Join Me to Learn About Xeriscape Gardening

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Miracle-Gro ^[1]. All opinions are 100% mine.

I’m a life-long gardener, which it is easy to be when you live in Southern California. Our growing season is 12 months long, and we have a generally moderate climate so many things grow here that might be difficult to cultivate elsewhere.

However, we do have a water problem. While we’ve always had to be water-wise, we’re officially in a serious, historic drought now. We go months and seasons without rain, and when our rainy season consists of a few sprinkles, and our snowpack is depleted, we’re in big trouble.

I’ve always been a big fan of xeriscape gardening, which simply means that you are extremely water-wise in your garden. You choose plants that don’t need supplemental water from irrigation, or need very little. These would be plants that have water requirements roughly matching the local climate. In a xeriscape garden you also grade the garden and mulch to take advantage of retaining what rainfall there is.  

^[2]When we bought our house in the 1980s, I insisted on a xeriscape garden that would need sprinkling no more than once a week during the very driest periods. Over the years, there have been some rainy months where I didn’t have to use the sprinklers at all. I think back on those as the good years.

The word xeriscape comes from “xeros” (Greek for dry) and “landscape.” You could call it dryscaping, drought-tolerant landscaping or smart scaping, instead. Call it what you will, but xeriscaping is here to stay, whether in drought-afflicted Southern California or other areas of the country where water is expensive and not plentiful.

There’s a whole class of plants called succulents that fit neatly into xeriscaping. Take a look at some succulents from my yard, and from my stroll around the neighborhood.

^[3]Succulents tend to not only survive, but thrive, in low-water environments.

In fact, you can kill them with kindness by watering them too much. They like conditions that might be unacceptable to other ornamental plants.

They’re often more visually interesting, as well.

^[4]Some people worry that if they plant succulents, their yard will be a boring, same-color wash of grey. Nothing could be further from the truth! 

^[5]Succulents beat the heck out of a boring lawn, that’s for sure.        

^[6]To help bring xeriscape/low-water gardening the attention it deserves, I’ve partnered with Miracle-Gro ^[7] and Scotts. Please visit our booth next weekend in the parking lot at Home Depot in Torrance, Calif. to discuss how you can use xeriscaping to beautify and make your landscaping more water wise.

Here are the details:

^[1]