Mix water-wise lawns with paving and drought-tolerant gardens.

If you want to make your garden water efficient there are lots of ways you can turn water-wise gardening into landscape beauty. You can channel water into useful yet decorative recycled ponds, dry riverbeds for drainage and water storage areas. You can plant drought-tolerant gardens or design in artistic permeable paving. Removing lawns is the most Eco-friendly way to garden, but if you really want to have grass, you can keep your lawn confined to areas where it is most useful and plant it with drought-resistant types of grass.

Here is a list of some of the better grasses you can use for drought-resistant gardens:

• Fescues: creeping red fescue, hard fescue and chewings fescue – best in northern gardens or as cool season grasses (can be mixed with Kentucky Bluegrass or Perennial Ryegrass)
• Bermuda grass
• Zoysia grass
• Buffalo Grass
• St. Augustine – best for dry winter areas
• Bahia grass
• Centipede grass – best for shade
• Also look for special mixtures of drought-resistant blends specifically made for your area like EcoGrass™

Give your grasses regular lawn care and make them useful rather than just filling in spaces.

For areas with a lot of traffic or difficult upkeep like pathways, dog yards or golf putting greens, you might want to check out some of the interesting artificial lawns being produced. Fake grass now comes in a selection of interesting and realistic textures and hues. When properly laid, these synthetic lawns will only need an occasional hosing down to keep them clean and handsome.

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