By Eilene Lyon
While I wouldn’t say our decades-old drought is over, we had an unusual amount of moisture this past summer. We got over an inch of rain just last week. Normally August and September are what I call “brown season.” The grasses and forbs have died or gone dormant by then.
Even today, I see more green than I’m used to. On Saturday, I drove to Albuquerque through the desert. There, too, verdant views, water in the arroyos, full stock ponds, and standing water in low patches near the highway. Amazing!
One good summer will not cure our water deficiencies, though. When I reached Bernalillo, New Mexico, I crossed over a dry Rio Grande. It no longer lives up to its name. All the water flowing from the Rocky Mountains has gone to irrigation and refilling empty reservoirs.
In many desert southwest cities and towns, landscaping is already confined to rock and native drought-tolerant plants. But lawns are still common in other areas, including Durango. Even some rural homes have massive areas of turf, primarily for looks.
Yes, agriculture uses the bulk of the West’s water, but that does not absolve residential users from the need to conserve.
Lawns are purely decorative, an aesthetic imported from wetter climates. You can’t eat them and nothing else does, either, especially when they’ve been sprayed with herbicides. I’m happy to report that people are getting the message and finding better ways to landscape around their homes.
One does not need to have bare dirt or a weed patch. Here’s a sampling of other options.
The above group of photos were all taken in a two-block area in downtown Durango.
At our public library, the Durango Botanical Society has ripped out a large section of sod and replaced it with alternative landscaping. Better than concrete, all these ideas make efficient use of water and allow moisture to penetrate into the soil rather than contributing to stormwater runoff that can pollute the river and flood roadways.
Feature image: Photo by Daniel Watson on Unsplash
Myricopia 
Yup, we have to rethink the lawn. As your photos show, there are many options. Pretty mural.
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Where there is plenty of water, lawns are awesome. Here, not so much. I’m always appreciative of edible gardens, but they are a lot of work. I know some people do not have the time for that.
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I’m a little east of you and yup the yard is gone. Planning on an ornamental and rocks. Maybe a small patch of grass so the grandson can know what grass is….
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Nothing wrong with a tiny patch. Something about toes in green grass touches us inside, too.
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My neighbor payed new sod this this – his entire yard. He has been watering 3 times a clay since June. Glad I’m not paying his water bill but really!
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Some people just can’t let it go!
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We had the opposite—an incredibly dry summer. I am looking into less grass on the lawn of our new home in anticipation of water shortages and for all the other reasons you mentioned. It just makes sense.
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My search for these yards was very brief and I was surprised to find so many in a small area. I want to look for more examples. There are some creative landscapers around here.
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If we’re going to irrigate our yards it makes sense to me to fill it with edibles. If not those alternatives look really nice and probably less maintenance and exhaust.
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I probably use more water than necessary, because I like planting some annual flowers. The yard is perennials and doesn’t need much. I harvested a bunch of beets and carrots yesterday!
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Nice article. One of the most beautiful gardens I’ve ever seen was in California using nothing but succulents. Coming from the Midwest that’s saying a lot.
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When I moved here after living in places like Ohio and western Oregon, I did not care for brown. Now, after 37 years, I really have come to appreciate the beauty of the desert and the spare green it offers. Thanks for reading and commenting, Tonya!
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We are so spoiled here in Iowa. If it’s dry, we just let the lawn go dormant. If it’s normal, we bask in green. Guy mulches his tomatoes so much that he doesn’t weed, doesn’t water.
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Fantastic! I should do more mulching. It takes effort. There’s no shortage of material!
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Gorgeous photos of those gardens! My sister lived in Tuscon for two years and I remember the cacti in her front garden 🙂 Xeriscaping is catching on up here in BC as well as our summers have become drier. We seeded drought tolerant grass and don’t treat it with anything or water it. The bears will eat the clover and dandelions as will the deer. The bees love them as well 🙂 I have planted drought tolerant perennials as well that need little watering. We’re on a well, but still try not to use water excessively.
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We’re also on well water. It is very alkaline, so not great for most of the plants. We are on a sloping, forested lot, so not a ton of landscaping and nothing resembling a lawn.
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When my daughter and son-in-law bought their house in San Diego, they soon gave up on the grass in the back yard and installed artificial turf, which has worked out very well. Their front yard is decorative rocks.
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It just makes sense and is much easier to care for. How much time do we spend out in the yard, anyway?
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Since I started writing fulltime last year, I’ve pretty much given up on weeding.
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Totally get that! I need the outdoor time myself.
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Been dry up here in the Pacific Northwest, Eilene! A lot of brown lawns, watering restricted to once a week, strange for these parts but becoming more common!
JIM
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People will eventually tire of dead grass and look to xeriscaping alternatives, I’m sure.
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Our yard in Palm Springs was very lush and green with lawns, a ficus hedge and more than a dozen fruit trees. Arizona, we have rock and native plants. It took awhile to get used to, but it’s growing on me.
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It is a change, but so much easier to maintain. Gives you more time to enjoy the yard instead of working it.
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That’s true!
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Those are some very pretty lawn alternatives!
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No grass does not mean ugly!
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I love your examples apart from the artificial lawn which is bad for the environment. I’m astonished to see them here where we have no trouble keeping grass green! Labour saving of course, which I CAN totally understand. We have no grass at the back and a tiny patch at the front which is maintained by the factor (management company) so I suppose I can’t judge – too hard!
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Well, human beings and their abodes are, in general, bad for the environment. In the case of a dry dirt patch in Albuquerque, fake grass is better than the real thing.
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Excellent food for thought piece Eilene. Many of us don’t give this topic nearly enough thought. I know I haven’t!
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Well, you live in a wetter part of the country. But we should all be cognizant of how we use water.
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That we should.
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😊
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We still have areas we call ‘lawn’ though it is just mowed native grass that we use as walk ways or to cover the septic field. We don’t water it – when there is enough rain it is green and when there isn’t enough rain it is brown! I’m always amazed how well it comes back after dormant brown periods.
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Sometimes I think we overestimate how much we need to water. I could do a better job of that myself. We don’t mow, but the weed whacker does get some work to do!
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Applause to all those creative people. I’ve always had one question, and you are the perfect person to ask. If you do away with the lawn and use hardscape alone doesn’t it hold the heat? A lot of the areas you showed used combinations which I would think would be cooler. There is also the aesthetic piece of the new meadow trend. A neighbor across the road has put in a meadow in his front yard for the past couple of years. He puts out seeds in the spring and then lets it do its thing for the rest of the year. I have to admit that it gets pretty unruly, full of weeds, and is ugly to look at. I know as a gardener I should applaud his efforts, but I always look forward to when he trims it back as winter approaches. 🙂
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The neighborhood where I took these photos has many large, mature trees shading the hard-scapes. I’m sure in a place like Albuquerque it does hold heat. The lizards are quite content in the evenings.😁 the meadow trend probably works better in an area of multi-acre lots, not in a tight neighborhood like in town. Just because you let the wild things grow without mowing doesn’t mean no weeding! I’ve seen some very nice meadows planted. One is at the local college.
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Interesting how lawns are slowly disappearing in some parts of the country. I like all the hardscaping that is taking their place. Your photos are great. We still have lots of grass, but we also are adding more stone-y areas in anticipation of what is to come.
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It’s good to be thinking along those lines. We really don’t know what climate change will bring. It seems like there was more drought in eastern areas this year.
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This was interesting how people are combating drought and still maintaining stylish yards. My friend retired and moved from Michigan to New Mexico and told me he enjoyed no more snow shoveling, nor mowing, as he had all cacti and small stones in place of grass for the front and back yards and declared “the flamethrower is my new gardening tool.” I never did know if he was kidding or not. My grass went from lush to crispy in fewer weeks than usual this year. It will be back in the Spring.We were in moderate drought but had no restrictions.
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Our grass (native bunch grass and pasture grass that we don’t water) is greener than we ever see this time of year. It sure won’t last! I expect we’ll be back to brown next year. No torches, thanks.
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Go figure – we turned so chilly (even cold) this past week that the grass has greened up and almost passes for normal.
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Some like it cold!😆
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Great photos and examples of drought-tolerant plantings, Eilene. I am happy to see similar changes occurring in No. Calif. We have severe water restrictions for homeowners and their lawns, which has helped folks transition from grass to rocks, pavers, sedums, cacti and/or artificial turf.
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We all have to adjust to changing water availability. I do still want to eat!🙂
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Love all the ideas! I will never understand the American obsession with the manicured lawn. It serves no purpose, eats up a ton of water and is time consuming to maintain. How much time do people spend mowing? Plus the cost of mowers, gas, maintenance, etc.
My yard is enormous which is common here in rural Ohio. I would love to replace it all with native flowers that would help out our pollinators but the job is so enormous I wouldn’t know where to begin.
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That does sound like a daunting project! Like any big project, tackle it in small chunks.
I remember my dad mowing our lawn with an old fashioned push mower (only human-powered). Hard work! Then we got gas mowers. What a chore that I don’t miss a bit! It does seem rather pointless.
I hope you explore some ideas that would work well in your area and not be too expensive or difficult to do.
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I need to work on this over the winter. Lawns are such a scam and no good for the environment.
And yes! It is hard work!
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I look forward to hearing your plans!
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Well, if England was officially in drought this summer, it’s not surprising that the southwest US was as well. I think we are still technically under a hosepipe ban, though we’ve fortunately had enough rain this autumn that it hasn’t been much of an issue. I am impressed with how much flora you found around New Mexico though!
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I spent years walking the New Mexican deserts for work, and can’t recall ever seeing it like this in fall.
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