Eryn Murphy, owner of Restorative Landscape Design, is on a mission to replace monoculture, water-thirsty grass in yards around Colorado. Her hands are regularly deep in dirt, tamping down dead grass and introducing plants like bee balm, evening primrose, scarlet gilia, prairie dropseed and tall thimbleweed – which grew across the prairie here before sprawling cities were built.

Still, lawns remain ubiquitous in American yards. It's a tradition that began more than two centuries ago with the landed gentry copying the landscaping of Europe's wealthy, and grass now dominates as the familiar planting outside everything from single-family homes to apartment complexes to office parks and retail malls.

Yet that grass is problematic in deserts and any place with limited water, such as the American West, where it won't do well without irrigation. As climate change makes the world hotter and triggers more extreme weather, including drought, thirsty expanses of groomed emerald are taxing freshwater supplies that are already under stress.

Enter xeriscaping — landscaping aimed at vastly reducing the need for irrigation, including by using native or drought-tolerant plants. (A utility here, Denver Water, says it coined the term in 1981 by combining “landscape” with the Greek word “xeros,” which means dry, to encourage reduced water use.)

The average U.S. family uses 320 gallons of water every day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Nearly a third of that is devoted to outdoor water use. It's even more for people with thirsty plants in dry places.

Even in areas like the Northeast or Midwest, where drought and water use aren't as problematic as in the West, less lawn means fewer pesticides and fertilizers washing into rivers, experts say. More native plants mean more rest stops and nesting grounds for pollinators like birds, butterflies and bees, which have faced serious population declines in recent decades.

Murphy said an ever-drier West due to climate change will require people to “do something” as lawns become less and less viable.

“Water is going to keep getting more expensive, your lawn is going to stop looking good. You’re going to have to open your eyes and say, what could I do that’s different and better?"

In a break from the work, Murphy reeled off a few of the different possible looks for low-water landscaping: a gravel garden with perennials, lush prairie, a crevice or rock garden with tiny plants growing in the stone features, a cactus garden.

“Really the sky is the limit in terms of your creativity and your aesthetic,” she said. “It's just about using plants that are supposed to be here.”

AP video by: Brittany Peterson

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