Would you like drought tolerant outdoor landscaping ideas?  Cool green grass is the first choice for most homeowners.  But that requires a lot of maintenance and water of course.  More and more of us are concerned about water conservation.  The outdoor landscape ideas suggested below are all drought tolerant.

We suggest you lose the lawn in the front lawn.  Instead have a woodsy garden, cozy patio or wild flower meadow.  An alternate exterior landscaping idea would be to create a natural looking pathway to the front door.  Turn the front into a woodsy garden that includes concrete or natural stone slabs.  The walkway becomes more intriguing with a variety of small evergreen shrubs and delightful perennials lining the path.

Living in the cooler climates of the North east through to the west will require planting some perennials that may bloom in the summer and others that blossom in the winter months. One showy perennial that does very well is the hellebores.  It belongs to the buttercup family and produces up to 50 blooms on a single small bush in the winter and early spring, that can grow up to 18 inches tall and wide.

The southwest has been integrating drought resistant outdoor landscaping ideas using hardscapes of concrete, gravel or pavers.  To add some interest they might use two different colors of gravel in their garden areas and plant drought loving cactus and succulents in differing colors, shapes and sizes.  A pergola is often added to create a nicely shaded area to enterain in.

The west can been severely affected by droughts every few years.  Those living in this area should be considering alternative outdoor landscape ideas.  Rosemary and lavender both smell and look beautiful in the front or backyard.  They require very little maintenance or water.  In the west a “zero-scape” or hardscape of concrete or stone slab with a water feature could be installed.  Consider it an intimate area to sip your cup of joe in the morning.  

A quick online search will produce tons of info on the type of plants will do well in your area with very little maintenance or water.  You can see photos of drought resistant flowers, shrubs, trees as well as fruits and vegetables. A money saving suggestion would be to purchase small four inch potted plants instead of more mature plants.  You will be surprised at how fast they grow into lovely adult plants.