Xeriscapers Put Down Their Roots : Low-Water-Use Plants May Be a Good Way to Save the Yard With a Drought Just Starting

Your lawn is baked to a crisp, your hose running at a trickle and you must choose who gets a drink: The dog or the last begonia.

If this seems unthinkable, it isn’t to Nereus Richardson, acting manager of the Orange County Water District. With county rainfall for the year at just 47% of normal, Richardson warns, “We’re into the first year of a definite drought. This year, we’re asking you to conserve. Next year, we’ll be telling you.”

His suggestion for a head start? “Plant some low-water-use plants.”

Richardson is one of a growing number of water industry and landscape professionals, particularly during Water Awareness Week this week in Southern California, who are advocating the latest in Southland landscaping--”xeriscaping.”

Based on the Greek word xeros , meaning dry, the xeriscape method promotes “the conservation of water through creative landscaping,” according to landscape architect Lisa Iwata of San Clemente. Rather than planting thirsty exotics from wetter climes, landscaping specialists in xeriscape use Southern California natives and other drought-tolerant plants as a way “of living within our means,” Iwata said.

That is not to suggest living meagerly. “People imagine scrub brush . . . (but) a xeriscape can be colorful, fragrant and lush,” said Iwata, co-chairman of the 5-year-old Orange County Steering Committee for Xeriscape, which promotes the practice locally.

It can also ensure a landscape alive with birds and busy with butterflies. “These gardens bring back the native animals,” said Regula Campbell, whose Santa Monica firm designed a xeriscape at UC Irvine.

But if xeriscape isn’t all tumbleweed and cactus, neither is it emerald lawn, the bane of water savers. Mike Robinson of the Yorba Linda Water District, which recently started its own xeriscape committee, estimated that nearly half the water used in suburban Orange County goes for turf grass irrigation.

If Trends Persist

“We’d like to reduce non-functional grass areas,” Robinson said.

Therein lies the rub for some potential xeriscapers.

Mike Evans, co-owner of San Juan Capistrano’s Tree of Life Wholesale Nursery, which specializes in native plants, explained the Southland’s longstanding love for lawns: “Long ago, when Easterners came west, they brought their landscape heritage--lawns and English gardens.”

Now, Iwata said, many of her clients see replacing a lawn as “un-American.”

However, “they’re relieved when I show them alternatives. No one wants to spend every weekend watering, mowing and tending grass,” she said.

Yet if current population and water-use trends persist, there may not be any choice.

According to Fred Adjarian, Water Awareness Programs Administrator at the Municipal Water District of Orange County, the region’s water consumption will soar from about 189 billion gallons annually to more than 246 billion by the year 2000, when the county’s population will have grown by a projected 600,000.

While local water reclamation projects recycle about seven billion gallons a year for golf course irrigation and other uses, Adjarian said, a larger problem lies ahead. Three-fourths of the county’s water supply is imported, and its flow is expected to slow considerably.

Bob Gomperz of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California said Orange County’s imported water comes in roughly equal parts from two sources: the Colorado River and the State Water Project, which delivers water from Northern California.

Over the next few years, Gomperz said, Southern California will lose 60% of its current take of Colorado River water as Arizona, using a new aqueduct system, claims a larger share of the river’s flow. The region also could face a reduction of imported Northern California water once a three-year review of Sacramento Delta water rights is completed by the State Water Resources Control Board, Gomperz said.

Could Save 20%

Metropolitan is studying options for water sources, but in the meantime, he said, “Xeriscape is extremely important as a conservation measure.”

Although no definitive studies yet exist on its water-saving effectiveness, Gomperz predicted that if the entire Southland converted to xeriscape yards and gardens tomorrow, “We could save 20% of our overall water consumption.”

And the case for xeriscape is by no means impractical. The Tree of Life’s Evans speaks enthusiastically of creating “authentic gardens in harmony with their surroundings” by using, in large part, plants native to the area.

“California deserves to look like California,” he said, blaming the overuse of foreign plants for what he termed “the pasted-on look” of some regional landscapes.

Dr. Allen Cottle of San Juan Capistrano called such landscapes “generic-type.” Seven years ago, he and his wife, Dana, had one designed for a Spanish colonial-style home they were building on an acre of a former orange grove. Before they put it in, however, along came Mike Evans.

Struck a Chord

“He stopped by and said, ‘This is a special house. It deserves a special landscape,’ ” Allen recalled.

Dana Cottle said his suggestion struck a chord. “We ride our horses in the hills, and we’d noticed pretty things in nature that we wanted to enjoy at home. Mike showed us we could do that,” she said.

The Cottles now have a veritable paradise of native plants, combining local drought-tolerant varieties with some tropical specimens, and even a few water-loving blooms planted near a backyard creek. Palo Verde trees provide filtered light and pale yellow flowers. There are blooming succulents and paintbrush plants, and “huge outriggers” their palms have mysteriously sprouted.

“These plants will grow under the most inclement conditions,” Allen Cottle said. “You give them a little attention and they reward you with surprises.”

“We were too kind at first,” his wife added. “We overwatered, overfertilized; we killed some that way.”

Trial-and-error with planting, maintenance and irrigation helped them develop their present garden, which has generated keen interest among their friends. On walks through the native flora, they often ask Dana, “ ‘What’s that smell? Is it sage?’ Or they’ll say, ‘Ah, that reminds me of a manzanita.’ ”

She laughed at the memory, because, she said, “That’s exactly what it is.”

WATER CONSERVING PLANTS

Some of the many plants that are both attractive and water conserving are listed below. Some are native to Southern California; others come from regions with hot, dry summers and cool moist winters. Plants adapted to Southern California’s natural dry climate need less water than those plants normally found in wetter climates. * indicates California native plant. Flowering season indicated as (Sp) for Spring, (Su) for Summer, (F) for Fall, and (W) for Winter.

GROUND COVER--SLOPE Acacia redolens Prostrate Acacia (Sp) Arctostaphylos ‘Pacific Mist’ Pacific Mist Manzanita (Sp) Baccharis ‘Twin Peaks’ Coyote Brush* Ceanothus ‘Yankee Point’ California Lilac* (Sp) Ceanothus maritimus Maritime Ceanothus* (Sp) Iva hayesiana Poverty Weed* Lobelia laxiflora Mexican Bush lobelia (Su) Myoporum ‘Pacifica’ Prostrate Myoporum (Su) Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Prostrata’ Dwarf Rosemary (All) GROUND COVER--PLANTER BED, BORDER Arctostaphylos uva-ursi Manzanita* (W) Gazania hybrida Gazania (Sp-F) Grindelia stricta Gum Plant* (Su) Iris douglasiana Pacific Coast Iris* (Sp) Limonium pectinatum Petite Sea Lavender (Sp-F) Oenothera drummondii Cabo Evening Primrose (Su) Oenothera stubbei Saltillo Evening Primrose (Su) Ribes viburnifolium Catalina Perfume* (Sp) Sedum confusum Stonecrop (Su) ACCENT PLANTS Arctostaphylos densiflora Manzanita* (W) Cassia artemisioides Feathery Cassia (Sp) Ceanothus rigidus ‘Snowball’ Snowball Lilac* (Sp) Cistus species Rockrose (Sp) Eriogonum crocatum Conejo Buckwheat* (Su) Euryops pectinatus Gray-leaved Euryops (F-Sp) Salvia species Sage* (Sp) Sollya fusiformis Australian Bluebells (Su) Tagetes lemmonii Mexican Bush Marigold (Su) Tecomaria capensis Cape Honeysuckle (All) FOUNDATION PLANTS Arbutus unedo ‘Compacta’ Dwarf Strawberry Tree (W) Callistemon citrinus Bottlebrush (Sp-F) Ceanothus ‘Louis Edmunds’ Louis Edmunds Calif. Lilac* (Sp) Mahonia ‘Golden Abundance’ Glden Abundance Oregon Grape* (Sp) Rhamnus californica ‘Eve Case’ Eve Case Coffeeberry* (Su) Rhus ovata Sugar Bush* (Sp) Westringia rosmariniformis Westringia (W) HEDGES AND SCREENS Acacia cultriformis Knife Acacia (Sp) Calliandra inaequilatera Pink Powder Puff (W) Ceanothus ‘Frosty Blue’ Hybrid California Lilac* (Sp) Escallonia rubra Red-flowered Escallonia (Su) Feijoa sellowiana Pineapple Guava (Su) Grevillea noelii Noel’s Grevillea (Sp) Heteromeles arbutifolia Toyon* (Su) Mahonia nevinii Nevin’s Barberry* (Sp) Prunus lynonnii Catalina Cherry* (Sp) Rhus integrifolia Lemonade Berry* (Sp) Tecoma stans Yellow Bells (Su) TREES FOR PATIO Agonia flexuosa Peppermint Myrtle Cercis occidentalis Western Redbud* (Sp) Eriobotrya deflexa Bronze Loquat (Su) Geijera parviflora Australian Willow (Sp) Hymenosporum flavum Sweet Shade (Sp) Lagerstroemia indica Crape Myrtle (Su) Tristania conferta Brisbane Box (Su) TREES FOR STREET OR PARKWAY Cupaniopsis anarcardioides Carrot Wood (Sp) Eucalyptus sideroxylon Red Iron Bark (Su) Jacaranda acutifolia Jacaranda (Su) Liquidambar styraciflua (cultivars) Sweet Gum Lyonathamnus floribunda Island Ironwood* (Su) var. asplenifolius Parkinsonia aculeata Mexican Palo Verde* (Su) Pinus coulteri Coulter Pine* Pinus eldarica Mondale Pine Quercus engelmanii Mesa Oak* LARGE TREES FOR SHADE Cinnamomum camphora Camphor Tree (Sp) Koelreuteria paniculata Golden Rain Tree (Su) Melia azedarach China Berry (Su) Pinus torreyana Torrey Pine* Pistacia chinensis Chinese Pistache Quercus agrifolia Coast Live Oak* Quercus suber Cork Oak Schinus molle California Pepper Tree (Su) VINES Bougainvillea cultivars Bougainvillea (Sp-F) Clytostoma callistegioides Violet Trumpet Vine (Su) Distictis buccinatorius Scarlet Trumpet Vine (Su) Hardenbergia comptoniana Lilac Vine (Su) Hibbertia scandens Guinea Gold Vine (Su) TURF GRASSES Cynodon dactylon Common Bermuda Cynodon hybrida Hybrid Bermuda Paspalum vaginatum Excalibur Stenotaphrum secundatum Saint Augustine Zoysia ‘El Toro’ El Toro Zoysia Source: Municipal Water District of Orange County