Xeric Garden StyleXeriscaping and Dry Garden DesignDefining your xeric garden style will depend greatly on your own personal style, and on the style of your house or other buildings on your property.Slavishly copying someone else's xeric garden style is not necessarily right for you, but you can take ideas from garden styles of other countries, xeric or otherwise. Form a foundation around that central idea and leave out the parts that don't appeal to you. A mish mash of styles will not make an appealing garden; there still needs to be coherence and cohesion. Too many differing styles will create a sense of unease, so keep to one or two types of textures in your paving, retaining walls and other hardscaping. Using wood chips and wood blocks and boardwalks will combine to form a rustic feel. Granite chips combined with concrete pavers, or red clay bricks with lava rock mulch all blend together in a harmonious grouping. Various areas of your garden can have different styles as long as there is enough space between them, or some feature that will give some consistency to your style. If you want to accent your xeric garden with a pond, a Japanese bridge, and a dry streambed, these can all be tied together with a certain theme. This will give the design of your xeric garden consistency. Landscape design ideas can be found in many magazines - start a scrap book with the landscaping plans that appeal to you. Find the xeric garden projects that will define your style.
Mulching with a material that complements all the other features is the finishing touch.
You'll never hear the gush and gurgle of a mountain stream, but your imagination can easily fill it in the blanks. The illusion of the burbling brook is real, even before any planting is done.
I love landscaping with rocks, and keep an eye out for interesting specimens that can be used to make unique focal points either alone or in a group. Pinning down your xeric garden style can be as simple as recognizing the universal attraction to water and adding a unique and interesting water feature to your plan.
Visualizing your Xeric Garden StyleWhatever path the inspiration takes, using your instincts can help you to pin down the xeric garden style that most appeals to you. Using a technique I like to call 'cogitating' or visualizing is most useful.Cogitating consists of staying still in a comfortable place and letting the landscape speak to you. It's not mysterious, it's just your inner animal having its say. Listen to it, as it's quite often right.
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Xeriscaping - Landscaping with Less Water
Gardening with a Light Hand on the Land
The focus is on landscaping with easy care drought tolerant plants like Sedum, Sempervivum and thyme and using natural materials to build rock retaining walls and it's easy to see why.
It used to be that once in a while these kinds of plants would come to the fore, and successfully maneuver dry summers, but now it's obvious that these are the most suited to what is becoming the norm.
Interested in learning how to build a patio? See this page for patio design ideas.
Seeing how beautiful these unique landscapes are and how well they perform in challenging conditions will encourage others to find unique plants to use in their own xeric garden.
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