A&E Hardscape & Construction
← Back to blog

Drought-Tolerant Landscaping: Plan, Plants and Costs

Utah xeriscape garden with layered low-water plants

Drought-tolerant landscaping means designing a yard around plants and layouts that thrive on little water, then irrigating only what needs it. The method that works is the same everywhere: shrink the lawn, group plants by water need, improve the soil, mulch, and irrigate efficiently. Done well, it looks intentional and lush, not like a patch of gravel.

Aandeconstructionutah
Build a Utah Yard That Lasts
A&E Hardscape creates durable outdoor spaces with retaining walls, paver patios, and outdoor kitchens, using an in-house crew for quality control.
Explore outdoor projects

TL;DR

  • Drought-tolerant landscaping is also called xeriscaping. It is a design approach, not a no-plants, no-work yard.
  • Seven principles carry the result: planning, soil preparation, right-sized turf, water-efficient plants, efficient irrigation, mulch and maintenance.
  • Efficient irrigation delivers about two-thirds of the water savings in turf-conversion programs, so the sprinkler system matters as much as the plants.
  • In Utah, rebates of up to $3 per square foot can offset part of a lawn replacement if your city qualifies.
  • Budget by the square foot and by the zone: turf removal, hardscape, plants and irrigation each carry their own cost.

Table of Contents

What drought-tolerant landscaping actually means

You will hear several terms for the same idea. Drought-resistant gardens are commonly called xeriscapes, according to UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. The same source draws a useful line: drought-tolerant plants thrive with minimal water or rainfall in a particular region, while drought-resistant plants can survive long stretches without any.

The word xeriscaping comes from the Greek for “dry” and “view”, and it centers on water conservation through suitable plants and efficient design, as the University of Florida IFAS explains.

One misconception is worth clearing up early. New Mexico State University points out that a xeriscape is not a no-maintenance, dry or barren landscape. It can be as labor-intensive as a traditional garden, just with far less water. That is good news if you like a garden with color, texture and structure, because nothing here forces you into a rock-only look.

The seven principles behind a good design

New Mexico State University outlines seven water-conserving principles of xeriscape. Use them as your checklist:

  1. Planning and design. Map sun, shade, slopes, utilities and how your family uses the yard before buying a single plant.
  2. Soil preparation. Match amendments to your soil and the plant zone.
  3. Appropriate turf. Keep grass only where it earns its place, such as a play area.
  4. Water-efficient plants. Pick plants adapted to your climate.
  5. Efficient irrigation. Drip and zoned controllers beat blanket spraying.
  6. Mulch. It cuts evaporation and weeds.
  7. Maintenance. Prune, check emitters and adjust the schedule by season.

Group plants by water need

Hydrozoning is the habit that separates a successful design from a struggling one. CSU Extension recommends grouping climate-appropriate plants by their water needs. The stakes are real: the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality notes that one high-water plant added to a drought-tolerant group can cancel the savings of the whole zone.

In practice, that gives you three bands:

  • Near the house and patio: a small “oasis” zone with higher-water plants you want to enjoy up close.
  • Mid-yard: moderate-water plants on drip.
  • Edges and slopes: the toughest, driest plants that should survive on rainfall once established.

Drought-resistant yard ideas that look good

The best-looking water-efficient yards are built on structure, with plants as the layer on top. The New Mexico Office of the State Engineer’s xeriscape guide advises reducing turf, grouping low-water plants in zones, using mulch, and designing functional spaces such as patios to fit your regional ecology and your needs. Here is how that translates into ideas you can actually build.

Replace the lawn with usable space

A paver patio, a seating area or a walkway gives you a place to be, which is what a lawn rarely does. A hardscape surface needs no water at all. If you want a fire pit or an outdoor kitchen, those become the anchor of the design, and plantings soften the edges.

Use boulders, walls and grade changes

Natural boulders add height and texture, and a retaining wall turns a slope that sheds water into a planted terrace that holds it. Terracing is especially useful on Utah’s hillside lots, where runoff wastes water and erodes beds.

Mix plant types for color across seasons

The University of Illinois Extension notes that xeriscapes can include succulents, prairie plants, ornamental grasses and cottage-garden-type plants. Combining them means something is blooming or showing structure in every season.

Choose a low-water ground cover

For the turf-replacement question, the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension lists buffalograss and blue grama among drought-tolerant grasses and also points to woody perennial groundcovers. Most groundcovers need little water and infrequent mowing. Check which varieties suit your elevation and winter lows before you buy, since a plant that thrives in a mild valley may struggle at higher altitude.

Lighting and structure

A few well-placed fixtures extend how often you use a low-water yard into the evening, and shade structures such as pergolas make a dry patio comfortable in July.

How to replace a lawn with drought-tolerant plants

The process is straightforward, and doing it in order saves money and plants.

  1. Measure and plan. Sketch the yard, mark the zones and decide which areas stay as turf.
  2. Kill or remove the grass. Washington State University Extension describes killing turf with glyphosate. It also describes leaving the dead grass in place under four inches of wood chips, then planting low-water groundcovers. If you use any herbicide, follow the label exactly and keep it away from the root zones of trees and shrubs you want to keep. Many homeowners prefer to have a crew strip the sod instead.
  3. Fix grading and drainage. Slope water away from the house and toward planting areas.
  4. Build hardscape first. Patios, walls and paths go in before plants so crews do not trample new beds.
  5. Amend the soil. The state engineer’s guide says compost raises water-holding capacity in the oasis and moderate-water zones, so add it where those plants will go.
  6. Convert the irrigation. Move to drip for beds and keep spray or rotor heads only on remaining turf. The WSU guide also suggests using shutoff valves on existing sprinklers to water new plants as needed.
  7. Plant, then mulch. Mulch reduces evaporation and limits weeds, according to the state engineer’s guide.

Do not skip the irrigation step

A research paper on turf-to-xeriscape rebate programs, “Cash for Grass”, found that efficient irrigation produced roughly two-thirds of the water savings, while the conversion of turf itself produced about one-third. The same paper reports that in Albuquerque, 17 percent of participants in a xeriscaping study used more water after conversion. The lesson is that a drought-tolerant yard on a badly run sprinkler system can waste water. Plants need a deep, infrequent watering schedule while they establish, then less each season.

Do not skip the irrigation step

Utah considerations and incentives

Utah has leaned into water-wise yards. Localscapes is a five-step method for residential landscapes in the state, and Plant Select reports that homeowners who reduce non-functional lawn, water more efficiently and use waterwise plants could cut water use by 50 percent or more.

Money is available too. The Utah Water Savers Landscape Incentive Program offers up to $3 per square foot of lawn replaced with water-efficient landscaping, with park strip, side yard and full yard options. Eligibility depends on your city, the grass must be living and maintained when you apply and at the first inspection, and work should not start before approval. Check the program page for current terms and eligible cities before you sign a contract or break ground.

Our perspective

After building outdoor spaces across Utah, from Cedar City to Park City, we see the same pattern. Homeowners who treat a water-wise yard as a plant swap end up disappointed. Those who treat it as a full design, with hardscape, grading, irrigation and planting planned together, end up with a yard they use and that costs less to run.

That is why we do the work with our own licensed crew and no subcontractors. A drought-tolerant project touches excavation, walls, patios, irrigation and planting, and handoffs between separate trades are where zones get mixed up and valves end up in the wrong place. One crew that owns the whole sequence keeps the schedule and the quality under control.

Our advice: decide what the yard is for first, keep turf only where you will actually use it, put the irrigation on drip, and spend a little more on structure. Walls, patios and paths are what make a low-water yard look finished in January, when the plants are dormant.

Blog

What drought-tolerant landscaping costs

There is no single price, because a project is a bundle of parts. A life-cycle view, like the one in Utah State University’s landscape cost model, counts site preparation, installation, annual maintenance and replacement, not just the day the crew leaves. That matters because a cheaper install that needs replanting or heavy watering can cost more over the years.

The main cost drivers are:

  • Size and access. Square footage and whether equipment can reach the yard.
  • Removal. Stripping sod, hauling debris and grading.
  • Hardscape. Patios, paths and retaining walls are usually the largest line items.
  • Plant density and size. Larger specimens cost more at install and less in waiting.
  • Irrigation. New zones, drip conversion and smart controllers.

Here are the ranges we publish for related work in Utah:

Item Our published range
Artificial turf $8-$20 per square foot
Irrigation and sprinkler systems $3,000-$8,000 per project
Concrete block retaining walls $25-$45 per square foot

Xeriscape design, paver patios and natural boulder walls are quoted per project because the site decides the price. We give free estimates, so you can compare a written scope rather than a guess.

Where artificial turf fits

If you want a play area or dog run that stays green with no watering, artificial turf installation is one way to keep the look without the irrigation. It is a design choice you can mix with real plants and hardscape.

Artificial turf dog run beside pavers

Keeping it healthy after installation

Maintenance is lighter, not absent. Plan on a few habits:

  • Water deeply and less often once plants are established, and adjust the controller by season rather than leaving it on one schedule.
  • Refresh mulch as it breaks down, and keep it pulled back from trunks and stems.
  • Check drip lines each spring for clogged or displaced emitters.
  • Prune and divide perennials and grasses on their natural timing.
  • Watch for creeping weeds in the first two seasons while plants fill in.

If your system is old, irrigation and sprinkler installation and repair is often the best first investment, given how much of the savings come from irrigation.

Plan your Utah project with us

If you want a water-wise yard designed and built by one crew, our xeriscaping and drought-tolerant design service covers planning, planting, irrigation and the hardscape that ties it together. We offer free estimates, and we also handle patios, retaining walls, fire pits and outdoor kitchens in the same project.

Aandeconstructionutah

See the full range on our landscaping page, or start with the hardscape options if you are replacing lawn with a patio. For the planting side, our softscape installation page explains how beds and planting are handled. If you are still comparing providers, our guide to landscape design services explains what to expect from a design.

FAQ

What is drought-resistant landscaping called?

It is most often called xeriscaping. The term describes a design approach built on water conservation, using suitable plants, efficient irrigation and mulch, according to the University of Florida IFAS. Many cities also use “water-wise” or “climate-appropriate” landscaping for the same idea.

What is a good drought-tolerant ground cover?

The best choice depends on your climate, sun and foot traffic. University of Arizona Extension lists buffalograss, blue grama and woody perennial groundcovers as low-water options that need infrequent mowing. Ask a local nursery or a landscape contractor which varieties handle your elevation and winters.

Does drought-tolerant landscaping mean no maintenance?

No. New Mexico State University notes that a xeriscape can be as labor-intensive as a traditional garden. The difference is water use. You still prune, mulch, check irrigation and weed, especially during the first two seasons.

Can I get paid to replace my lawn in Utah?

Possibly. The Utah Water Savers program offers up to $3 per square foot of replaced lawn in qualifying cities, and you must apply and be approved before starting work. Review the program page for current eligibility and rules.

Sources

← Back to blog