Want to add cactus to your landscaping this year?
A drought has plagued many of the western states which receive their water supply from the Colorado River.
Experts are not sure how long this drought will last. The people in the area have had to make major lifestyle adjustments to reduce the amount of water used. Personal water use has been cut back by 25% as the cost of water has increased. Washing cars is restricted, and the farmers are having to cut back on water usage.
Watering the lawn is one of the biggest uses of water in a home, and many of the beautiful lawns are gone. Homeowners and farmers must get creative in order to maintain the lifestyle they want.
One of the more creative proposals is using native cacti. Homeowners know that a beautifully kept lawn is more attractive and improves home value. That’s hard to maintain in the middle of a drought if your lawn is the traditional lawn with lush green grass and beautiful flowers and shrubbery requiring lots of water. Homeowners often forego the traditional lawn by going to a desert motif. The amount of water needed to maintain it is drastically reduced, and it is much easier to maintain, requiring little fertilizer during the year. Some water districts offer rebates to the homeowner who wants to reduce water usage and opts for native cacti and other plants.
There are many different cacti to choose from, and the variety will vary from one location to another based on elevation and soil. Requiring much less water than azaleas or hydrangeas, they come in a wide variety of colors and heights. From the orange blossoms of the tulip prickly pear or the purple Johnson’s fishhook cactus, you have a vast selection to choose from . Use your imagination and turn your lawn into a desert oasis.
Man is adaptable, creative, and capable of finding solutions when problems arise. Although the drought is devastating for the country, either directly or indirectly, cacti may become a solution to the drought.
