Landscaping Doesn't Have To Suffer At The Hands Of The Arid Climate

The southwestern United States is covered with a wide variety of desert territory

, with a high degree of biodiversity. While seeing coffee tabletop books full of stunning photography may seem initially intriguing, living in the Sonoran, Mojave, or Great Basin (among others) can be a real challenge.

This is particularly true when it comes to creating the image of a well-landscaped home that seems so celebrated in magazines and images of all kinds across the country. Let's face it--if we want to be environmentally and financially friendly, having the white picket fence surrounding a perfectly manicured lawn will not be for us.

But many people don't take to traditional desert landscaping because it is associated with cacti and Spanish daggers, among other eyesores. However, the North American deserts host a wide variety of shrubbery, trees, and even colorful wildflowers, so you don't have to resign yourself to forbidding succulents and scraggly ferns.

In order to get ideas, visit local botanical gardens. Most botanical gardens feature dozens, if not hundreds, of species that will flourish in the arid climate, even if they are nonnative. When you find particular plants you are interested in, be sure to ask plenty of questions regarding their care, particularly in regards to their needs for the soil.

Your local home improvement stores will probably feature plants that are popular, rather than the ones that will be best suited to your region (though with some hunting, you should be able to find some), so it is better to take a visit to your local nursery to continue your line of questioning.

You may want to collect a soil sample and do a little research to find out specific rainfall averages for your zip code before you pay the nursery a visit. After all, there are some desert plants that can actually be drowned if they are accustomed to an even drier area than the one in which you live.

Organic gardening in Utah, California, and Arizona is really catching on because it presents the most natural way to nurture healthy plants. Ask the specialists at the nursery about how to best approach organic gardening for your desert-based plants.

Desert-specific species generally require little maintenance as it is, which is beneficial to the casual gardener/landscape, but organic gardening techniques can assist in easy pest management, among other crucial plant care without exposing the flowers or shrubs to harsh chemicals, which can also poison household pets and other neighborhood critters.

Living in the desert is tough--no doubt about that. But that doesn't mean the attractiveness of our front yard landscaping has to suffer. It just means we need to consult experts and make wise adjustments.

by: Art Gib

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