Take a close look at the typical suburban backyard to your left. Look familiar? Big lawn; thirsty shrubs leaky, mid-yard sprinkler heads. They’re all major water wasters. It takes a lot of sprinkling to keep grass green through a hot dry San Diego summer. So the bigger your lawn, the higher your landscapes water requirements. To make matters worse, misaligned sprinkler systems often squander water on fences; sidewalks, the house or the street, there is a better way. Retrofit your landscape. A xeriscaped redesign will look better, serve you better, and drastically reduce your water use.

Here’s what we mean. For starters, In the photo above to the right,there’s much less lawn area in the retrofitted design. In its place, a larger patio provides versatile outdoor space for backyard relaxing and entertaining. Grass is used only where it’s needed, not as a fence-to-fence ground cover.

In corners and along edges, drought-tolerant shrubs and creepers make sensible and attractive alternatives. Sprinkler heads line up for a maximum efficiency, delivering equal amounts of water to each area of lawn without overspray. And finally, drip irrigation takes the little bit of water needed by shrubs and ground cover directly to each plant, eliminating wasteful runoff and evaporation.