When we first moved into our house, 2005, we loved it but we were not too excited about all the grass. Our problem with grass was all the water and fertilizer that it requires. It is true that the Portland area gets lots of rain but it all falls in the winter. We have three summer months with very little rain.



Summer of 2007 we started removing the grass.



We decided to make a big swoosh with gravel and a bit of a hill on the house side.



By the end of the summer, 2007, we had all the grass out and low water shrubs in.


Here it is spring 2008. One of the keys has been to water each plant well for it's first summer. Once they are established we have been able to just let them go.



Here it is today, summer 2009. We are very happy with it. We will always be doing little things but it is basically done. We have met our goal of low water and low fertilizer. Xeriscape has not meant less work for us. We still spend time every week weeding and trimming. That is fine though we enjoy working in the yard.