What is with all the rocks?? (Phoenix: for sale, renters, HOA)

[LeavingCA2016]

I know this is going to have some eyes rolling, as I have read all of the comments about how implants are more freaked out about pests than necessary, but bear with me, I'm a beach kid, I can't help myself. :-)

In looking at houses (renting for one year first), houses with grass yards are so few and far between. With 3 kids, a backyard would be a deal breaker for us. Do people generally not use their backyards in phx metro? I keep seeing listings that say "great backyard to play in" and it's covered in rocks. My kids aren't going to do cartwheels and have picnics on rocks. Is this a drought thing, or a critter thing, or just a rental thing? If I do find grass, is it going to be unsafe for the kids to run around in and sit on because of scorpions or something else (we plan on paying handsomely for good pest control)? Easy maintenance desert landscaping seems to be such a selling point, where here that would be bizarre and no one would be interested in a house with rocks behind it.

[Finger Laker]

More of a rental thing. Many rental properties were bought for just that and landscaping is expensive plus requires maintenance.

Look at homes for sale and you'll get a better view of typical yards

You don't have to worry about critters in the grass and pest control is cheap

[ShampooBanana]

Many people prefer not to have to deal with the maintenance and the water/landscaping bills associated with having lots of green in a desert climate. That's probably the main reason you don't see it as much here, plus yes, the preponderance of rentals and retirees who don't want a yard to have to maintain.

[R_Cowgirl]

We love our rocks! I like my pink rocks the best. I brought in 17 ton of rocks when I bought my home. I put a half rocks/half lawn in the back yard.

Problem is the lawns are very hard to maintain and take a boatload of water. Now, of course you can pay yard guys to do this, but with the economy, a lot of people don't have the bucks for a steady yard service. Lawns look wonderful the first year, then it goes downhill. Most of us use Bermuda grass if we do lawns at all, and that is such a giant PITA to maintain after about 5-6 years. BTW - bermuda grass is also known as an invasive weed in some parts of the country!! And here we plant it on purpose because it's about the only green stuff that can handle the 115º temps! Once we've planted this, we're unfortunately committed and need to put down heavy black plastic covered with rocks on the areas where we don't want grass.

And if we want a year-round lawn, we have to overseed with Rye grass in the fall so we'll have grass over the winter months. If we don't reseed, we have a giant brown dried up mess for a back yard. Not only that, we have to take a de-thatcher to bermuda grass because it is root intensive. De-thatching kicks up a lot of dirt, is a lot of work, and then has to be re-seeded or watered a lot. I've discovered TheGardenGuy.com where I buy his cornmeal weed and feed product. At least that won't kill my pets if they walk on the lawn after treatment.

All that being said, I put in this dang lawn about 12 years ago and I'm fixin' to cover half of it in rocks next month. I'm only leaving a patch of about 10' x 15' for the pups.

If you want your kids to play outside (which you may not want during the hot summer months!) There are parks with swimming pools in nearly every subdivision. Look for a neighborhood that has a rec center and pool.

[ajonesaz]

It's a rental thing. Unfortunately renters don't have a good reputation for taking care of lawns, Very few rentals will have lawns. Some neighborhoods embrace the desert landscaping more than others as well. Bermuda grass really doesn't take that much water and it is a necessity, not only for my kids but for the dog too.

[ScottsdaleMark]

Originally Posted by R_Cowgirl

We love our rocks! I like my pink rocks the best. I brought in 17 ton of rocks when I bought my home. I put a half rocks/half lawn in the back yard.

Problem is the lawns are very hard to maintain and take a boatload of water. Now, of course you can pay yard guys to do this, but with the economy, a lot of people don't have the bucks for a steady yard service. Lawns look wonderful the first year, then it goes downhill. Most of us use Bermuda grass if we do lawns at all, and that is such a giant PITA to maintain after about 5-6 years. BTW - bermuda grass is also known as an invasive weed in some parts of the country!! And here we plant it on purpose because it's about the only green stuff that can handle the 115º temps! Once we've planted this, we're unfortunately committed and need to put down heavy black plastic covered with rocks on the areas where we don't want grass.

And if we want a year-round lawn, we have to overseed with Rye grass in the fall so we'll have grass over the winter months. If we don't reseed, we have a giant brown dried up mess for a back yard. Not only that, we have to take a de-thatcher to bermuda grass because it is root intensive. De-thatching kicks up a lot of dirt, is a lot of work, and then has to be re-seeded or watered a lot. I've discovered TheGardenGuy.com where I buy his cornmeal weed and feed product. At least that won't kill my pets if they walk on the lawn after treatment.

All that being said, I put in this dang lawn about 12 years ago and I'm fixin' to cover half of it in rocks next month. I'm only leaving a patch of about 10' x 15' for the pups.

If you want your kids to play outside (which you may not want during the hot summer months!) There are parks with swimming pools in nearly every subdivision. Look for a neighborhood that has a rec center and pool.

Great post, pretty much explains it all. I say this as someone who has plenty of both rocks and grass.

[DetroitN8V]

Many homes have very usable yards with grass. I've never seen a house with nothing but rocks in the backyard.

[stevek64]

in older areas around the Phoenix metro, you're more likely to find large areas of grass in people's yard. Perhaps you might want to look in these areas for a rental. In the newer housing areas, grass is much more rare in the immediate yard and often at most, you'll find small areas of grass, patches, that people put in for their dogs or whatever. Most people/neighbors I know and where we live don't have any grass and don't want any. Again, this is because these are newer developments.

Many newer home rentals with no grass in the yard are in HOA communities that have large greenbelt areas with big grass areas, maintained by the HOA that your kids can play in so keep this in mind.

While one can't walk on it, in our yard to "green it up", we have tons of plants and cactus that give a very lush green look and you'll sometimes find this technique in our part of the world.

[Ghengis]

what's wrong with rocks? a kid should learn a good throwing motion at an early age and it's nice to have them nearby in case you need to bash something over the head.

[MrsMac]

We just put a backyard in in our new build home and it never occurred to us to put grass in; it's too labour intensive and very expensive (see R_Cowgirl's post above) to maintain a nice looking lawn here. No one on our block has a lawn in back, so it certainly isn't a "rental thing." On my street you will find three pools with decking, one completely paver covered yard with a few planters against the wall, and two homes with some artificial turf; those two and the rest of the homes (mine included) are xeriscaped with rock, boulders and plants. (We installed a 20' rose bed with a fountain in the center as well.)

We deliberately opted to buy in a master planned community built around neighbourhood parks (there is one across the street) where there is lots and lots of grass which is kept a beautiful green year round (plus a basketball court, play structure, picnic tables, etc.). Some of the parks even have splash pads.

Kids adapt. In our first house in Colorado (where there were drought issues and water cost a small fortune) we had a huge flagstone patio and xeriscaping; our kids played on the patio all the time. Here we have a huge covered patio (that we will cover and extend with pavers next year). As long as there is outside space somewhere the kids have been fine!