Weidner: What should we choose, xeric, water wise, or native?
As we find ourselves in the heat of another growing season many of us are trying to choose our new plants wisely. We are looking for beauty, water efficiency, and pollinator supporters. If they can also maintain themselves and make us some lemonade, that’d be great but no one’s holding their breath.
With so much focus on planting better options and creating spaces that can still look good, even in our mid-summer Pueblo heat, I wanted to clarify a few of the terms being thrown around out there and discuss some great options for anyone looking to add new plants to their yard this year.
Xeriscaping is a phrase coined by the Denver Water Department in 1981 and boils down to landscaping with water conservation as a major objective. The derivation of the word is from the Greek “xeros,” meaning dry, and :scape" meaning the pattern of the landscape — thus, xeriscaping.
Today, the word is often replaced with the term "water wise," likely because xeriscaping is often misunderstood and morphed into "zero-scaping" creating a misconception of plants that need no care or irrigation and the presence of a lot of rock.
Water wise, on the other hand, combines multiple principles:
• Planning and designing for water conservation, beauty, and utility.
• Hydrozoning (planting plants with similar water needs together).
• Watering efficiently with appropriate irrigation methods.
• Creating practical turf and non-turf areas.
• Improving the soil.
• Mulching to reduce evaporation.
• Maintaining using good horticultural practices.
The other designation that many of us are looking for these days is "native" which is defined by the Federal Native Plant Conservation Committee in 1994, as a plant species "that occurs naturally in a particular region, state, ecosystem, and habitat without direct or indirect human actions". So essentially, a native plant can be xeric or water wise but a xeric or water wise plant is not necessarily native.
Really, when it comes down to it though, it doesn’t matter what you term the plant, as long as it performs well in the place that you put it. The benefits of including xeric and water wise plants include better drought tolerance, meaning that you don’t have to water them as much as other options and they’re more likely to thrive in the hot and dry parts of your yard while still looking attractive.
Native plants come with even more benefits such as promoting and providing pollinator habitat including supporting increased diversity. Pollinator specialists that only feed on a limited number of plants are also better supported by the addition of native plants. These plants tend to have fewer pest and disease issues which means they’ll require fewer control inputs from us. Because they have evolved here over time, they are also especially adapted to our climate, soils, and environmental conditions in ways that introduced plants just can’t be.
If you are interested in incorporating any of these great plants into your yard, there are a few things you can do to find easy success. First, think about the microclimates present in your landscape and identify where plants that like a lot of sun and heat may be best sited. Next, identify what kind of irrigation is in place and whether it would be suitable for the type of plant you’re considering.
Overhead sprinklers are fine for plants with moderate to high water needs but drip irrigation is preferred for most water wise plants. Native plants can span the spectrum of extremely low water needs to very high ones so rest assured, there’s a plant out there for your space, you just need to figure out who it is.
Please remember that for the first one to two years you will need to monitor your new plants and apply extra irrigation while their root systems are getting established. After this period, the plants should be much more stable and will handle and prefer less water in the case of xeric and water wise options.
You will want to mulch around your plants with rock being a good choice for heat-loving plants that don’t mind drier conditions and wood, leaf, compost, or even pine needle mulch for plants that like it a bit more moist. Any stone used for mulch should be smaller than a half-inch in diameter for the benefits of water conservation and weed suppression and generally, you will want to apply between three and four inches of mulch, whatever kind you choose.
If you are looking to bring home a new tree but aren’t sure about what would be a good fit, I encourage you to check out the newly updated Recommended Trees for the Front Range publication. You can find it at: planttalk.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-Front-Range-Tree-List.pdf
Some of the trees that will do well in more water wise spots include Rocky Mountain Juniper, Arizona Cypress, Pinon Pine, Bristlecone Pine, Kentucky Coffeetree, Western Catalpa, Hackberry, Tatarian Maple, Hawthorns, Burr Oak, and Gambel Oak.
Good shrub options can include varieties of Serviceberry, Red Twig Dogwood, Buffaloberry, Fernbush, Currants, Mountain Mahogany, New Mexico Privet, Chokeberry, Sandcherry, Apache Plume, Rabbitbrush, and Manzanita.
For perennials, consider Chocolate Flower, Gayfeather, Desert Four O’Clock, Agastache, Penstemon, Bee Balm, Blue Flax, Rudbeckia, Gaillardia, Goldenrod, Ratibida, Purple Prairie Clover, Jupiter’s Beard, Salvias, Catmint, and native Primroses.
Even though I’ve listed some very nice options, please remember that many of them come in different varieties that may be better suited to the needs of your landscape. You can also consider including cactus species and some of our native grasses such as Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Sideoats Grama, Blue Grama, and Indian Grass.
If you want to see how these plants actually perform and what they look like, visit waterwiseplants.org/find-a-plant, the database for the Colorado Springs Utilities Demonstration Garden plants. It’s a fantastic resource!
Unlike when xeriscaping was a new term, there is a decent selection of water wise plants on the market now and it’s growing every year. Go check out what our local garden centers have to offer and if you want something they don’t have, mention it so they can consider including it in the future.
Enjoy the process of incorporating these different and beautiful plants into your yard, the rewards are rich!
Amanda Weidner is the horticulture specialist at the Pueblo County CSU-Extension Office. She can be reached at 719-583-6581 and weidnera@pueblocounty.us.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Weidner: What should we choose, xeric, water wise, or native?
