Desert landscaping brings property owners its own unique set of opportunities and challenges. Fortunately, there are a very specific set of ways to make any garden flourish with our Nevada and Las Vegas landscape tips. This guide gives you the three best practices for desert landscaping and explores why these are the most critical factors to keeping plants at their best in a desert environment.
The maintenance of your lawn, growing the right type of plants and utilizing shade are the keys to beautiful landscaping and flawless gardens in Nevada.
Lawn Care and Maintenance for Desert Conditions
Keeping up with lawn care in desert conditions is tricky without knowing the right techniques. You must understand that any desert landscaping means working in a harsh environment. The most fundamental part of lawn maintenance in a place like Las Vegas is irrigation. Dry soil and extreme temperatures make keeping your garden alive and flourishing very difficult without an adequate irrigation system.
Even your drought-tolerant plants will require regular watering to stay healthy in a desert climate. The extreme heat and harsh conditions will be taxing to both your plants and sprinklers, so irrigation maintenance must be part of your routine landscaping practices. If your sprinklers get damaged or interrupted, parts of your garden will become vulnerable. It all comes down to understanding your irrigation system, the weather patterns, the soil you’re working with and the plants you have in your garden.
Water conservation is critical in desert environments, and effective irrigation management and maintenance is the best way to optimize water usage. Under or overwatering your plants is harmful, and a properly implemented and looked-after sprinkler system will ensure your garden is getting the exact amount of water it needs when it needs it.
Types of Flora to Grow in Las Vegas
The second most critical part of landscaping in the desert is knowing what you can grow. The following are some of the best plants for desert conditions in terms of aesthetics, durability and how easy it is to keep them flourishing and healthy:
- Wax agave: Wax agave are small plants that make excellent additions to rock gardens. They are hardy and easy to care for, making them a perfect accent plant to fill up space in your garden while looking great.
- Aloe vera: This popular succulent can easily reach up to 2 feet tall and is always a welcome, vibrant green addition to a desert garden. It thrives in both full and partial sunlight so you can find a place for it anywhere in your landscaping plan.
- Rainbow bitterroot: This colorful bitterroot variant can grow to be 8 inches tall and provides a variety of colors while in bloom. Soil that drains sharply is necessary for this plant’s survival, but other than that, it’s a great addition to a desert garden. Add an explosion of color to your garden with this cold-hardy plant.
- Moss rose: Moss rose blooms in the summer, which is when it will cover your garden in gorgeous colors like pink, white, purple and orange. These plants flourish in poor soils and are quite hardy. They can grow anywhere between 3 and 9 inches but are amazing for coverage and add a world of color to your garden in the summer.
- Red bird of paradise: This shrub grows beautiful orange flowers and can reach up to 6 feet tall. It needs full sun and has moderate resistance to cold, making it a must-have for desert gardens with good irrigation.
- Column cactus: The column cactus is great for those wanting to embrace the desert look. This plant can grow to be a whopping 12 feet tall and makes for a great focal point in your garden. As a cactus, it’s a hardy plant that is easy to care for.
- Yucca: Yucca plants make for a special and striking plant to include in your garden. They only flower every couple of years, but their green and gold color combo makes them a wonderful contributor to any aesthetic. They are great for filling up space, accentuating beds and growing easily with other plants. As one of the best plants for desert conditions, yucca is a staple of desert landscaping.
- Joshua tree: The Joshua tree is a type of yucca, but this variant is a true desert tree. Growing as large as 30 feet tall, this impressive plant can make a great focal point or grow with other plants. It requires little care, grows slowly and is synonymous with desert landscaping.
- Cascalote tree: More of a large shrub than a tree, this plant reaches around 20 feet by 20 feet when fully grown. This beautiful, vibrantly colored plant can thrive in the harshest conditions, handling slopes, dry washes and intensely hot temperatures. On top of being hardy, it produces beautiful blooms during the winter, making it a stunning must-have for any desert garden.
The Importance of Shade
Learning how to add shade in desert conditions is a major part of desert landscaping. There are countless ways you can creatively and stylishly add shade as a part of your property’s outdoor design. Clever landscaping and shading can help you establish microclimates throughout your garden to support different types of plants and create a more diverse outdoor area.
Using tall trees native to the area, like the Joshua tree, will help create shade to protect your plants and garden from the harsh sunlight. These plants also add visual interest and focal points for your landscaping design to work around and accentuate.
JTB Landscapers Can Provide Your Dream Desert Landscape Design
If you’re looking for a trustworthy, creative and respected landscape design service operating in Las Vegas and throughout parts of Nevada, rely on the knowledgeable team at JTB Landscapers. We offer a wide variety of landscaping services and features that can be customized to suit your dream designs. Elevate your backyard to the next level and boost your property value with our highly skilled team and expansive range of services.
Our team will meet with you on-site and discuss your ideas and the options available to you for no additional cost. Our designers have access to state-of-the-art technology and resources to create a high-quality digital rendering of your designs. Whether you want a completely new look or an update to your current landscaping, we can deliver. We’ll provide a digital rendering for anything you need so you know you’re getting what you want.
To learn more about what we can do, check out our long list of past projects in our gallery or connect with us by filling in a contact form. We are excited to help you design and maintain your dream landscape.