Small Yards - Any Transplants Missing Larger Yards (Phoenix, Scottsdale: apartment, cheap home)

[tlvancouver]

I think there's a distinction between lot size and privacy.

We avoided large lots because it is a challenge to have low water landscaping. We did buy a place with no neighbors behind and enough space for lots of deck, shade and a pool. The proper site is more important than size and I echo the golf course suggestion.

[pbenjamin]

There has been a lot of sentiment expressed in this thread, often by midwest transplants, that given the location in the desert, we should all limit our yards to cactus and gravel. Here is an alternate view from a long time resident.

Rogue Columnist: Phoenix 101: The oasis

[kell490]

Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl

To those of you just moving here and wanting what you had "back home," I would like to make one sincere request. If you want a big lot and are willing to pay for it, more power to you! Please don't come here and spend even more money recreating the landscape you had in Chicagoland, or suburban DC, or Buffalo, NY, or Massachusetts. Yes, thousands of the people who settled Phoenix and Scottsdale in the post-war period did that, but it was a mistake.

This is a desert. And those who can't accept that and work WITH the environment, rather than against it, are damaging a fragile ecological system. So, please, no grassy lawns. No non-native trees. If you want petunias and pansies, put 'em in pots. Once you've been here for awhile, you'll get used to the native look and desert landscaping will seem beautiful to you. Subscribe to Phoenix Home and Garden magazine. You'll find tons of beautiful and colorful things you can do to your yard to fulfill almost anyone's esthetic desires. But you might have to think outside your box if you aren't a Southwest native. If you must have non-native trees and lawns, buy ones that were put there by a less knowledgeable generation. Think of it as buying a vintage mink coat, instead of a new one. We aren't asking you to live without air conditioning or have a yard full of jumping chollas and century plants. Just please try to see beauty in THIS natural world.

I have always had grass in my yard we have irrigation and 1 acre lot $100 a year for water cools down a lot faster then concrete and gravel homes. I hate track homes that's why I moved here in 1980's. My wife was born here in Phoenix her family moved here in 1959 they always had lawn too so people that have been here a long time don't always agree with the above post.

[stevek64]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

There has been a lot of sentiment expressed in this thread, often by midwest transplants, that given the location in the desert, we should all limit our yards to cactus and gravel. Here is an alternate view from a long time resident.

Rogue Columnist: Phoenix 101: The oasis

Sounds like an article mostly pining for the "good old" days. Change is inevitable, for better or worse, driven by a combination of economics and demand.

While I think he brings up some interesting points/things I agree with but he lost me on a few of this thoughts which makes me wonder where he's coming from:

"In a few places, people had done serious and attractive xeriscaping, perhaps not knowing this could take as much or more water as a lawn."

The defintion of xeriscaping is that it "reduces or eliminates" supplemental water. Xeriscaping plants like yucca's, agave's, countless different types of cactus, etc. require very little/if any supplemental water. As much or more water than a lawn? That ain't xeriscaping!

"In many areas, real desert landscaping (one doesn't see lawns of rocks in the natural desert) could also provide beauty and shade. Natural dirt is almost always preferable to gravel. "

True. Though lawns of rocks have some advantages like keeping dust down. And big native trees like Mesquite, that require zero water when mature, can throw a good deal of shade over those rock lawns to prevent heat from reflecting up from the rocks which is what our big old Mesquite tree does for our rock lawn.


"A mature ficus tree consecrates the space between the ordinary, sideways-aligned skyscrapers at Lexington and Central. It is worth more than all the palo verdes lining the avenue, more than all the rocks, asphalt and concrete spread across 1,500 miles of urban footprint."

Newer hybrid/varieties of Palo Verde's like the Desert Museum variety are very full/cast some serious shade on the ground. We have a 2 year old Desert Museum and it casts pretty much full shade on the ground underneath it. And the water requirements for it are what you would expect for a native tree to our parts.

[eam2d]

We searched for places over an acre and bought land and built on it in Buckeye. We have irrigation which lots of neighborhoods don't. We needed the space and find it difficult to even visit people in the tract communities. No parking and you can hear their neighbors because they are so close.

[tsmw47]

Originally Posted by kell490

I have always had grass in my yard we have irrigation and 1 acre lot $100 a year for water cools down a lot faster then concrete and gravel homes. I hate track homes that's why I moved here in 1980's. My wife was born here in Phoenix her family moved here in 1959 they always had lawn too so people that have been here a long time don't always agree with the above post.

Guess I just don't understand moving to the desert whether it was in 1959, 1980 or 2014 and trying to recreate an environment that requires alot of water. It is not the cost it is the wasteful use of a limited resource. What I love when we visit is the native flora and saw a number of yards with rock and mesquite or Palo trees very attractive. Different from back east yes but as the saying goes "Toto we aren't in Kansas anymore" Phoenix Home and Garden magazine showed some beautiful xeriscaped yards, out of my $$ range as professionally done but showed native landscaping can be lovely.

[hikernut]

Like always, it's different strokes for different folks. I own a detatched house in part because I like to be outside as much as possible, and in part for the privacy it offers. Having some shade trees is much nicer than having a gravel and cactus yard. The grass I could personally take or leave, but my spouse likes grass.

Water is a limited, but renewable resource. From a purely economic point of view, water is extremely cheap, for us anyway. I wasn't sure what the actual rate is for Gilbert, where we live, so I looked it up. The cost of water for 30,000 gallons is $38. That much water is more than enough to support a household plus a few big trees and some nice bushes and flowers. I wish cable TV and electricity were as cheap as water.

hikernut

[asufan]

I have a large lot, that was one of my requirements. I had a specific area in Chandler I would search on MLS (I'm a Realtor as well) and would search for only 10,000 Sq Ft+ lots and there were certainly a lot to choose from. Of course they are a lot more than the postage stamp lot stuff but the larger lot is what I wanted. My neighborhood has average lot sizes of about 13,500 SF I would say, and mine is just above that number. I also got a location right across from the greenbelt, we can see it from the house, so that is where all the football passing, etc happens. The backyard is more for entertaining, we have room for our large pool, several seating areas, fountains and a built in BBQ. What you want is out there, you just have to look and be willing to spend money. Took us forever because we had so many requirements including 3,000+ SF house single level only, and no 2-stories around us. Eventually something popped up.

[KurtAZ]

Love the debate over grass...too funny.

Anyway...yes there are large lots out there. Just be prepared to pay for them. We purchased 1/3 of an acre in Chandler, you just have to look for them.

[BlueCat1105]

It was really hard for us to find a house within our parameters and with the lot size we could live with in our price range. That's why we moved farther out. It was a trade-off we were willing to make for that extra buffer zone.