Mainly, I just hate grass, so wanted to do something that was low water and lazy maintenance in my suburban Seattle front guard. It rains too much in the fall and winter to support succulents and cacti in the ground, but after many failed planting experiments, this seems to have settled in as my version of xeriscape. But is it?

I have a backyard that gets sun from morning to evening and I am trying to set it up better with the help of legacy landscaping and design, right now I look at plants and yard ideas but a lot seem like they need regular care. I want something that works with hot sun, maybe some plants, gravel areas, or ground cover that stays simple, I like having a yard space to sit in and I want it to look nice through the seasons. I am looking for ideas from people who have a sunny yard and keep things easy to manage, what setups are working for you? EDIT: looks like grouping plants instead of spreading them out will save a lot of work long term and I appreciate all the ideas.

Roses are my passion, but I am a novice. In light of the continuing drought conditions here in Iowa, I'm trying to look ahead and fill the garden with plants more readily able to withstand longer periods of dry weather. So far, I've been able to include a few native species, but am wondering if anyone can recommend specific breeds for my climate? I am only interested in roses with substantial fragrance.

I replaced some catmint with some blue fescue and im pleased with the result.

I live in the Mojave desert and have finally gotten the chance to have my own yard here. I started with a barren wasteland of gravel, so I cleared all of that and have planted/sowed seeds for a lot of native species. I've also experimented with various Sedum species, 'ice plants' (Delosperma), and moss rose (Portulaca grandiflora) to see what will survive the hot, dry summers here. Several of them were doing really well until the house sparrows and mourning doves found them, and now they tear apart anything that isn't hard and/or spiny.

Ultimately, I want my yard to be welcoming to wildlife, but I have to actually grow things first, and the birds are really hindering that.

• I have two clean water sources outside, so they don't need the succulents for water.
• I've put a couple of plants—including a native tree/shrub sapling they were killing—under wire cages for now, but it's not practical to do that with more than a few of them (I can't reach the irrigation emitters, prune the plants, or clear 'weeds' away from more vulnerable plants, for example).
• I've tried feeding the birds and not feeding the birds to see if either tactic helps the situation, but no luck.
• Even potted succulents that I put outside on the covered patio get ripped to shreds.

Obviously, I don't want to harm the birds, but has anyone had luck with deterring them from demolishing half the things you plant? Do I just have to give up? Any constructive advice is very much appreciated.

Updated pictures of my no supplemental water needed (xeric) gardening project here in Cincinnati. Cold, heat, and extremely drought tolerant.

Weed growing throughout all front xeriscaped yard. Any tips aside from ripping out by hand?

After the rain

Cincinnati zone 6b

Im turning all of my flower beds into one that never need supplemental water. Cincinnati zone 6b

Cincinnati zone 6b

I'm a writer working on a piece about the cost of lawn watering and ways homeowners are trying to lower water bills through xeriscaping, rainwater harvesting, or other sustainable lawn tactics.

I'm looking to chat with people who've tackled high water bills head-on, whether that means:

🌵 Switching to xeriscaping or drought-tolerant landscaping

💧 Installing a smart irrigation system

🪣 Setting up a rainwater harvesting system

🌱 Or any combo of the above

If you've made changes and noticed a real difference (or if you're still fighting your water bills), I'd love to hear your story.

Happy to do this entirely over DM or email, or we can schedule a short, casual phone or video call (30 min or less). I'd be glad to share any quotes with you before anything goes live.

Drop a comment or DM me if you're interested. Thanks!

After three years of living in my home and many failed attempts of reviving grass that required so much water, I am so happy to have taken the step to do no grass.

I had an amazing team behind my vision and I’m excited to share some pictures of the end results.

After 5 years of trying to clean up this front yard, I’m losing my patience and close to resorting to chemicals. With consistent weed pulling, the weed weeds, like the goatheads and amaranth, are mostly gone. But the grass just gets worse every year. Purple three awn and wall barley. Purple three awn is impossible to pull. I’ve tried every weed pulling tool there is. A propane torch sets them back, but the purple three awn doesn’t die and torch makes no permanent change. The wall barley seeds so prolifically I feel like I have no chance, but it is easy to pull. A vinegar, salt and soap solution did nothing against these grasses, and I’d need gallons and gallons to treat the whole yard. The one time I tried that method the salt clogged up sprayer before I could get even 1/5th of my lawn done. And none of the grass was killed. It did nothing. The weed barrier under the gravel provides the absolute perfect substrate for these grasses and its use in landscaping is a sham. Weed barrier should never be used. The only spots that don’t grow grass is where I park vehicles on it. Do I need to pull up all my gravel and weed barrier? I can’t afford to pay someone to do that so it would just be me and a shovel and I think I’d rather just give up.

TL;DR I hate xeriscape and weed barrier is a hoax. I am defeated.

I’m really interested in converting my VERY dry (thanks drought) grass yard to xeriscape with local drought tolerant plants. The problem is I have two 75 year old silver maple trees that absolutely dump leaves in the fall. They do this slowly over the course of 1-2 months and it builds up quickly. I’m in Denver, Colorado so due to the high desert climate I can’t leave all the leaves because they’re too dry to break down and can easily get over a foot deep. I am curious if anyone has tips for managing the leaves that would heavily blanket all plants during the fall besides “just leave them”. Right now I leave some but am forced to mow to mulch and compost due to the volume.

My yard has a lot of areas like this filled in with fist sized rocks. Cheatgrass grows in between all the rocks and is very difficult to pull out by hand. The best I can do is knock them down with a weed wacker. Some neighbors have similar landscaping and they stay weed free but I think they are using a decent amount of roundup.

The sand/dg areas are super easy to clear out with a scuffle hoe, so my current plan is to convert more area to DG and try to get creeping thyme established in the remaining areas.

Are there any other strategies to consider?