Are you looking for low maintenance outdoor landscaping ideas?  Cool green grass is the first choice for most homeowners.  But that isn’t really practical today.  We should all have take care and concern about how we use our water.  Here are a few outdoor landscaping ideas that do not require constant watering.

One idea is to tear out the grass in the front yard.  Replace it with a woodland garden, patio or grassy meadow.  An alternate outdoor landscaping idea would be to create a natural looking pathway to the front door.  A woodland garden made up of natural stone surrounded by tiny wildflowers.  The walkway becomes more intriguing with a variety of small evergreen shrubs and delightful perennials lining the path.

The northern areas of the east and west have plant varieties that last all year around with little maintenance. One perennial that offers year round beauty is the hellebores that offers colorful blooms through the spring and summer.  Belonging to the buttercup family it will have almost 50 blooms on one small shrub that can grow up to 18 inches.

The southwest has been integrating drought resistant outdoor landscaping ideas using hardscapes of concrete, gravel or pavers.  They use a variety of plants in the cactus or succulent family that can be colorful and interesting.  A pergola is often added to create a nicely shaded area to enterain in.

In the west droughts plague the are from time to time.  Everyone should be looking for outdoor landscape ideas that don’t require a lot of watering.  Rosemary and lavender both smell and look beautiful in the front or backyard.  They will flourish with very little water or care.  In the west a “zero-scape” or hardscape of concrete or stone slab with a water feature could be installed.  Setting out two small chairs and a table for a sweet area to enjoy a morning cup of coffee.  

There are several online sites that give suggestions for native plants that would deffinately thrive in your region.  They will display photos so that you are then able to purchase them from the local nursery or even order the plants from these sites. A money saving suggestion would be to purchase small four inch potted plants instead of more mature plants.  They will fill in quickly and look great.