Xeriscape, the Art of Water Conserving Landscaping
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona on 05.15.08
image credit: Suzie Gibbons/Getty Images
Garden centres in countries affected by draught, like Spain for example, are promoting Xeriscaping (or Xeroscaping) in order to motivate people to help save water. This technique of water conserving landscaping doesn’t refer to cactus gardens or those that are all tiled up and plantless. The possibilities of Xeriscaping are plentiful, resulting in lush and flowery garden designs. This concept of gardening has been around since the 80ies in the US. As climate patterns shift, xeriscaping is catching on in other areas and has been very popular here in Spain for the last few years. The term itself derives from the Greek word ‘xeros’, meaning dry, and the word ‘landscape’.
The idea behind Xeriscapes is to create gardens with a rational water use, to avoid any waste of water, especially in Mediterranean and warm temperate climates. Saving water however is not the only objective of Xeriscaping. It also intends to eliminate the amount of chemical fertilizers and pesticides as well as petrol-driven machinery to keep the garden in shape. Plus is saves you money and maintenance.
How does it work? When designing the landscape, plants whose natural requirements are appropriate to the local climate should be chosen. They don’t necessary have to be all local plants, but they should originate from the same climate. Furthermore, water loss through evaporation and run-off should be avoided.
Examples for common plants used in Western xeriscaping are agave, cactus, lavender, juniper, sedum and thyme, according to Wikipedia. Important factors are how to group plats together when planting, according to their water need and the shelter they give/take from other plants. Instead of the typical lawn that needs a lot of water and maintenance (hence more negative impacts due to the machinery), there are special drought-tolerant turf grasses that can be combined with other, less water needing plants to reduce the lawn area. The most efficient watering system is drip irrigation because no water is lost through evaporation.
More via ::Wikipedia/Xeriscaping Via ::Jardinería Bordas.
Thanks Eugeni C. for the tip!
More on TreeHugger:
A New Era of Water Conservation
How to Conserve Water
Our local water utility even produced a glossy informative book:
Plants and Landscapes for Summer Dry Climates
http://www.ebmud.com/conserving_&_recycling/plant_book/
Areas that share Coastal California's Mediterranean climate could also use this book:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_climate
even better, stop watering your garden and let natural selection do its thing
Increase the price of water and people will switch to xeriscaping, as they are in San Diego (see this post: http://aguanomics.com/2007/12/water-supply-falls-do-prices-rise.html)
Unfortunately, water districts that are fighting over water supplies (NOT using prices) DO get credit for low-flush toilets but do NOT get credits for conservation via xeriscaping. Why? Too hard to measure water saved. Allocation via prices bypasses these perverse results.
See here: http://aguanomics.com/2008/01/socal-water-wars.html
Yeah, natural selection. Just let it grow... and then park a car that doesn't run in the middle of it. hehe
When we destroy the native vegetation of an area by developing the land, then we need to put something back that can survive as well as the native vegetation. We need that vegetation for the local ecology...to produce oxygen and absorb CO2, to create a cooler area then it would be if it were bare or just weeds...and you can water it with gray water. Or you can harvest rain water to use later. You do not need to use water right out of the tap.
I stop up my bathtub when getting ready for a shower. I have a sunken Roman tub, but one could modify this approach. So I save the water that runs while the water is heating up, I save my shower water, and I have a 30 gallon plastic tub in the shower. When I finish my shower I scoop the water up into the plastic tub. Then, when my container plants need watering, I use the water that would normally have gone down the drain.
Exactly what I'm trying to promote here in Beijing, where it's terrible dry. I also try to convince clients not to have lawn, due to its water demand, because it's (almost) useless for insects, birds etc. As well for its low CO2 absorbtion / O2 production. Lawn is even nagative, when we consider the petrol consumption of lawnmowers (sometimes I say sarcastically: Better paint your concrete green). But how negative is the CO2/O2 balance actually, exactly. Anybody can help to calculate? petrol consumption / CO2 output of a lawnmower per hour? sqm-performance of a lawnmower per hour? freqency of cutting (during summer, once a week here)? O2 puduction of lawn?
Exactly what I'm trying to promote here in Beijing, where it's terrible dry. I also try to convince clients not to have lawn, due to its water demand, because it's (almost) useless for insects, birds etc. As well for its low CO2 absorbtion / O2 production. Lawn is even nagative, when we consider the petrol consumption of lawnmowers (sometimes I say sarcastically: Better paint your concrete green). But how negative is the CO2/O2 balance actually, exactly. Anybody can help to calculate? petrol consumption / CO2 output of a lawnmower per hour? sqm-performance of a lawnmower per hour? freqency of cutting (during summer, once a week here)? O2 puduction of lawn?