Author Topic: Ideas for desert landscaping?  (Read 7573 times)

JLee

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Ideas for desert landscaping?
« on: March 19, 2015, 09:51:33 AM »
My lot is ~1/4 acre in Phoenix, AZ - I am trying to create a low-maintenance (i.e. minimal grass) and low-dust (tired of cleaning my pool when it gets windy) yard. 

Google Maps doesn't have a current picture, but here it is:


If you are facing the front of the house, the driveway has been widened to the property line and concrete extends almost to the gazebo-thing in the backyard so that whole area is no longer a concern.  The little square of grass to the left of the pool can stay (though ideas on how to de-weed it are welcome - it's a nasty combination of grass and weeds). I am thinking about doing pavers around the pool (lower right corner and along the wall to the diving board) to eliminate dust and also make it a useful area (right now it's just dirt, so if you walk on it you'll track dirt into the pool).

I'm not sure what to do with the whole left side. I spent a couple days removing a massive amount of weeds that had grown in, and now we are back to plain dirt. I'm looking for ideas to make it useful space and low dust...any thoughts with what I could do with it on the cheap? The circle thingy is a large brick/concrete fire pit, so if I could enlarge the area around it, it could make a nice patio-esque area for chairs or benches or something.

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2015, 10:04:37 AM »
Rock, lots of rock....

Sculpting some mounds and planting low-water use desert trees and shrubs is what I would do.  Don't plant any trees that shed a lot of leaves near the pool and be careful about anything with thorns, especially if you have kids.  Whitfill's Nursery used to have a free design service (haven't done a yard recently but I think they still do) and they had good quality trees.

Nice lot...

Cookie78

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2015, 10:12:43 AM »
I always smile fondly when I see a satellite photo of your house and my car is still there. :D

JLee

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2015, 10:27:08 AM »
I always smile fondly when I see a satellite photo of your house and my car is still there. :D
<3

Rock, lots of rock....

Sculpting some mounds and planting low-water use desert trees and shrubs is what I would do.  Don't plant any trees that shed a lot of leaves near the pool and be careful about anything with thorns, especially if you have kids.  Whitfill's Nursery used to have a free design service (haven't done a yard recently but I think they still do) and they had good quality trees.

Nice lot...
I hadn't thought of mounds...that's a good idea, since I'll have to dig down a couple of inches to avoid rock spilling over onto the back porch/walkways.  If I pile it up somewhere I won't have to pay to get rid of it!

Cookie78

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2015, 10:29:19 AM »
Orange trees! Multiple, delicious juicy sweet orange trees! Along the south fence between the raised beds and the lemon tree!

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2015, 10:36:11 AM »
Try Googling "xeriscape", essentially its focus is creating lush beauty with minimal water use. Just because it doesn't require lots of water doesn't mean it has to be sparsely-planted :-)

To give a really good idea of what is possible in the Phoenix area, check out Ten Eyck Landscape Architects. They are recognized as some of the best in the industry at creating water-sensible, beautiful landscapes, perhaps you can "borrow" a few ideas:

http://www.teneyckla.com/

If you have a lot of rock, don't underestimate what you can do with gabions!

My .02. Most importantly, have fun with it!

Sid Hoffman

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2015, 12:28:11 PM »
I am thinking about doing pavers around the pool (lower right corner and along the wall to the diving board) to eliminate dust and also make it a useful area (right now it's just dirt, so if you walk on it you'll track dirt into the pool).

My parents recently retired to Gilbert and recently replaced a bunch of the rock landscaping with pavers to extend their patio and make a walkway to a separate round sitting area in the yard.  This reduced the amount of grass (thus less to water) while also reducing the amount of boring rock in the yard too.  You have a really big yard by Phoenix standards, although it appears to be an older home.  I say that based on the fact it's not a tile roof and has the A/C on the roof.  :)  Good luck with it though, it can be nice to have a lot of yard.

Oh, and as for the weeds in the dirt/gravel areas, I buy Ortho Ground Clear in the 2-gallon concentrated form from the local home improvement store.  I mix it with regular tap water to the suggested dilution rate and use a pressurized sprayer to apply.  I used to add dye but I don't even bother with that part anymore.  That stuff is awesome and using a big 1 or 2 gallon pressurized sprayer is a TON more comfortable than manually pulling weeks or scraping them by hand, or spraying with a tiny 8-ounce hand spray bottle.  It's expensive up front and you might need to spray every week for 2-3 weeks in the spring when the rains come but then I typically find that I'm not spraying weeds at all for months, regardless how much it rains.  It's certainly cheaper than yard service.

JLee

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2015, 01:48:45 PM »
I am thinking about doing pavers around the pool (lower right corner and along the wall to the diving board) to eliminate dust and also make it a useful area (right now it's just dirt, so if you walk on it you'll track dirt into the pool).

My parents recently retired to Gilbert and recently replaced a bunch of the rock landscaping with pavers to extend their patio and make a walkway to a separate round sitting area in the yard.  This reduced the amount of grass (thus less to water) while also reducing the amount of boring rock in the yard too.  You have a really big yard by Phoenix standards, although it appears to be an older home.  I say that based on the fact it's not a tile roof and has the A/C on the roof.  :)  Good luck with it though, it can be nice to have a lot of yard.

Oh, and as for the weeds in the dirt/gravel areas, I buy Ortho Ground Clear in the 2-gallon concentrated form from the local home improvement store.  I mix it with regular tap water to the suggested dilution rate and use a pressurized sprayer to apply.  I used to add dye but I don't even bother with that part anymore.  That stuff is awesome and using a big 1 or 2 gallon pressurized sprayer is a TON more comfortable than manually pulling weeks or scraping them by hand, or spraying with a tiny 8-ounce hand spray bottle.  It's expensive up front and you might need to spray every week for 2-3 weeks in the spring when the rains come but then I typically find that I'm not spraying weeds at all for months, regardless how much it rains.  It's certainly cheaper than yard service.

Yeah, I got a large lot by virtue of an older house, I believe.  It was built in 1976, renovated in 2011, and I bought it in 2013.  Did they do the pavers themselves? I'm unsure if I want to try that or if I should pay someone. I'm good with engines, but new to landscaping.

I had a BAD weed problem after the ridiculous amount of rain we got last fall. I can post pics when I get home, but I bought a 400,000 BTU propane flamethrower thing and nuked them all. It made me happy to turn everything back to dirt. :D

Sid Hoffman

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #8 on: March 20, 2015, 01:48:41 PM »
Did they do the pavers themselves? I'm unsure if I want to try that or if I should pay someone. I'm good with engines, but new to landscaping.

I had a BAD weed problem after the ridiculous amount of rain we got last fall. I can post pics when I get home, but I bought a 400,000 BTU propane flamethrower thing and nuked them all. It made me happy to turn everything back to dirt. :D

Nah, they had money set aside for home renovations when they retired and did a whole yard makeover for $12k or something.  New patio, pavers, grass, planters, drip watering, desert-adapted trees and shrubs, etc.  The yard looks amazing and their water bill is very low now since they actually reduced the amount of grass.  Anyway, pavers is potentially something you can do yourself, you'll just want to get a DIY book that describes the process.  There's some prep involved and specific materials for the base as well as filler media between the pavers, but it really doesn't look like rocket science to me.  The only part you might have trouble with are the pavers that need to be cut.  If you don't have or don't want to mess with a stone cutting saw then yeah, you'll want to hire someone.

The Ground Clear is great for keeping those weeds from coming back.  I've even heard of neighbors just buying huge 10 pound bags of salt and pouring the bags of salt out on the ground and watering it in.  You're looking at several years before you'll be planting anything normal if you are just soaking the ground with bags of salt.  I mean, that used to be how armies would ruin crop lands for a season or more.  I suppose if I ever move somewhere with a larger yard I might investigate maxing my own death mix of vinegar & salt or something instead of buying the fancy Ortho stuff.

dragoncar

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #9 on: March 20, 2015, 03:51:17 PM »
Where do you guys get your rocks?  Both the pretty landscaping ones and the filler materials -- gravel, sand, etc.  Do you go to a quarry or what?  I'm guessing Home Depot is a bad idea for big projects.

I'd love to add some rocks, small retaining walls, etc. but am worried about the material costs.

JLee

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2015, 04:00:40 PM »
Where do you guys get your rocks?  Both the pretty landscaping ones and the filler materials -- gravel, sand, etc.  Do you go to a quarry or what?  I'm guessing Home Depot is a bad idea for big projects.

I'd love to add some rocks, small retaining walls, etc. but am worried about the material costs.
I don't know yet. :D

I have seen a lot of free rock on Craigslist, but I sold my truck so now I'd have to buy a trailer if I wanted to go get some.

deborah

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2015, 10:59:06 PM »
I'd grow a number of mounding desert plants - there are plenty that don't need much water. What is native to the area? Rocks can be rather expensive (even if they are free, freight can cost a lot because they weight a lot)

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #12 on: March 20, 2015, 11:26:38 PM »

apparently spray painting to make it look like grass is "popular" down there now?

Sid Hoffman

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #13 on: March 21, 2015, 01:16:57 PM »

apparently spray painting to make it look like grass is "popular" down there now?

Maybe in California where they have actually made it illegal to water your grass during certain months as a drought measure.  That's never happened in Phoenix (water consumption has been roughly the same for the last 100 years as farming has given way to low water usage housing) and I've never heard of anyone dying their grass in the Phoenix area.

dragoncar

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2015, 03:10:53 PM »
I'd grow a number of mounding desert plants - there are plenty that don't need much water. What is native to the area? Rocks can be rather expensive (even if they are free, freight can cost a lot because they weight a lot)

I've been trying to get native plants going, but there are some issues.  First, they still need to be established.  This means watering them for (I understand) at least a year.  At least to match "normal" rainfall, but we've been way below normal rainfall for a long time.  It may be better to get plants native to a slightly drier environment. 

The other problem is that they tend to be rather ugly. 

Either way, I think rocks look nice and would like some more.  Would like to partially terrace my hillside at least so that I can access it and garden without causing more erosion.  I'm in CA by the way, so my needs are different from OP.

deborah

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #15 on: March 21, 2015, 04:36:33 PM »
The other problem is that they tend to be rather ugly. 
I used to think this about plants native to my area. However, there are a lot of nice ones - you just need to pick the ones you want to showcase. You won't be recreating the natural landscape, and you only need a few different plants. The other thing about plants native to your area is that some of them grow on the tops of hills (where there is less water than normal in a landscape) and some grow in gullies (where there is more). The local native plant society puts out a book of the native plants of the area which includes which ones need more or less water - perhaps yours does too. Unfortunately, they didn't include pictures in ours, but internet access fixes that, and they do include the time of year when each plant is "showy" (makes it easy to pick the ones that aren't as well). There are also some native nurseries which specialise in native plants.

Around here there is a move away from rocks because their removal tends to damage delicate ecosystems - particularly as the rounded ones (nice to walk on) come from rivers and streams (how they got rounded in the first place), which are already strained ecosystems in an arid environment.

Look to see whether there is an arid environment botanic garden near you - there tend to be a number in towns and cities around here, and they can really showcase some of the prettier native plants (although I have found some of the plantings pretty awful). Xeroscape gardens can also be good.

Gardens completely devoid of plants tend to be rather stark and bare and hot, so you are probably going to need to have some plantings. Plants also add height into the garden so it is not all at one level with the house as the only vertical change. Every plant is going to need some tender loving care for a few months after it is planted, but native plants often need less. Drippers are easy to install, give water only where it is needed, and here (where we have permanent water restrictions, each town advertises what level of water restriction they are on as you enter it, and sometimes we are only allowed to use grey water on the garden) drippers are usually about the only automatic watering device allowed. Even established plants need some water during a drought - the recent 8 year drought here left the government with thousands of established street trees that needed to be removed - but local native plants tend to survive better.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2015, 04:43:14 PM by deborah »

dragoncar

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #16 on: March 22, 2015, 01:06:53 AM »
The other problem is that they tend to be rather ugly. 
I used to think this about plants native to my area. However, there are a lot of nice ones - you just need to pick the ones you want to showcase. You won't be recreating the natural landscape, and you only need a few different plants. The other thing about plants native to your area is that some of them grow on the tops of hills (where there is less water than normal in a landscape) and some grow in gullies (where there is more). The local native plant society puts out a book of the native plants of the area which includes which ones need more or less water - perhaps yours does too. Unfortunately, they didn't include pictures in ours, but internet access fixes that, and they do include the time of year when each plant is "showy" (makes it easy to pick the ones that aren't as well). There are also some native nurseries which specialise in native plants.

Around here there is a move away from rocks because their removal tends to damage delicate ecosystems - particularly as the rounded ones (nice to walk on) come from rivers and streams (how they got rounded in the first place), which are already strained ecosystems in an arid environment.

Look to see whether there is an arid environment botanic garden near you - there tend to be a number in towns and cities around here, and they can really showcase some of the prettier native plants (although I have found some of the plantings pretty awful). Xeroscape gardens can also be good.

Gardens completely devoid of plants tend to be rather stark and bare and hot, so you are probably going to need to have some plantings. Plants also add height into the garden so it is not all at one level with the house as the only vertical change. Every plant is going to need some tender loving care for a few months after it is planted, but native plants often need less. Drippers are easy to install, give water only where it is needed, and here (where we have permanent water restrictions, each town advertises what level of water restriction they are on as you enter it, and sometimes we are only allowed to use grey water on the garden) drippers are usually about the only automatic watering device allowed. Even established plants need some water during a drought - the recent 8 year drought here left the government with thousands of established street trees that needed to be removed - but local native plants tend to survive better.

I went to a native garden nearby and it was extremely depressing.  I agree with you though,
I'll keep trying.  Will have to see how the natives I planted turn out.  Got them at a hyper local native nursery (they find natives in the wild in various towns and propagate them.  You can get a plant  known to thrive within a couple miles of you.  Pretty cool)

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #17 on: March 22, 2015, 06:31:42 PM »
I went to a native garden nearby and it was extremely depressing.

You can get lantana in all different colors and it's well known to be extremely hardy.  I had a home in Tempe at one point and long story short, I set my drip system timers wrong and accidentally halted watering everything in the front yard.  I couldn't figure out why several plants were looking more sickly but I was sure everything was fine because the lantana plants all looked great.  They were even flowering still!  Yeah, no water for 2 months.  They're awesome, easy to care for, extremely low water demands, available in lots of colors.

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #18 on: March 22, 2015, 06:45:20 PM »
Landlord secret:

Lantana comes in six-packs at the big box stores in the spring.  Look in the groundcover section.  In a year, it will look just like you planted full sized plants.  I usually fill in wherever a plant had died when there is a turnover.  Even when the spring ground cover disappears, it's often $2.50 for the gallon size plant.  Also, check the clearance rack.  A lot of perfectly salvageable plants will be marked down 75 percent as the season goes on and an employee forgets to water. 

A good inexpensive nursery (usually cheaper than HD and Lowes) is A&P on Baseline, just east of Price on the Mesa side of 101.  I buy the one gallons there and the variety is broader than the big boxes.

deborah

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #19 on: March 22, 2015, 08:11:09 PM »
Lantana comes in six-packs at the big box stores in the spring.  Look in the groundcover section.
GROUNDCOVER??? You need a six pack?? Lantana is one of the most invasive WEEDS in Australia - and let me tell you, it covers more than ground - it grows in heaps a couple of metres (yards) high. Snakes like hiding in it.

dragoncar

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Re: Ideas for desert landscaping?
« Reply #20 on: March 22, 2015, 10:06:07 PM »
Lantana comes in six-packs at the big box stores in the spring.  Look in the groundcover section.
GROUNDCOVER??? You need a six pack?? Lantana is one of the most invasive WEEDS in Australia - and let me tell you, it covers more than ground - it grows in heaps a couple of metres (yards) high. Snakes like hiding in it.

Wow!  Latana.. never heard of it but after looking it up, a few neighbors have it and it looks really good most of the year (died back quite a bit in the winter, though).  Always assumed it needed lots of water so never inquired as to what it was.  A little worried about the invasiveness,  but if multiple neighbors have it, I'm probably not destroying the ecosystem much if I add some.

For those interested, here's the native garden I visited:  http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=16076

It's not terrible, I guess, better than dirt.  It was slightly worse off when I visited -- I think it's been neglected because half the signs were broken or simply wrong.  But I prefer more greenery.  My understanding is that some natives will green up with a little summer water, while others will simply die.