to upload photos of our (recently sold) house, but it didn't work. Google "desert xeriscapes" and you will find photos and ideas.

[mlulu23]

I did a search for you with the search terms "ground cover plants for deserts", and found some very nice ideas. Besides the results below, you can click on "images" above, and look at the pictures of some lovely plants. Be aware that mixed in with desert plants were more moisture loving plants. So you have to weed them out, so to speak, lol.

https://www.houzz.com/magazine/10-na...vw-vs~70289833


Here are the search results I got for you too. Best of luck with your new desert garden. Don't forget to include desert trees. It will help with cooling. Oh, I learned from the comments in the first link that gravel was called for these beauties, not rocks. Pea gravel is nice if they have it. Or something similar.
Holds in moisture. Also, it takes at least 3 yrs for their root systems to become established, so they will need supplemental watering until then. Just keep an eye on them for too much, or not enough. The other posters suggestion of drip irrigation was excellent. You can go to different desert nurseries, and ask them what will work in this climate. It can be an addiction, but a good one, lol. Have fun.

https://www.google.com/search?q=grou...hrome&ie=UTF-8

[Curly Q. Bobalink]

Artificial grass, many golf courses in the desert southwest have converted to it to save water, likely municipalities enticed them to do so. Lots of dog kennels are using some variant of it as well, theirs has drainage underneath so it can be cleaned and sanitized more easily. I'm going to look at it real hard in my next home, just for ease of maintenance (unlike real grass, you can install it under a shade awning, dog pee doesn't kill it, etc.).
https://longislandartificialgrass.co...ificial-grass/

[elnina]

Depends where in Arizona you live. The plants (hardiness) zones varies from 5 to 10b.
You should plant plants appropriate to you zone. Those will be native to your region and easiest to care.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/pla...ting-zones.htm

[elnina]

Originally Posted by Curly Q. Bobalink

Artificial grass, many golf courses in the desert southwest have converted to it to save water, likely municipalities enticed them to do so. Lots of dog kennels are using some variant of it as well, theirs has drainage underneath so it can be cleaned and sanitized more easily. I'm going to look at it real hard in my next home, just for ease of maintenance (unlike real grass, you can install it under a shade awning, dog pee doesn't kill it, etc.).
https://longislandartificialgrass.co...ificial-grass/

Artificial grass needs at least as much care as carpet does.
Depending on other foliage around your house (bushes and trees) you will still need to clean it periodically (leaves, debris, seeds, branches etc.) also remove any stains; dirt and dust will need to be rinsed. Additionally higher traffic areas will need brushing.
For that you will need leaf/debris blower, lawn vacuum, rake and a hose to rinse your grass periodically.
And if you want to make your grass look decent, you should do all that at least monthly.

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by nightfly44

New to Arizona, never really loved the mowing of lawns. Now I have dirt. I had seen pebbles down the Jersey shore, are pebbles acceptable as groundcover? And how do I stop weeds from coming through? House has septic tank and drain field, so do I have to consider that?
Other ground cover suggestions, too, please, only low maintenance. I don't want to waste water, either.
Concrete and asphalt are not options.
Thanks.

First off, learn about succulents.
Try to get your hands on a copy of Landscape Plants for the Arizona Desert by amwua.org

[gemstone1]

Your profile lists Kingman as your location. This is an article from 1 year ago.
Learn what grows around Kingman to have a successful landscape.

Regards
Gemstone1

[kapie9969]

One tip I can give is to use large enough gravel that the cats don't use your yard as a litter box.

[Curly Q. Bobalink]

Originally Posted by elnina

Artificial grass needs at least as much care as carpet does.
Depending on other foliage around your house (bushes and trees) you will still need to clean it periodically (leaves, debris, seeds, branches etc.) also remove any stains; dirt and dust will need to be rinsed. Additionally higher traffic areas will need brushing.
For that you will need leaf/debris blower, lawn vacuum, rake and a hose to rinse your grass periodically.
And if you want to make your grass look decent, you should do all that at least monthly.

I had no idea that was the case, Elnina, I knew the local Doggie Day Care by me pressure washes their 1/6 acre of turf regularly, but thought that was about it, I didn't know it needed to be "brushed". I wasn't planning on using it in the front yard anyway, but in the back? Oh, yeah - half for the dog run, and the other half for me (but I wasn't planning on pressure washing my half all that often, LOL).