Desert landscape ideas will help you to make the most of your garden without neglecting the environment issues.
You may have a limited selection of plants to choose from because of the certain climates of the desert.
Generally, you have to find some plants that can endure the temperature as well as the frequency of drought in a desert environment.
Living in a desert area may face you with troublesome soil composition as well since it is more likely to be sand-heavy and gritty. This matter will diminish your plant choices and landscaping even further.
However, you do not need to worry since the following desert landscape ideas will help to inspire on how to give a fresh touch to your garden.
Introduce Showy Succulents
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Many people consider desert gardens monotonous in color. However, it should not be a problem since you can add a pop of color by introducing colorful succulents.
Change the way you adorn your desert landscape by incorporating plants that lack vibrancy with some lively succulents in a range of different shades.
You can find succulents in various colors, including deep purple, blue, green, and orange. Other shades are also available if you need something unique.
Since succulent has been a popular plant for the last few years, it must be easy for you to find one that suits your desert landscape ideas.
If you find it hard to discover colorful succulents in nearby nurseries, turn to online suppliers who frequently offer more diverse plant varieties.
Play with Your Cacti
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Simple desert landscape ideas often include cacti and succulents on a check. Even though you will employ such a common plant, it does not have to be ordinary.
While your choice is limited to cultivating a cactus in the desert garden, consider contrasted its bright green attribute with a reddish-orange brick wall, as shown above.
The bold wall will set off the color of your cacti and help them shine even more. Besides, the brick can provide an eye-catching rustic backdrop for the green plants.
Complete the landscape by adding drought-tolerant trailing plants around or at the base of your cacti.
Considering that a cactus is robust, erect, massive, and chunky while a trailing plant is drooping as well as delicate, putting them together in a place can achieve extra contrast.
A series of contrasting attributes in this garden will make your desert landscape ideas even more fascinating.
Make Miniature Rock Gardens
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If landscaping a desert yard seems like an overwhelming task for you, creating a miniature garden in containers is probably of interest.
For instance, you can create a rock garden since it is ideal for desert temperatures. Besides, this will introduce aesthetic interest as well.
Container rock garden itself is capable of working well nearly anywhere in desert landscape ideas. You can situate one at the corner of your deck or line up a row of matching pots along an exterior wall for a boost of modern style.
Start by picking a pot of any size you like and pour in a mix of soil manufactured particularly for succulents or cacti.
You can also make well-draining soil yourself by blending up peat, sand, and compost. After that, choose a variety of cacti or succulents to display in the container garden.
Select a combination of different varieties to create an excellent contrast in these desert landscape ideas. However, make sure the plants are all small enough for your pot.
Since your plants will require some space to thrive and spread, do not try to overcrowd the container garden.
Then, bed the selected plants into the soil and incorporate several large stones amongst them to form a natural rock garden appearance.
Use several media to large rocks for creating the container garden. Once you have put all of them together, do not forget to add gravel or pebbles as a final addition.
Decorate with Ornaments
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If you are looking for inexpensive desert landscape ideas, taking advantage of cheap yet impactful ornaments can be a good solution.
It becomes a good practice to style your garden on a budget without overlooking your personality into the area.
You can use some old worn objects to adorn the garden with a rustic touch. However, if something antique is not your thing, consider incorporating a modern sculpture to boost the contemporary flair of this space.
Seamlessly integrate an ornament into the garden for a more harmonized look. However, you can also let it stand alone as a focal statement by itself.
The above desert landscape ideas show how an old wagon wheel gives an ornamental attribute to the garden.
For a more finished look, the owner places a climbing plant at the base of the antique wheel so that it will cultivate and wind around as the greenery gets longer.
Incorporate a Petite Palm
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Narrow spots of your yard can be hard to address in terms of landscaping, so overlooking them could happen frequently.
This image shows that you can make the most of small spaces too. With such narrow areas, your choice is not limited to ground level plants only.
You can opt for an eye-catching dwarf palm to add interest in a typically neglected spot. These desert landscape ideas are simple, but give the most modern look in your yard.
Complement the design with white pebbles to contrast the green palm nicely.
Colored pebbles themselves make a great idea to conceal the desert soil that may look plain due to its sandy composition.
Aside from white ones, you can also use black or gray pebbles for a classic, neutral look. Brightly colored varieties are available as well to introduce a fun touch in the garden.
Create an Orange Paradise
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Those who need backyard desert landscape ideas should look at this picture for some inspiration.
Featuring several eye-catching plants, what sets off the look the most is the bright orange gravel scattered all over the ground.
The purple gravel contrasts against the brilliant green of the leaves seamlessly. It also brings a splash of color to the desert landscape ideas here that typically seem dreary.
If orange is not your cup of tea, consider selecting any color of gravel to cover the ground. Adapt these desert landscape ideas to meet everyone’s preference.
While bright colors tend to give a more playful vibe, neutral ones can bring an elegant look to your garden.
Avoid adding too many colors to your landscape since they will compete for attention and look messy at the same time.
Adding a layer of material over the soil does not only offer visual interest but also some practical benefits.
You can count on the gravel to provide an additional layer of insulation to defend roots from extreme weather.
Besides, it helps to maintain moisture in the soil as well, result in better evaporation prevention. Thus, you do not need to water your desert plants more frequently.
This one of the desert landscape ideas will be useful as the environment rarely get rainfall.
Get Reflection Retreat
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Dry, dull, and dusty are three common words to describe desert gardens. However, you can now change the way it looks by applying one of the most relaxing types of design.
As you can see in this image, the desert garden does not appear dusty or dry. Instead, it has a soothing reflection pond as its focal point.
It can be a perfect alternative to desert landscape ideas with pool. With a mix of cacti and other drought-tolerant plants around the pond, the design looks exceptionally stunning.
If you expect your garden to become a favorite spot for relaxing, incorporating a reflection pond cannot go wrong.
A rectangle or square pond brings a mood of stillness to the mind, and it will be an ideal setting to practice outdoor meditation as well as yoga.
The good news is that a reflection pond can be suitable in nearly all sizes or shapes of the garden. Once built, it also requires low maintenance, so you can spend more of your time enjoying the water feature instead of cleaning.
Add Fashionable Water Features
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Do you have a wide outdoor space to fill? Then, incorporating a variety of water features can be a good choice.
This one of the desert landscape ideas may cost much since you have to purchase various materials to get them installed. However, once established, there is no need to worry about their maintenance.
Moreover, water features can be a perfect solution if you do not wish to deal with the hassle of taking care of a yard full of plants.
You can create several small water features to display a modern style while leaving enough space to add another landscaping idea.
Small water features will also create an intriguing look without dominating your outdoor space. Consider including contemporary sculptures to get a high-fashion look in the desert garden.
For instance, you can go for elongated stainless steel pyramids in the middle of the water feature for extra interest.
Have Contemporary Desert Landscape Ideas
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Do not let a small space limit your desert landscape ideas. With the right designs, you can have a modern and calming spot that is almost maintenance-free in the garden.
Opt for a collection of plants and trees in various sizes as well as shapes. The dissimilarity in heights between one variety and others will add interest to your desert garden.
Although trees can be costly to cultivate in a garden, it will offer a big impact, particularly in narrow spaces.
Then, to complete the modern style, you can cover small pebbles onto the ground. They can be a smart way to upgrade your desert garden instantly.
More importantly, layering with pebbles does not require you to break the bank. Besides, they will provide a fresh backdrop for your plants and aid them to stand out more.
Incorporate Patterned Pebbles
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When it comes to front yard desert landscaping ideas on a budget, incorporating pebbles remain one of the best solutions.
If you want to go to the next level with this idea, try laying the pebbles in patterns for a bigger impact.
You can use dark gray and white pebbles to form a chessboard pattern on the ground. Once complete, your desert garden will become an envy of the neighborhood.
To help with the process, you may like to set down garden twine and fix it with pegs. Utilizing a sharp garden tool to outline a pattern in the soil can be a good alternative too.
Once you are fine with the outline, fill it with the colored pebbles. Other desert landscape ideas may include geometric patterns and stripes as well.
Keep Potted Plants
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Do you find it hard to infertile soil in your desert area? Do not worry since there is still a way to make the most of the garden by keeping potted plants.
Creating a row of potted plants makes a great alternative if you are not prepared to boost your soil quality.
Many cactus variants grow well in containers. However, you may need to narrow the choice to a somewhat small cultivar to prevent your container from toppling over once the plant gets tall.
These desert landscape ideas are flexible since you can place them in any arrangement. Since they are not permanent, simply relocate the plants if needed.
For a uniform look, consider picking several identical containers and plant your cacti in a row. Meanwhile, if you are into a more traditional style, simply put mismatched pots together in a range of sizes.
Opt for Raised Cactus Bed
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It is one of the simplest and adorable front yard desert landscape ideas with cacti. Instead of the usual flowerbed, this one takes advantage of a raised bed.
It offers a perfect solution if you are concerned about the dangers of children or pets touching the spikes of the cacti as well.
With a variety of cactus plants that thrive well in a desert climate, you only need to support the lack of rainfall with infrequent watering.
To get the most of these desert landscape ideas, make sure to keep the height of your raised bed out of small children and pets reach.
You can turn the raised bed into a focal point of your garden by constructing it in the center. Otherwise, consider flanking the area with elevated borders full of cacti.
Cope with Sloping
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Many homeowners consider sloped gardens challenging to adorn. While you cannot transform them into a space for children playing or outdoor dining, creating them into useful flowerbeds is still capable.
Choose a selection of drought-tolerant plants that can survive in desert situations and will not require too much maintenance.
To create an exciting aesthetic, consider selecting several plants with different heights. You will grow shorter varieties at the lower end of the slope and the taller ones at the higher position later on.
When planted, complete the desert landscape ideas with pebbles as they can provide your slope a more finished look.
Besides, pebbles will also help to determine the boundaries between a flowerbed and another.
Light Your Garden Up
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Incorporating lighting in the garden is a cost-effective approach to update the mood and look of your outdoor space instantly.
You can set up the mood of your garden, either lively or romantic, by adding lighting. It does not have to be a decoration for holiday festive only as this item is suitable to adorn an outdoor space all year round.
Luckily, lighting is available in many types, ensuring everyone can find something that works for their desert landscape ideas the most.
Solar lights are particularly popular for garden uses since they can power themselves with sunlight. Thus, you do not need to access electric power or get incurred an extra running cost with them.
Meanwhile, string lights secured around the branches or trunks of trees are also common, as many people find it very effective and effortless to achieve.
However, you can use your creativity to decorate with outdoor lighting in another approach. Do not hesitate to take advantage of spotlights, lanterns, or other lights to illuminate every side of the garden.
White lights as a guide will give your desert landscape ideas a very vibrant mood and work exceptionally good for parties.
On the other hand, yellow lights are warm and offer a softer as well as more romantic atmosphere to your garden.
Bold and Beautiful Desert Landscape Design
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If you are fortunate enough to own a wider space to work with, selecting what to add to the desert landscape design can be challenging.
One of the best approaches is to go big by incorporating large cacti and succulents. A spread of these plants can make a perfect statement in your large garden without requiring high-maintenance.
You can space each plant apart, so there will be no need to spend much money purchasing various varieties.
Besides, it allows the creation of extra pathways in between the plants. Thus, you can easily access the garden for maintenance purposes or simply enjoy the property.
Finally, if you find this article helpful or someone out there may enjoy it too, feel free to share. Let them know your favorite desert landscape ideas as well! Happy gardening!