So much has been written— and misunderstood about low-water requiring plants. When the Denver Water Board established its Xeriscape program in 1981, combining the words "landscape" and "xeros" (which is the Greek word for "dry"), theintent was to promote the value of water savings while using colorful, sustainable, native and native-adapted plants to create lively gardens. The intent was not to limit the choice of suitable plants, but to expand the palette beyond the stereotypical rock-and-cactus desert landscape. (Not that there's anything wrong with that. If that's yout client's choice, go for it.)Very quickly the gardening public came to mispronounce this as "zeroscape" and unfortunately, the implication of zero interest stuck. As we well know, that need not be the case.There's a universe of xeric plants that require little maintenance and less water. They're tough, able to withstand extremes of soil types and ambient temperatures. They're reliable, offering rugged performance year upon year. And they're exquisitely colorful.
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