At a time when you may want to create an eco-friendly garden space, you may come across a thought. Are ornamental grasses drought tolerant?
Because of our generally arid climate and dry heat during warmer weather, drought-tolerant garden spaces are a genuine asset here in Australia. Having a low-maintenance garden space that requires little to no watering can be a fantastic way of ensuring that your home and outdoor areas stay nice and presentable year-round without having to worry about the costs associated with irrigation.
And the cherry on top when it comes to drought-tolerant gardens, is that they are usually perfectly complementary to native Australian plants, as well as the unique temperate and subtropical climates we have here in Australia. Simply put, we have the perfect natural environment and plant life for creating drought-tolerant gardens right here, so why not make the most of this abundance of resources and decrease your quarterly water bills to boot?
In this blog we will be discussing:
- Can garden water features be eco-friendly?
- Best drought tolerant plants to incorporate into your garden.
- Are ornamental grasses drought tolerant?
Read on to unearth all our favourite tips and tricks for cultivating your very own eco-friendly garden spaces, drought tolerant plants and answering are ornamental grasses drought tolerant for your very own garden space?
Can garden water features be eco-friendly?
It’s no secret that supplying modern water features to Aussie homeowners is a real source of pride for us here at Fountain Store. And with our extensive collection of water features boasting a range of different design styles, there’s sure to be a classical fountain, wall feature, or contemporary modern-style garden fountain to suit all types of homes across Australia. Better yet, to help guide you on how to design a garden.
But most importantly to address, are our water features eco-friendly?
Well they actually are for the most part, thanks to their modern water cycling systems that helps keep the water in your fountain running at a fast enough rate to reduce risks of your fountain stream accruing debris like dirt, dust, and plant matter, or falling victim to evaporation. This modern water cycling system effectively works to keep your water feature both looking and working great, alongside reducing the need to replace the water cycling through your feature as often as other generic garden fountains.
If you’d like a fountain for your garden that’s more eco-friendly than most, however, then we have to recommend our solar-powered water fountains. Fitted with solar panels to harness solar energy effectively year-round, our solar-powered fountains are the perfect eco-friendly alternative to traditional water features. As the fountains are solar-powered, they can also run without the need for power cables, allowing for greater flexibility with organising the layout of your eco-friendly garden.
Another option is to go for a smaller water feature than a larger fountain. Of course, the environmental benefits of going with a smaller feature is that you’ll likely use less power and water to run your fountain. Our wishing well fountains are a pretty popular option amongst those looking for smaller water features for their eco-friendly garden space.
Alongside using water- and energy-efficient fountains, your eco-friendly garden may also incorporate other ‘green’ technologies, like solar-powered lights and surprisingly ‘low-tech’ irrigation and fertilisation systems for plants that may still require a little routine watering, despite being relatively drought-tolerant. A good example here is using low-pressure drip irrigation to conserve water over other forms of irrigation like sprinkler systems.
Best drought tolerant plants to incorporate into your garden
Eco-friendly garden spaces are usually characterised by a few key design elements, some of which include incorporating drought tolerant plants over water-hungry plants, and ensuring that your garden space is self-sustaining, or is able to maintain itself with minimal interference or irrigation infrastructure. Let’s focus on drought tolerant plants to start.
Succulents and cacti tend to be a staple of drought-tolerant garden spaces, as these plants retain their own water, requiring little to no irrigation. In most cases across Australia, your succulents in outdoor settings can survive entirely off of rainfall, meaning you won’t have to water them at all. Succulents are also incredibly easy to propagate, and have no issue filling up any garden pots and planters that they’re planted in. Some of the best drought tolerant plants to use in your garden space include echeverias, agave plants, lithops, and stonecrops, just to name a few.
There are also many native drought tolerant plants that are sure to shine in any contemporary Aussie garden space, including Kangaroo Paw in all its many shapes, colours and sizes, wattle trees and shrubs that bloom gold in mid-winter, playfully bell-shaped correa shrubs, and the warm, evergreen tones of grevillea. And for those looking for more greenery drought tolerant plants, you can’t go wrong with some coastal woolly bush (also known as the ‘Australian Christmas tree’), gum trees, banksias, and some white- or yellow-flowering bottlebrush to provide more neutral accent colours for your garden space.
Are ornamental grasses drought tolerant?
When it comes to garden spaces, you may wish to address - are ornamental grasses drought tolerant? Fountain grasses and other ornamental grasses tend to be a highly popular addition to many drought-tolerant garden spaces for a few reasons. The typical golden colouring and cascading appearance of these ornamental grasses help provide soft and elegant yet still undeniably striking verticality to any modern garden space. But just because these ornamental grasses are golden in colour, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re always drought-tolerant.
As you question, are ornamental grasses drought tolerant? Or If you’re ever in doubt about whether an ornamental grass is drought-tolerant or not, it’s well worth considering the plant’s country of origin. Most sedge grasses and fountain grasses that are native to Australia tend to be drought-tolerant. Coastal variety plants are also virtually guaranteed to be both drought-tolerant and wind-resistant, as only plants with these hardy qualities can survive the stern breezes and coarse soil conditions that are found in coastal environments.
We do have a great variety of native and non-native drought-tolerant ornamental grasses like sedge grasses here in Australia that can easily be used to frame garden spaces or provide plant cover that requires minimal watering. In other words, ornamental grasses can be a fantastic substitute for traditional box hedges, which often require pesky upkeep and routine trimming.
If you’re not a fan of the visual noise that accompanies ornamental grasses, then you can still use your garden’s vertical space effectively by hanging some outdoor wall art on your garden fences or against the exterior walls of your home. It’s all about cultivating a balance in your design that works best for your unique garden space.
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At Fountain Store, we have a passion for helping Aussie homeowners create stunning, modern garden spaces that work with the environment rather than against it. Whether you are wondering, are ornamental grasses drought tolerant? We believe that the best garden spaces are those that are designed with the future in mind rather than mindlessly following trends. And there is truly nothing more future-oriented than creating an eco-friendly garden space, drought tolerant plants to complement your own Aussie home.
Explore our range of classic and contemporary Australian garden planters and other decor to help you create your very own drought-tolerant garden space today.
