Where is Xeriscape the only visible option for environmental landscaping in the arid southwest?...obviously, when we are asked to landscape in a desert site. What is a desert? Are all deserts alike? How many are there? Do you (or I, perish the thought) live in a “desert”?

The landscape professional who understands the climate and environmental influences of the planting site, couple with a similar understanding of the selected plants?EUR??,,????'??? origin, will be able to perfectly match the right plant for the right spot.

The true drought tolerant plants, called xerophytes have made some amazing adaptations to survive in their dry environment. The landscape professional who understands the climate and environmental influences of the planting site, coupled with a similar understanding of the selected plants’ origin, will be able to perfectly match the right plant for the right spot. Isn’t that what horticultural planting is all about?

Deserts

As late as 1843 it could be found in some textbooks that the vast region between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains was designated as the Great American Desert. Dispelling the idea that inhabitability is the criterion for definition as a desert, more recent explorations and surveys have produced accepted boundaries and divisions of the North American Deserts. The major subdivisions are:

1. the Great Basin Desert of Nevada, Utah and vicinity
2. the Mojave Desert of southeast central California
3. the Chihuahuan Desert of north central Mexico and part of New Mexico/Texas (Rio Grande Valley)
the Sonoran Desert of California, Arizona, and Mexico

The so-called “coastal desert” of southern California will be treated in a future Landscape Architect & Specifier News article under its proper title of “Mediterranean Climate Zone of California.”

An Overview

Of particular note, are the seasons in which each desert receives the most rainfall, this varies from winter in some deserts (as one might expect) to summertime, as is quite often the case in others. Also of note, is the listings of typical plant materials found in each desert region, which may be helpful in beginning to learn plant communities and palettes for landscaping in these areas.

In future Xeriscape articles, we will further explore plant materials for use in these desert regions as well as some of the interesting plants which are native to these fascinating arid zones.

Mike Evans is co-owner of the Tree of Life Nursery, wholesale grower of California native plants in San Juan Capistrano. He has served on the Xeriscape Committee in California since its foundation.