Studio Art Arquitecture
Xeriscaping continues to gain popularity around the world as people discover the benefits of this landscaping technique. In Latin, xero means dry and scape means landscape or view. As an official landscaping technique, xeriscaping seems to have ‘originated’ in the 1980’s as a result of ongoing, multi-year droughts plaguing the Western, United States, but people have been planting to match their climate for centuries.
Landscapers–from California to the Rocky Mountains–were seeking a way to create gardens less dependent on irrigation without sacrificing aesthetic-appeal. , the largest and oldest public water utility in Denver, Colorado, coined the term and began to formally define the main principles of xeriscaping for members of the Denver community interested in modifying gardening practices to save water. Though it began in an effort to engage in water conservation in dry areas, it evolved to include a broader set of goals captured in the guidelines below.
Xeriscaping doesn’t just have to be for arid climates. These principles can be implemented in all ecoregions and lead to positive outcomes like reduced weeds, the creation of dense native plantings, less yard maintenance, minimized use of pesticides and fertilizers, and reduction of non-native lawns. In an attempt to understand why people choose to engage in xeriscaping, researchers in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada identified two neighborhoods with homeowners that had engaged in xeriscape landscaping. Twenty families were interviewed regarding their choices for their yards, their motivations, and the consequences of their gardening choices. They discovered water conservation took a back seat to aesthetics and the joy of gardening as the primary motivations for adopting xeriscaping principles.
The results of this research show that households with xeriscape landscaping were motivated mainly by factors related to landscape aesthetic and physical activity rather than water conservation.
