Save Water and Help Your Local Pollinators...
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 2003 John White |
... With Drought-Tolerant Landscaping
The majority of homes in Pleasanton are landscaped with large areas of lawn. Lawn areas appear to provide a welcoming invitation for pollinators (beneficial insects and birds responsible for carrying out plant reproduction), such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. However, to pollinators lawn areas actually DO NOT provide any form of food or shelter, so for them an area of lawn might as well be concrete. Replacing some or all of your lawn with drought-tolerant plants can save you money on your water bill and also provide food and habitat to our local pollinators.
Home landscape with mainly lawn. |
Drought-tolerant landscaping. |
Many species of pollinators have been experiencing alarming declines in number. Without these organisms, many of the flowers we treasure and foods we eat would also cease to exist. Read on to learn how your yard can be transformed from a water-guzzling, pollinator-unfriendly garden into a water-efficient, pollinator-friendly paradise!
What is drought-tolerant landscaping?
Drought-tolerant landscaping is a landscape that has been planted with vegetation adapted to dry climates with long periods absent of rain. In addition to dry-climate adapted plants, this form of landscaping includes additional measures of preserving moisture in the soil, such as use of proper mulching, as well as grouping plants based on their water requirements (known as hydrozoning). Hydrozoning allows you to separate the watering needs of your plants, allowing you to irrigate areas according to only those needs, hence reducing water waste.
How much money can I save by re-landscaping with drought-tolerant plants and methods?
On average, nearly 50% of your total annual water consumption is used for landscape irrigation, mainly watering your lawn and shrubs. Once established, (which generally takes one-year after planting), most drought-tolerant plants require no additional water during winter and wet periods.
During dry and hot periods, watering drought-tolerant plants periodically might be necessary with a drought tolerant landscape, depending upon the plants selected and your home microclimate (areas of full sun, shade, etc.). However drought tolerant plants will need far less watering even during hot summer days compared to what lawn requires to remain healthy.
Consider your potential water savings; 1-inch of water applied over a 1,000 square-foot lawn consumes 624 gallons of water* (recommended amount of water necessary for turf in mild weather). If you watered this amount three times a week, you would consume 97,344 gallons of water a year just to maintain your lawn! – This value doesn’t even take into account the hot summer months which may require more frequent watering.
*Information adapted from A. Vickers, Handbook of Water Use and Conservation, 2002
How and where can I learn how to transform my lawn and shrub areas with drought-tolerant landscaping?
We have compiled a list of resources, ranging from websites to local classes to help you get stated in your garden’s water-efficient and pollinator-friendly transformation. Click here.
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