I. Why water wise landscaping?
Due to extended drought and extreme heat, 50 out of 58 counties in California are currently under the drought state of emergency. In addition, the past year has been California's driest year since the government has recorded precipitation levels, prompting the term "mega drought."
This map created from the National Integrated Drought Information System shows that most of California is in extreme drought. (source: https://www.drought.gov/states/california)
While declaring the drought state of emergency, the California Natural Resources Agency Secretary said, “It’s time for Californians to pull together once again to save water,” and also made a request that “all of us need to find every opportunity to save water where we can,” mentioning things like being conscious of water usage while showering, washing dishes, and brushing our teeth. (source)
Besides the kitchen and bathroom, another place we use a lot of water is in our yards. In fact, one study that tracked a group of households in California found that more than half of water usage went towards landscaping and the outdoors. (source)
In the desert areas of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, households spend even more water on landscaping in the summertime, when triple digit temperatures are common.
NASA’s satellite images of Lake Oroville in June, 2019 vs June, 2021. The largest 2 reservoirs in California, Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville, recently fell to an alarming 44% and 39% of their capacities. To view more pictures, view https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/30/california-drought-water-shortage-photo-essay and https://www.cbsnews.com/news/drought-in-californa-nasa-images-show-effects
Many of our clients asked for advice on how to build a water wise landscape. Here are our top tips for how you can use less water in your landscape to do your part to help the environment while also lowering your water bill to save money.
II. Tips for a water wise landscape
Choose plants with low water needs
It may be perhaps an obvious point that in order to use less water in the landscape, you need to choose plants that need less water. However, what may not be so obvious is that you need more water in the hot and dry regions for the same exact landscape you designed in other places in the US.
Plants that are commonly known to thrive with minimal watering elsewhere could need daily watering here when there's
1. extreme heat so that they can have a chance to cool down
2. gusty winds, in which moisture from the soil and plants quickly evaporate
and of course
3. when we have many consecutive days of no rain.
In sum, choosing drought resistant plants will have a big impact on water usage. Here in the Coachella Valley, it’ll have even a bigger impact.
One type of plant that gets a lot of attention related to water conservation in California is turfgrass.
There's a reason that the majority- if not all- water agencies in the Coachella Valley and surrounding regions offer a rebate for replacing grass. (Links to water agency rebates down below).
According to the Desert Water Agency, "Getting rid of grass can be one of the best ways to save water on your property," and "If the only time you walk on the grass is to mow it, you may consider getting rid of it."
If you do currently have a lawn and it is made of cool-season grass such as Kentucky Bluegrass and Tall Fescue, it is strongly recommended to switch over to warm-season grass such as zoysia or bermudagrass.
To save even more water, consider including more drought tolerant plants such as succulents and desert-acclimated shrubs instead. Also, you can design your landscape in such a way that plants such as trees and ground covers, vines, and more, work together to keep humidity and cooler temperatures near the surface.
Various shrubs for sale at the nursery
Use the drip irrigation method
If using an automated irrigation system, using the drip method is highly recommended because it is designed to deliver water directly to the roots, where the plants need it the most.
It is also low pressure, and applies water slowly over a longer period, allowing the soil to soak it in rather than having water run off or evaporate quickly into the air.
Speaking of evaporation, the best time to water your plants in hot climates is early in the morning because the cooler temperature keeps moisture in.
Also, because drip irrigation doesn't spread the water far away, it keeps water to the intended plants rather than a large surface area that could include non-desirable plants like weeds and also, other objects that are not plants, such as fences and sidewalks.
Many local water agencies are offering rebates to replace inefficient nozzles and irrigation heads, which will add on to your savings on your water bill.
Use mulch
Mulch is extremely useful for regulating moisture levels in the soil.
When you add mulch on the ground around your plants, it will keep water in the soil from readily evaporating into the air- especially in a windy, dry, and hot desert. It also prevents weeds from growing, which steal precious water from our beloved plants.
Other benefits of using mulch include regulating the temperature and adding a visual interest to the landscape design. Examples of mulches include plant material such as wood chips, dried leaves, and pine needles, as well as inorganic material such as pebbles or lava rock.
III. Resources for saving water in your landscape
If you're interested in learning more about saving water in your yard, please know that you have lots of people and organizations that would be very happy to assist.
The various local water agencies have additional educational resources as well as rebates to incentivize water conservation. Links to the rebate programs:
Coachella Valley Water District: https://www.cvwd.org/380/Landscape-Rebates
Desert Water District: https://programs.dwa.org/
Mission Springs Water District: https://www.mswd.org/rebates.aspx
Indio Water Authority: https://www.indio.org/your_government/water/conservation/rebates.htm
And of course, don't forget us!
With over 30 years of landscaping and gardening experience in the desert, we are experts when it comes to water wise landscaping and drought tolerant plants.
We love plants and sharing our knowledge of plants. So visit or call us with any questions you have, whether it’s on the type of plants to get, plant or irrigation installation, advice on designing a water wise landscape, and more.