Desert Gardener

Hello from northern Utah! I'm a very amateur gardener, and I'm living in the high desert. We're also in the fifth year of a drought, and gardens need to conserve water. I'd like to hear from other western desert gardeners who have successfully implemented water saving techniques into their yards (xeriscaping).

Of course, if you water it enough, we can grown almost anything anyone else can grow, but we would like a lawn that's beautiful and colorful without a lot of watering. I'm especially fond of vines and perrenials that keep coming back. If you live in Utah and have various colored trumpet vines, I'd love to get a clipping. I have 150' of 6' chain link to cover!

Thanks for your help!

A warm South Louisiana welcome to you, UtahGardener. I can't help you with the xeriscaping, as I am dealing with the exact opposite problem.

I'm more than sure you will find your answers here, tho. There are plenty of helpful, generous, knowledgeable people populating this website.

Cheri'

Welcome, I'm a Minnesota gardener so we're at the opposite end of the gardening spectum. (almost) The fun is learning about gardening from across this country and many others that log in..as sundry said this a great site to meet amateur and master gardeners as well, all willing to help. cj

Welcome to DG, UtahGardener!

Welcome, UtahGardener, from Washington state.

Welcome from the dry side of Oregon. We get about 9 inches of annual precipitation here and are at 3300'. I haven't been too successful with xeriscaping since I want to grow all the wrong stuff. Before we got a good well I was struggling to keep everything watered in my garden, now the house is on a well and I have the spring water for my vegies. What do you grow?

Hi to all who have welcomed me to DG. MaryE wanted to know what I grow. The Mormon people were (and are) a very industrious people and they brought water to the desert. Most homes are landscaped as if they were in Kentucky or other green states. Our lawns are mostly Kentucky bluegrass hybrids, which use tons of water. Fruit trees also thrive here, and grapes are very popular along fence lines. I have two apples, two seedless grape vines and a sweet cherry tree in my yard (not very water-savy but very yummy!). Roses are also popular and I have three in the front. I have six dwarf lilacs down the side. The rest is a combination of typical annuals and newly planted perrenials. The perrenials are where I'm trying to get low water plants first.

My goal over the next two years is to greatly reduce the lawn area in the back yard and zone it for watering (heavier watering near the lawn out to drought tollerant near the fence lines) and redo the sprinkler system to water accordingly. It's no small task, but designing it's been fun. Trumpet vines are part of my strategy, since they require little watering and can cover my six foot chain link fence and provide privacy. We have lots of red trumpets around here, but I'm looking for other colors to add to the display. I don't have many plants to trade, but I can send you some very yummy applesauce or grape jam!

I'm also looking for russian sage and other colorful low-water plants. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Thanks.

Utah, Welcome to DG!

I'm in the mountains of western NC, where years ago we had annual rainfall of 50", but in the last 5 years we have been in a drought. I had started looking for more drought-restsiant plants and NOW we are back into plenty of rainfall. Go figure. Maybe Mother Nature is just testing us?

http://highcountrygardens.com/nl/nl44.html....Welcome, Utahgardener....this site may be of some help to you. I am high desert...in a valley at 4500 ft....to bad I know very little about high desert gardening...I moved here from Fla 3 years ago.