Xeriscaping is a term that?s getting a lot of use, particularly in light of stratospheric water rates. Most people intend xeriscaping to require significantly less water, but few people can say exactly what it is, much less pronounce it.

First of all, it's pronounced as if the "x" were a "z"; using the Greek root "xeros" which means "dry". Think of the word as "zeriscaping". (If someone calls it "ZEROscaping"...you'd be wise to walk away briskly, since it has nothing to do with "zero" anything.) It certainly doesn?t mean no water, it means a minimum of water ? used efficiently.

It originated with the Denver water department, in their effort to get users to conserve water. In addition to using water-efficient plants, it also concerns landscaping practices that are based on a bare minimum of water usage. A yard that?s truly xeriscaped not only conserves water, but is good-looking, protects the environment, reduces water waste, and will cut your utility bills. It revolves around seven principles, which are;

1. Start with a plan. Develop a plan that divides your yard into areas of similar water needs: one area for low water, one for more water (like lawns & flower beds), one for watering occasionally by hand, one for no water (like decks & driveways) and so on. Commit this "master plan" to paper, tack it on the wall, and let it guide your every move even if it takes several years to get your landscape the way you want it.
   
   
2. Improve and analyze your soil. Most soil around Denton could stand some improvement. Check with the County Extension Agent (565-5535) or a local nursery. Compost, certain organisms, crushed volcanic rock...may help your plants utilize water more efficiently. (Personally, I use old leaves, chopped up with a lawn mower, as a natural, free soil improver). Fundamentally, you should alter your landscaping practices to coordinate with our environment, rather than attempt to alter the environment drastically?including the soil.
   
   
3. Use practical lawn areas. Reduce your lawn to a size you actually use and can reasonably care for. It takes roughly an hour each week of the growing season to maintain each 100 square feet of lawn you have, and a lawn demands about ten times as much water as established ground cover or a shrub mass. That?s expensive! Unless you shrink your lawn's size greatly, following the other xeriscape principles won't help you much.
   
   
4. Select appropriate plants. Using water-efficiency as a guide, select native plants or plants from other parts of the world that are adapted to north Texas' harsh temperatures and low summer rainfall. These are the plants (and there are hundreds of them) that will be fairly self-sufficient, and need very little extra water (other than normal rainfall). Carefully selected plants require a lot less soil amendment and fertilizer, too. Several nurseries have good selections, and Keep Denton Beautiful selects a "xeriscape yard-of-the-month" (featured in this newspaper) that may give you some good ideas.
   
   
5. Water efficiently. When you water your plants, water deeply - letting it soak deep into the soil (several inches at least), not run off into the gutter. Doing this on a weekly basis uses less water overall than watering a little bit every day, and results in healthier plants. And try to water early in the mornings, when the temperature is lower, wind is calmer, and all that expensive water is less apt to be wasted through evaporation.
   
   
6. Use an organic mulch. A layer of mulch greatly reduces water loss and weed growth. It's available aat the landfill from Denton's Water Reclamation Plant, or a local nursery. Or just shred old leaves to create a natural mulch. Make sure to put about a 3" layer of it around new plants (in a doughnut shape), and refresh it every few months.
   
   
7. Maintain appropriately. A properly maintained landscape is better able to withstand drought, pests, and will reduce water demand. The key is to avoid over-maintaining a yard, so that it looks orderly, but is extremely wasteful. Avoid traditional practices such as cutting lawns and hedges unnaturally low, vigorously raking away all natural yard debris like leaves, pruning more than you really need to, killing all the insects in your yard and putting out a lot of artificial fertilizer. All waste water!
   
   

Those are the seven xeriscape principles. They're not difficult, expensive or elaborate. In fact, they're simply common sense. Actually, some people may already have a xeriscaped yard and not realize it, using only their well-tuned sense of logic as a guideline.

Other homeowners would like to redesign their yard into a xeriscape, but face neighborhood design committees or deed restrictions (perhaps written decades ago) that say they have to have a lawn. First, I?d want to know what a "lawn" is legally defined as. Then, although I?ll gladly admit to not being a lawyer, I?d feel obliged to question the legality and enforceability of any rule that requires a homeowner to spend a lot of extra money and restricts basic Constitutional rights. I?d think that as long as your newly-xeriscaped yard is attractive and well-maintained, you?d be getting no visits from any grass police.

Most people can apply the xeriscape principles to their house. But these seven principles (with accommodations for functionality) apply equally well to the landscapes of apartment buildings, stores, office buildings, places of worship, and so on. Use them and your utility costs (especially your water bill) should go way down over the long haul. And you'll have an attractive, low-maintenance yard all summer long, while other yards turn brown in the Texas heat.