Xeriscaping Conservation

Every time I travel home for the holidays, I notice slight changes in the town I grew up in. Most notably, I have observed that every time I turn onto my street, I see fewer and fewer grass front lawns. Rows of houses that at one point in time were exclusively fronted with trimmed green grass and sprinkler systems that went off daily now host beautiful and diverse arrangements of succulents, rock gardens, and in some cases raised beds of vegetables with systematic, water minimizing irrigation systems.

Enter the Xeriscape.

If you live in California, chances are you’ve thought about water. The drought is hard to go unnoticed.

Xeriscaping, a method of strategic landscaping that requires little to no water to be sustained, is one method of combating the drought at the household level in a tangible and effective way.

According to National Geographic article on the subject, 44 gallons of water are saved a year for each square foot of grass removed by homeowners. In fact, watering the lawn can account for over half of a typical California home’s total water usage. Is it worth it?

In addition to using an exorbitant amount of water, green grass lawns do not foster a great deal of biodiversity. On the contrary, the native plants that rely on little water to thrive in California also promote biodiversity by creating habitats for local creatures such as birds and insects.

I was first struck by xeriscapes because of how much more beautiful, dynamic, and personalized each cactus scattered plot seemed compared to the plain green grass. In learning all they have to contribute to conservation efforts in my community and in my state as a whole, I am hopeful that more and more will continue to pop up as more people learn about their potential.

Sources:

https://www.researchgate.net/p...(image)

https://news.nationalgeographi...