Many people think that living in a desert city means landscaping your outdoor space is out of the question. After all, with sand as your soil, growing plants may be difficult. Moreover, your options in terms of vegetation to cultivate will be limited.
Additionally, with the hot weather conditions, you may find it bothersome to spend plenty of time outside caring for your plants and maintaining your outdoor space.
But even if your property stands on sand, you can still have an attractive outdoor space that is low-maintenance and makes your home more appealing. More importantly, you will have a yard that can serve as an excellent additional entertainment and recreational area for your family and guests.
Designing the perfect sandy outdoor space, though, can still be a challenge. Seasoned landscape contractors in the UAE with experience in desert landscaping can transform this area for you if you want a more appealing and functional yard.
Landscape contractors will share with you their expertise to ensure you have a beautiful and well-designed outdoor space. They also have a talented team and the right tools and equipment at hand to bring life to your design.
Designing Desert Landscapes
Although you can let your contractor handle the design of your outdoor space, consider these ideas and tips for achieving the perfect landscape in your desert home:
Opt for low-maintenance ground covering
Even if the property ground is made up of sand, it doesn’t mean that you should leave it as it is. You can introduce color to your surroundings with the right covering.
Certain varieties of grass, such as Bermuda, can grow in sand. This can be an option if you want one or more areas of your yard to have turf. Bermuda grass is also hardy and low-maintenance, and can survive in warm weather conditions. Because of this, they are the perfect ground covering for your yard.
You can also opt for stones and gravel as your ground covering material. They look more natural for a desert garden, and they drain quickly, too.
In addition, you can use colored pebbles to hide the desert soil. Choose white, gray, or black ones if you want your landscape to showcase a classic neutral look. If you want your yard to look lively and exciting, go for brightly colored stones such as purple and orange.
Choose drought-tolerant native plants
Plants need water to grow and survive. Unfortunately, the conditions in desert homes require you to water your flora more frequently to ensure they don’t die.
If you want plants that make your landscape more interesting but do not require frequent watering, choose drought-tolerant natives.
Cactus should be the first type of plant you introduce in your yard. They are resilient and drought-tolerant, thus making them perfect additions to your landscape.
Aside from planting them on the ground, have small varieties planted in pots and decorate them around your patio or deck.
Consider having your selection of cacti planted on raised beds as well. They look great as a focal point when they are placed in the center of the garden.
More importantly, the raised beds can prevent kids from touching the cacti and help them stay safe while they are outdoors.
Don’t forget to add succulents to the garden to make it more appealing. Warm yellow and red succulents such as aloe, golden barrel, and pencil plants are also attractive landscape focal points and can be potted or sown into the ground.
Showcase hardscape features
To have a more appealing yard, ensure the softscape is complemented by the right hardscape features.
Start by opting for traditional building materials like gravel and pebbles for pathways and dry-stacked stone walls. Concrete won’t be out of place for your driveway and other high-traffic areas outdoors, either.
If you want an outdoor entertainment area, have a patio or deck built.
A fire pit is another hardscape feature that won’t look out of place in your desert landscape. Aside from being an eye-catching outdoor fixture, it is something that will come handy for your barbecues.
More importantly, your fire pit can provide warmth when you and your family or guests want to stay outdoors at night. After all, it can get chilly at night in the desert.
Concrete slabs are excellent materials for a fire pit. Consider surrounding it with benches so that everyone can sit and be comfortable here during a gathering.
Include a water feature
Landscapes always look better and more impressive when they have a water feature. As such, consider having a pond included in the design. Surround it with water and plants to turn it into an oasis that will look great on your property.
A swimming pool will also be a welcome feature in your desert property. Aside from being an eye-catching focal point, it is the perfect place for you and your family to relax, refresh, and escape the heat any time of the day.
If you don’t want a pond or swimming pool in your yard, include a dry river bed in your landscape design. This is a feature that will work well in your desert home.
A dry river bed is a great way to embrace the local environment. It will also work as a visual focal point that you can use to accentuate the other areas of your yard.
Your landscaping contractor can create a simple dry river bed by making small changes to the gradient of your yard using soil. They will then fill the valleys of your river bed with gravel and stones.
To make this feature more appealing, they can surround the river bed with drought-resistant plants and flowers.
Incorporate shades
Finally, make staying and working in your yard more comfortable by ensuring it has plenty of shade.
Start by having palm trees planted around the yard. This type of foliage is drought-resistant and can provide shade all year round. As they continue to grow, their canopies will allow for the vegetation beneath to thrive and grow.
Additionally, include screens and pergolas in your landscape so that you can have a place where you can escape the heat when you are outside. Make sure your deck or patio is also shaded so that you can stay and be comfortable in your outdoor living space even while the sun is up.
Wood, hardwood, and aluminum are excellent materials for your pergola or patio cover.
If your home is located in the desert, you don’t have to stay content with your sandy and grey surroundings. With the help of your contractor and the right landscape design, you can have a more fascinating and comfortable outdoor space even in an arid environment.
