Native Landscaping

With the summer heat waves creeping in, are you stressed about your increased water usage? I think we have all felt the sting of environmental guilt when watering the lawn three times a day, just to keep our precious roses alive. One way to alleviate that guilt and become more ecofriendly, is to fill your lawn and garden with plants that are native to the area. “Naturescaping” is the official term and its described as allowing people and nature to connect and coexist with landscaping.

Your neighbors will thank you too! Planting native flowers, plants and trees is beneficial to the neighborhood you live in because they don’t require water contaminating pesticides and fertilizer. Flowers like those thirsty roses, which are considered exotic to the southwest, can be invasive to other plant life and can disrupt the entire ecosystem. Native plants on the other hand, are already accustomed to their habitat, making them much more ecofriendly.

Some native plants can even enrich the soil, creating an environment for other plants and flowers to flourish. When you landscape with native plants you give other animals, insects and birds a natural habitat to thrive in. For example, the Saguaro, one of Arizona’s most iconic native plants, is home to Elf Owls, Woodpeckers and several other types of small birds. They can grow more than forty feet in the air and are capable of living around 200 years. The Desert Holly is another common Arizona native. Providing food for desert Bighorn Sheep, it requires very little water and produces tiny flowers between January and April. This beautiful plant provides very low maintenance ground cover and can serve as an accent piece to other natives like the Ocotillo or the California Fan Palm. If you’re looking for a May through September bloom, Scarlet Gilia or sometimes known as Skyrocket, is a fiery red tower of tiny trumpet like flowers. Requiring almost no maintenance, this native beauty can typically survive on rainfall alone. Another cactus worth mentioning is the Teddy Bear Cholla. Aside from being aesthetically pleasing, this native gem can serve as a natural barrier, requires minimal maintenance, and houses various small birds. From February to May it will sprout green and yellow flowers and can grow to more than six feet tall. Don’t let the name misguide you though, this cactus will most certainly bite!

With the easy maintenance and low cost of native plants, you don’t have to be a landscape artist to create a cohesive, beautiful and eco-friendly lawn. That’s the beauty of naturescaping – anyone can do it.