With numerous municipalities and states considering or enacting strict limits on residential grass, you may have considered ditching your home’s turf. Xeriscaping — or designing a landscape that needs little irrigation to survive — is no longer a radical idea, even if you don’t live in an area where lawns are being restricted. Traditional lawn grasses are thirsty. Because of shallow roots, they need anywhere from 20 to 60 percent more water than other plants in your yard to appear green and lush, says Haven Kiers, assistant professor of landscape architecture at the University of California at Davis. The shallower the roots, the faster the grass dries out and the more water it needs, which is not ideal when parts of the country are coping with drought.
