Xeros. No, this is not the name of our latest comic book. It is the Greek word for dry. Phyte is Latin for plant, and botanists have put the Greek and Latin together to produce "Xerophytes," which are plants specially adapted to survive in dry environments. The Mojave Desert is a xerophytic environment and the plants that grow there are xerophytes (examples: cholla cactus, Palo Verde tree, desert willow, mesquite chilensis, jojoba, sage and germander). Gardeners have adopted xeros as a prefix, and the stuck it on the last half of the word landscaping to come up with "xeriscaping."

Hydro-zoning is the practice of grouping together plants with similar water requirements in order to conserve water. When our goal is to conserve water but still maintain an attractive landscape, both xeriscaping and hydro-zoning will become part of our overall design.

There are no plants which can survive without water! Xerophytes can survive with less water than other plants because they have special modifications such as small leaves, thick, waxy leaf coatings, spongy water storage cells and/or reduced metabolism. Even though a plant is labeled as drought tolerant, it will require the same care and attention as a conventional plant for the first year or two after its installation. After the second or third year, the drought tolerant plants will survive on less water than the average plant. As you replace water-dependent plants with xerophytes, you will eventually reduce water usage.

Lawns are probably the heaviest users of water in the home landscape. If you reduce the amount of lawn area and replace it with gravel, tanbark or rock fines, you will reduce--by a significant amount--the water used for irrigation.

In addition to reducing water usage, our goal is to produce an attractive landscape. If you are willing to devote a small extra portion of your water allowance to hydro-zoning some mesophytes (meso=middle), you can have a very attractive landscape. As you plan your design, remember Mr. Ed's Rule Number 14: Trees and turf don't mix!

The hottest, driest part of the garden will be the most exposed section; this is next to sidewalks, driveways and other open areas. This will be the area for your xerophytic planting. Prepare the soil in our recommended fashion (see our Soil , Its Care and Improvement Care Guide) throughout the entire area before doing any planting. There is no special soil for the xerophytes. For a tree in your xerophytic section, either mesquite or Palo Verde--with its mass of yellow spring flowers--will work. Bush germander, silk-tassel, rockrose, carpentaria, and lemonade berry are a few of the shrubs suitable for the xerophytic area. Long blooming plants are not common in xerophytic areas but a few choices are Aloe brevifolia, Aloe saponaria, artemisia, butterfly weed, chuparosa, spring starflower (bulb), lapeirousia (bulb), perennial sweet peas, and Queen Anne's lace. Most of these perennial flowering plants will survive on only winter rain. Plant shrubs and perennials in groups of the same kind, not by themselves, so they appear as they appear in nature.

For accents in the xeriscape, place boulders buried one-third to one-half their depth into the ground. Nothing looks more foolish than to place boulders on the surface of the ground, where they are referred to as cemetery stones. A few low growing grasses such as Stipa and Deschampsis planted around the boulders will enhance the natural feel of the design. For an extra bit of drought resistant color, some small lewisia next to the grasses will catch the spectator's eye. This xeriscape should be mulched with crushed rock such as 'Desert Gold' over a weed barrier.

A small piece of lawn (bluegrass, perennial ryegrass mix) would be permitted interior of the xeriscape. The two areas should be separated by deep curving bender board. Within the curves of the bender board and surrounding the lawn should be planted, low water requiring colorful perennials such as salvia, penstemon, lavender, gaura, Douglas iris and crane's-bill geranium. If you need another big, showy plant; 'Royal Purple' smoke tree is an excellent addition. All of these plants will need more water than the xeriscape but after the first few months, the lawn and the perennials will flourish on the same watering schedule.

The xeriscape plants and perennials should have one annual Valentine's Day treatment with an all-purpose fertilizer such as Formula 49.

All of the plants may need special care during the first year, but after that the automatic watering system should suffice. The xeriscape plants must be on their own watering schedule with drippers being most efficient and most economical. The tree, if used, must also have its own watering system. If properly adjusted, "pop-up" sprinklers can irrigate both the lawn and the perennial flower beds within the lawn curves. They too must be on a separate schedule. By selecting the proper plants, you will have created a xeriscape as part of the overall hydro-zone plan.

Hydro-zoning and xeriscaping will achieve the following goals:

• Conserve water
• Provide attractive planting options
• Reduce pest and disease problems
• Reduce fertilizer use
• Reduce pruning and maintenance

The perennial area and any other non-lawn and non-xeriscape areas must be mulched with 2 to 4 inches of organic mulch such as Forest Blend, Redwood compost, Fir bark, Gold Rush or Bumper Crop. These products will permit water and fertilizer to pass through to the plants. Avoid Gorilla Hair, which has low water permeability.

Your carefully planned water-conserving landscape will be as handsome as any typical landscape and will use only a fraction of the water typically required. The landscape will require fewer hours of your time for maintenance and will save money by reducing water bills, as well as fertilizer and pesticide use.

Cactus gardens or individual cactus plants in containers have become popular because of both their look and texture in a home or office setting. Cactus gardens captured in the right pot are dramatic and easy to maintain. So while a cactus garden would traditionally conjure up the image of big, spiky, cactus plants, grouped in a large outdoor area exposed to full sun, this is the image, but not the only possibility.

It is possible to have a cactus garden in a miniature setting, in an indoor area with only south facing windows. A cactus garden created from a combination of cactus and succulent plants that have no spikes at all would make an ideal indoor garden.

Wegman's has a large selection of both cacti and succulents to make an interesting garden or to begin a collection. Our Bedding Department also has a variety of succulent ground covers to fill in those bare spots. In addition, cacti and succulents are perfect for a barrier perimeter around your home.

Wegman's Bedding Department has a large selection of interesting grasses to use in containers or in your garden. Grasses have unique qualities of texture, color and types of blooms. Grasses are versatile depending on the variety they are ideal for a many applications from ponds, pools and water features to a xeriscape or containers. Here is a highlight of a couple of the many varieties available:

Scirpus Fiber Optic Grass
Scirpus cernuus is a great topic-of-conversation plant. This grass has slender green foliage with buff colored flowers on the tips. The flowers resemble the look of fiber optic lights! This is a plant that will do well near water or in moist soils. It has a clumping growth habit, reaching 10-12 inches tall with a 20 inch spread at maturity. This is a great grass for mixed containers, giving them both movement and interest.

Carex testacea
Green to coppery brown foliage with hints of orange leaves in fall and winter makes this sedge a superb selection for the year-round garden. Carex testacea self-sows, but is polite about it. In fact, Carex testacea are striking in many settings, especially paired with other colors such as oranges and rusts. Plant in partial to full shade. Average water needs.

Festuca Elijah Blue
'Elijah Blue' is a short-lived, low-growing, semi-evergreen, clump-forming ornamental grass noted for its bluish-green , finely-textured foliage. Foliage forms a dome-shaped, porcupine-like tuft of erect to arching, needle-like blades radiating upward and outward to a height of 6-8 inches (flower stems typically bring total clump height to 10-14 inches). Light green flowers with a purple tinge appear in terminal panicles atop stems rising above the foliage in late spring to early summer, but are not very showy. Flowers give way to buff seed heads. Plant in full sun or part shade; drought and heat tolerant.

Prop-a-Crop™
Prevent the limbs of your heavily laden fruit trees from breaking like this, with our patent pending Prop-a-Crop™. Until now, the savvy grower only had the choice of propping up their fruit-filled trees with a non-adjustable, bark scarring and tree damaging piece of wood. The Prop-a-Crop™ was designed to easily adjust to the desired height with a push of a button. The curved plastic "U-shaped" limb support minimizes any bark scarring or tree damage when holding the limb at the set height.

Bird Netting
• Prevents hungry birds from eating fruit, vegetables and berries
• Protects your harvest without harm to birds
• Reusable season after season
Keep your harvest safe without harming birds. Ross Garden netting has protective mesh covering keeps birds away from fruits, berries, vegetables and newly seeded gardens and lawns while its small openings prevent birds from becoming entangled. The netting is a durable UV-treated mesh that is easy to use and will last for years. Netting is available in various helpful sizes for trellis, garden, or trees.

Basket Fruit Picker
This handy tool will allow you to pick those juicy fruits off your tree without climbing a ladder! The fruit picker has a metal basket with plastic coating, and "fingers" which allow you to pick the fruit off its branch. The fruit then rolls into the bottom of the basket where a cushion breaks its fall. The basket itself is 1 foot long. The basket comes with an 8 foot, two-piece wooden pole.