by Dana Logan

Let’s face it. A lot of us are transplants. We didn’t grow up in Boulder. We started our lives playing in the grass in New York or Virginia. So, it’s not surprising that many of us long for a beautifully groomed Kentucky bluegrass lawn.

But we’re not in New York anymore. We’re in the high plains. It’s a semi-arid environment where lawns were never meant to look like the ones of your childhood. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t be beautiful, says Bill Melvin, owner of Ecoscape Environmental Design.

“Most people are not native and want landscapes like they had. They don’t realize the environmental implications of utilizing water on their landscape, given that 50 percent of a home’s annual water budget is spent on the landscape,” he says.

And in Colorado, water is an especially scarce and important resource — one that’s best not wasted on watering lawns made of non-native grasses (even if the those who are watering it are transplants themselves). But there is an answer.

It’s called xeriscaping.

“What a lot of people don’t understand is that there’s no need to compromise the beauty around us to have xeriscaping. It’s just utilizing natives and near-natives that don’t need that much water. So you can still have an amazingly beautiful landscape while conserving water at the same time,” Melvin explains.

And he stresses that this kind of landscaping goes well beyond the misconceptions people have that they have to have extensive stone, mulch, cacti and drab landscapes. Xeriscaping can look lush, full and vibrant with very minimal watering, he says.
“It’s just a matter of attuning your landscape to that which is appropriate for this region.”

And there are so many colorful and lush plants that work perfectly in this environment. Some of Melvin’s personal favorites include the native chokecherry, wild plums, evening primrose and the lovely hyssop.

And there are many beautiful plants that can be integrated into a xeriscaped landscape that blossom well beyond the warm months when your neighbors’ flowers are blooming.

“A lot of people think xeriscaping is just for the hot summer months. There are xeriscape plants that we incorporate that bloom in February and plant species we can incorporate that bloom into October, as well as many species that have year-round interest — most importantly, throughout the winter. So you can have an incredibly interesting landscape with blossoms for eight months of the year, and it doesn’t take nearly as much of your time as a large lawn would,” says Melvin.

And saving time and water are only the most obvious benefits of a xeriscaped landscape. Another exciting aspect for those who may not have the greenest of thumbs is that native plants are meant to be here, so they take very little expertise to ensure success.

“I can’t say they’re bound to succeed because some people kill plants,” Melvin says.

But there’s a pretty good chance of finding something that works for each person’s needs. And these days, a need that many people have is saving money. Melvin says that xeriscaping can address that, as well.

“Especially in a downtrodden economy, when money is tight for people, it just makes sense to conserve water because conserving water means conserving money,” he explains.

But what about the people — native or not — who just can’t imagine not having grass in their yard? Melvin says that, contrary to popular belief, a xeriscaped yard can include grass as part of the landscape. It just has to be the right kind.

“What I think a lot of people don’t realize is that there are so many wonderful alternatives to Kentucky bluegrass. Some of our sods we install these days use a third of the water that a Kentucky bluegrass lawn does and that are comprised of nothing but our native grasses. These turfs are suitable for play. They require less fertilizing. They require less water. They require less time and resources,” he says.

In the end, you can have a beautiful, luscious lawn while making choices that don’t squander our precious water resources. And that’s something Melvin says that people can get excited about.

Says Melvin: “People say, ‘Oh, I’m green. I recycle.’ This is just one more way to be green and minimize our ecological footprint.”

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