Why xeriscaping doesn't have to mean "zeroscaping"

If you hear the word "xeriscaping" without seeing it written, chances are good that you mishear the word "zeroscaping", which isn't really a word at all. It's not a difficult mistake to make, since "zero" is a pretty common word in english, while "xeric" is a term that's very rarely used outside of ecology, like its sister words "mesic" and "hydric". The three words describe three different habitat types: dry, medium, and wet, respectively. Therefore, the word "xeriscaping" doesn't mean "nothingscaping"; it just means "dryscaping". FYI, if you feel like writing a flatulent poem about xeriscaping, it rhymes with "air escaping".

This phonetic blunder is likely why many people seem to disdainfully think of xeriscaping as a bleak landscape of concrete, rocks, and woodchips, with no plants except the occasional cactus or yucca. It doesn't have to be that way, nor was it ever really intended to be such. As an aside, there's nothing necessarily wrong with minimalist landscaping and it can work very well for a modern or zen aesthetic, but it's not really what xeriscaping is about.

A minimalist "zeroscape" garden.

So if that's what xeriscaping is not, what is xeriscaping? To be techincally correct, I really should be writing Xeriscape™. Xeriscape is a trademark of Denver Water, describing a systematic method for landscape design that was developed in the late 70's with help from the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado and Colorado State University. It incorporates seven basic principles of landscaping that really aren't much different than "traditional" landscaping, other than their particular focus on water conservation. They are as follows:

1) Plan.
Design your landscape before building it. Simple as that.

2) Improve soil.
This depends on your plan. Most ornamentals tend to need fertile, organic, well-drained soils. Most natives aren't that picky. Add organic material, sand, clay, bases, acids, or whatever your chosen plants may prefer, and till it into the native soil.

3) Irrigate efficiently.
Whether you water by hand, movable sprinklers, or permanent irrigation, be cognizant of your watering. Don't water during the day or when it's windy. Don't water after or before it rains. Be sure your sprinklers aren't watering your sidewalks. Water more slowly on sloped ground, so water soaks in instead of running off. Water a greater quantity less frequently to develop deep roots.

4) Use mulch.
This one's a bit of a slippery slope. If it were up to me, I'd have said "use mulch to the advantage of your plants." Mulches cool soil (compared to bare dirt), reduce evaporation, add organic material, discourage weeds, and reduce frost damage. Generally speaking though, mulch should be used as a means to an end (happy plants), rather than an end unto itself.

5) Identify plant zones.
Put sun-loving plants in sunny spots. Plant water-hogs near each other, in natural depressions, and/or near water spigots and downspouts. Plant shade-tolerant plants under trees or below fences. Plant hardy and/or halophytic (salt-loving) plants near roads and sidewalks.

6) Reduce and/or replace Kentucky Bluegrass.
Typical turfgrass requires an inch of water per week, all summer long. Even a rather conservative 1000 sq.ft. lawn needs 2,480 gallons of water per month! The same lawn of buffalo grass and/or blue gramma would only need 620 gallons per month, and then only during droughts or heat waves. There are downsides to alternative grasses though, so do some research. Prairie wildflowers, trees, shrubs, and ground covers can result in even more water savings, if there are areas where a lawn isn't really necessary.

7) Do maintenance.
Xeriscaped yards, as with any yards, need to be taken care of. Though a xeriscaped yard should ideally require less maintenance than a traditional yard, it still needs a lot of care while it's getting established, and shouldn't be neglected.

If you do it right, you could end up with a xeriscaped garden that looks like this:

Or this:

To see some professionally xeriscaped gardens, you can visit Denver Botanic Gardens, where their Dryland Mesa Garden is explicitly a xeriscape demonstration garden, and many of the other gardens, including the Conservation Garden, Roads Water Smart Garden, and Western Panoramas Gardens receive little to no supplemental irrigation.

For more information, including very detailed PDFs, and even FREE professionally designed plans for various xeriscape gardens, check out Denver Water or CSU.