Drought-Tolerant Landscaping Ideas

Thymus serpyllum (Creeping Thyme) creates an excellent ground cover between the flagstone pavers in this unique garden pathway.
Photo of a mid-sized modern drought-tolerant and full sun front yard mulch garden path in Other for summer.

John Beaudry
This is an example of a large mediterranean drought-tolerant and partial sun side yard stone garden path in San Diego for summer.

A new paver entry with red wood "bridge" to go over the dry river bed that captures rain water. Differing sizes of cobble provide interest for the different areas of the landscape. A low stucco wall divides the front yard into a public and private space.

A stone address marker and bluestone steppers lead you from the driveway entrance to the front walk. Westhauser Photography
Inspiration for a mid-sized asian drought-tolerant and full sun front yard stone garden path in Milwaukee for summer.

The gently sloping natural stone and river rock stream bed replaced a traditional retaining wall and french drains. The use of different size stones, from boulders to small pebbles, creates texture and interest. The plants soften the stone and create movement. Photo credit: Lisa Meddin, Harmony Design Northwest

Photo of a mid-sized modern drought-tolerant, desert and full sun backyard concrete paver landscaping in Other.

YardDoc designed and created multiple rock landscapes for customers in Austin, TX. These drought resistant landscapes liven up your yard with unique designs and individual beauty. While we craft every landscape to the yard and customer, we present examples here to inspire you. Working with the existing trees and plants, we built this landscape to match the wrought iron fence. First, we placed a limestone barrier in a design reminiscent of a lake emptying into a river. Outside the retainer stone, we laid larger, red river rocks. On the inside we placed smaller, black rocks to highlight the rest of our modifications. We built a stone fire pit in the center then crafted stone benches for seating around the campfire. We built a path our of large, flat stones that bring the different colors and textures together. Finally, we placed one last stone that, while decorative, can also be used as an end table, if necessary.

Above The Grade Landscape
Design ideas for a mid-sized southwestern drought-tolerant and full sun backyard gravel garden path in Other for summer.

This is an example of a mid-sized traditional drought-tolerant backyard gravel garden path in New York.

Rock garden featuring Applegate river rocks bordered by Rogue river 3/4" round rock. Landscape steel edging separates between rock garden and bark mulch.

Photography by Studio H Landscape Architecture. Post processing by Isabella Li.
Design ideas for a small contemporary drought-tolerant and partial sun side yard stone garden path in Orange County.

Cottage Shrub and Perennial Garden
Inspiration for a small coastal drought-tolerant and full sun front yard garden path in Providence for summer.

Design ideas for a southwestern drought-tolerant and partial sun backyard retaining wall landscape in San Diego.

This is an example of a large contemporary drought-tolerant and full sun front yard retaining wall landscape in Austin for spring.

A Southwest style courtyard was designed for family and critters to enjoy an enclosed outdoor space. The 'elk mountain' flagstone path winds thru a cactus garden featuring a 'mancave macho mocha, 'old man cactus and euphorbia tirucali. The perennial garden has a 'caesalpinia pulcherrima', vitex purpurea', cuphea ignea. The sitting garden includes a Furcrea mediopicta (mexico), Leucophyllum frutescens silver leaf (Rio Bravo), and Grevillea'long john' Sitting at the mesquite table one can enjoy the re-circulating boulder fountain which attracts hummingbirds and butterflies. Brightly colored mexican tile enhances the barbecue. The fireplace with built-in light box has a private sitting area surrounded by an Aloe tree, acacia cultriformis and strelitzia juncea (South Africa)

Design ideas for a large mediterranean drought-tolerant and full sun front yard stone garden path in San Luis Obispo.

This gorgeous landscape install was designed to minimize runoff into the client's driveway. We chose plants with low-water needs, beautiful + ethically-sourced river rock, and hand-selected landscape boulders for this property.

Golden Goddess bamboo and Mexican weeping bamboo peek through cattle panel fencing and garden wall panels. Photo by Gabriel Frank
This is an example of a mid-sized modern drought-tolerant and partial sun backyard gravel landscaping in San Luis Obispo.

Design ideas for a mid-sized southwestern drought-tolerant, partial sun and desert side yard brick landscaping in Phoenix.