How to Xeriscape Plants & Seeds
- 1). Consider the garden site where you'd like to plant your xeriscaped garden. You will want to know the average annual rain fall in your area, your growing zone, soil composition and the amount of sun your garden will receive every day.
- 2). Remove existing plants from the area, including grass, flowers or weeds. If possible, transplant the flowers to other areas of your garden.
- 3). Prepare the site by digging up the earth with a shovel and amending the soil with compost. This will improve the soil texture and drainage what ever the soil conditions. This is the time to amend heavy clay soils with coarse sand or add peat or similar organic matter to sandy soils.
- 4). Plan your garden. Even amateur gardeners have an idea what they'd like the garden to look like when they are done. Planting without a plan can lead to disaster. Trees must be planted at least 10 feet away from a structure and will provide shade to smaller plants. Bushes and some grasses can easily reach 10 feet tall and may obstruct the view of smaller plants. Draw a rough representation of your garden and pencil in how you'd like it to look.
- 5). Select you plants, checking the growing requirements for each. Some good suggestions are lavender, juniper, yarrow, sage, rudbeckia or lantana. Many xeriscaping plants such as rudbeckia can be grown from seed. Either start the seeds 6 to 8 weeks before you plan to plant your garden or sow directly into the ground; usually after all danger or frost is passed.
- 6). Plant your chosen plants according to your master design. Bury them at the same depth they were growing in their previous container or according to the seed packet information. Water well. Even drought tolerant plants need moisture the first year to develop a strong root system and seeds will need to be kept moist until the seedling appear.
- 7). Mulch only around the growing plants leaving the areas where you've planted seeds free of mulch until the seedlings are several inches high.
- 8). Prune plants to shape in the spring or winter depending upon the individual requirements. Remove spent flowers and eliminate any unwanted plants such as weeds throughout the growing season.
