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The finishing touch to every new home project, house remodel or commercial building is Landscaping.  It’s what makes the overall project lovely, while enhancing the building, the exterior, and more.  The building or residence should have a landscaping or xeriscaping that complements and accents the architectural style.  Landscape Designers and Landscape Architects often provide excellent ideas in residential and small commercial landscaping – such as landscape design, exterior environments, backyards, and residential landscapes.  Landscape designers should be considerate of startup costs, installation costs, maintenance issues, and longevity. 

My design experience stems from many years in the Southwest, where upfront costs were negligible, and the yearly maintenance costs (i.e. property maintenance, irrigation & other bills) were none.  Hence came the important aspect of low maintenance, low water-use, and sustainable landscapes for dry climates.  Desert landscaping and xeriscaping is a way to provide low water-use landscaping for dry desert climates such as the southwest.  Many new and existing homes are not allowed to have grass; in fact, in some cities, cash rebates are offered to convert high-water consuming turf to desert landscaping or xeriscaping.  Xeriscaping has been a very popular method of landscaping, and landscape designers have adapted this style for many of their clients.

As a Arizona landscape contractor, it’s the landscape designer’s job to design all aspects of desert & xeriscape ideas.  From Southwestern Xeriscapes  that usually have mid-level desert environments to hot Sonoran desert & Phoenix landscape, which include may assortments of Arizona cacti, saguaros and agaves.  Desert landscaping & Xeriscaping often include many of these following types of plant species:

1. Traditional Color Plants- These desert landscaping species are standard, normal xeriscaping plants that require average water usage.  These plants often have long bloom seasons, lots of flowers, and attract hummingbirds.  Some common species that landscapers love are the cherry and russian sages, the penstemon species, the penstemon species, yarrows, Echinacea, gaillardia, gayfeather, iris, lamb’s ears.
2. Arizona Desert Plants- Many of the species above would not sustain an Sonoran summer, which is the reason for a secondary list of Arizona desert plants.  Phoenix landscape contractors prefer some of the most hardy desert plants such as the az yellow bells, orange jubilee, baja fairy duster, texas rain sage, and yellow bird of paradise.  Other common plants you may see in hot desert climates may be Mexican honeysuckle, creosote bush, bursage, chuparosa, ruellia, bougainvillea, or cassias.
3. Xeriscape Grasses- Professional planners use grasses for accents or to fill in over-sized areas.Pampas grass, purple fountain grass, and deer grass are all specimens of grass that can reach over 6′ tall and provide a focal feature or visual block.  Muhly grass, a superb choice for an accent, because of it’s free-flowing textures.  Some milder climates can handle fescue, glue grama, or other small sized landscape grasses.
4. Agaves- There are many different species of agaves, that range from the little agave parryi to the incredible 62″ tall agave americana.  Agaves are the perfect fit for landscaping hence their slow growth pattern, low maintenance, and drought tolerance.
5. Cacti-  Arizona desert landscaping designers have the great selection of many species of cacti – but most commonly, the Saguaro cactus (native to Arizona).  Saguaros make an excellent, bold impact on any desert landscape because of it’s huge mass and ability to look great during low-water conditions.  Cacti in landscaping will drastically reduce the need for water, and some gorgeous cacti considerations are:  Hedge Hog, Organ Pipe, Mexican Fence Post and Pin Cushion.
6. Desert Trees- Desert Adapted trees also require less water and less maintenance.  If a natural wind-break is necessary, you can use some large shrubs or properly placed trees (which can provide some shade too).  The acacia, desert willow, african sumac and palo verde are some common desert landscaping trees.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN YOUR LANDSCAPING PROJECT:

• Review the regional requirements for xeriscaping species, plant locations and restricted varieties.  Grass & turf restrictions may be evident in some locations such as the southwest because of their demand for water.
• Find out which landscaping & xeriscaping plants that are good for your specific location.  Not all plants grow in all regions – in fact, some will do quite poorly if planted in the wrong space.
• Research precipitation for your area and this can assist you determine plants and setup & plan for a adequate sprinkler system.
• Use groupings of plants, different colors, and mounding.  Use bigger specimens of trees for accents while planting smaller groups of low-growing plants below.
• Water early in the morning – this is a cool part of the morning that can help your plants use more of the water and avoid evaporation.
• Great irrigation habits can be achieved by training your plants to require less water, and infrequent waterings.
• Snip old flowers & foliage to improve blooms & blooming periods.
• Reduce the quantity of sod in xeriscape designs, since they require lots of water.
• The use of a Phoenix landscape designer is a great investment when considering the best of Soutwestern landscaping & Xeriscaping.

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