A quarter -century ago this summer, in the midst of a drought in Colorado, the term “xeriscape” was coined. Denver Water, the water utility for the city and county of Denver, was trying to promote a landscaping philosophy in tune with the semiarid climate of Colorado when they crunched together the word “landscape” and the Greek word “xeros” (meaning “dry”). Denver Water also developed seven principles of xeriscape: planning and design, limiting turf areas, selecting and zoning plants appropriately, improving the soil, using mulches, irrigating efficiently and doing appropriate maintenance.

“About 15 years ago I started hearing it,” said Shane Bunker, owner of Scenic View Professional Landscape for 23 years. “Before that, landscaping was junipers, pine trees and sod everything. I remember apartment-complex sprinklers that never shut off; they just ran 24 hours a day in the summer.”

Steve Loy, owner of Sun Maintenance Service Inc., has similar memories.

“Fifteen years ago , sod was rolled out onto the finished grade of new construction, and that was standard,” Loy said. “It didn’t matter because you were going to water seven days a week anyway.”

Loy was an early convert to xeriscape and ended up volunteering at the Xeriscape Demonstration Garden. The garden was still young when Ann Seymour took over as conservation supervisor in 1994.

“The garden, when I came, was just three years old, and the plants were filling in and growing up,” Seymour said. “The garden and the program were in their infancy.”

Seymour ran the Xeriscape Demonstration Garden until 2004 and saw the garden fill out—in terms of plants and popularity.

Nevertheless, it took another push by Mother Nature to force more people to adopt xeric principles.

Business Embraces It

In 2001 another drought hit Colorado, and xeriscape blossomed like a field of cosmos.

“When the drought first started, I thought my business would go away,” landscaper Bunker said, “and I had the best year of business ever in 2001.”

Bunker used to install rock, sod and sprinklers again and again. Suddenly, people wanted large patios, recirculating water features and perennial plant beds.

“Ever since the drought happened, landscape has become a lot more fun,” he said. “There’s so much more variety. People are spending more money on plants now than sod.”

Loy said the vast majority of his business is converting lawns to xeric landscapes.

“The drought really brought this whole thing to ahead,” Loy said. “Most of our business in the past five years has been renovations of properties—we take out massive quantities of sod.”

He often turns 5,000-squarefeet of sod into 1,000-squarefeet of sod, using the freed-up space for outdoor family rooms, fire pits and perennial garden beds.

“They’re lush and plush and green, and the water usage on those properties is way, way down,” Loy said.

Loy said most of his customers are well-educated about xeriscape, a change from just five years ago. They know the upfront costs of xeriscape will be higher, but they’ll save money on water and maintenance in the long run. He estimates that 50 percent to 75 percent of his customers have visited the Xeriscape Demonstration Garden, and many have taken classes.

That’s music to the ears of Ann Seymour. As sod around the city turned brown, the demonstration garden looked great, and homeowners noticed.

“I was thrilled to see how it thrived in those dry, hot years,” Seymour said. “It was away to prove to the world that what we have been telling them is true. It is good practice that makes sense in Colorado.”

And three years of watering restrictions may have changed some habits permanently.

“Gallons-per-capita consumption tells us that customers are not watering as much today as they were in 2001,” Seymour said.

How to Do It

Where do I start? This is Colorado Springs Utilities’ plan for getting started on axeric landscape. For more detailed information on each step, visit www.csu.org/environment/xeriscape/howto/index.html

Step 1: Creating a Base Plan—Create a drawing of your existing landscape to help visualize the areas of your property and how they relate to one another.

Step 2: Site Analysis—Evaluate existing conditions using a panoramic photo and a site inventory.

Step 3: Use Analysis—Determine your needs and wants for the new landscape.

Step 4: Schematic Planning—Decide where specific-use areas will be.

Step 5: Master Planning—Pull together all your work in Steps 1 through 4 in a final design plan you will use to create your drawings in Steps 6 and 7.

Step 6: Planting Plan—Choose plants to fit your master plan.

Step 7: Irrigation Plan—Design the irrigation system to fit your master plan.

Step 8: Phasing in the Landscape Design—Decide what must be done at once, what sequence to follow and what can be done in the longer term.

Step 9: Maintaining the Landscape—Commit to caring for your new xeriscape-inspired landscape.