The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors recently voted 4-0 to develop an ordinance that would require new construction, such as housing developments, to plant drought-resistant or native greenery.

Only unincorporated county land would be affected.

The move could save up to 70 percent of the water use for a single family home, according to an official for Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who called for the ordinance.

“Seventy percent of the average home’s water use is outdoors, for landscaping,” said planning deputy Paul Novak.

He said replacing all the landscaping with drought-tolerant plants could bring outdoor water use down to practically zero.

However, that doesn’t mean planting a lawn full of prickly pears, said Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens’ horticultural outreach coordinator, Barbara Eisenstein.

“When people hear `drought tolerant,’ the first thing they think is, `Oh, no, I’m going to have to have cactus in my yard,”’ she said. “And that’s not the case.”

Impatiens, azaleas, most roses and lawns don’t work, she said. But California lilac, poppies, lavender, rosemary, a variety of sages, monkey flower, manzanita, deer grass and Bermuda grass are among the plants that do. They can be hard to find in local nurseries, which makes them more expensive at the outset, Eisenstein noted.