6 Bold and Beautiful Design Strategies for Low-Water Landscapes
Landscape designer Daniel Nolan shares his ideas for bringing high style to dry gardens
Lauren Dunec Hoang
October 10, 2018
Houzz Editor; landscape designer and former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and in-house designer for Sunset's Editorial Test Garden. Her garden designs have been featured in the Sunset Western Garden Book of Landscaping, Sunset Western Garden Book of Easy-Care Plantings (cover), Inhabitat, and POPSUGAR.
Houzz Editor; landscape designer and former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and... More
Having a low-water garden doesn’t have to feel like a sacrifice. Plants from desert and Mediterranean regions — including bold, architectural cactuses, smooth-leaved succulents, feathery grevillea and luminous ornamental grasses — offer a diverse and exciting palette that designers can use to create fresh, contemporary and unexpected gardens.
In his new book, Dry Gardens, landscape designer Daniel Nolan shows how thoughtfully designed dry gardens can suit a range of tastes, from an urban garden that pairs cactus with date palms and wild banana for a lush, jungle-like look to a minimalist entryway with plants that complement modern architecture. We caught up with Nolan, who shared six of his strategies for creating low-water gardens with elevated style.
In his new book, Dry Gardens, landscape designer Daniel Nolan shows how thoughtfully designed dry gardens can suit a range of tastes, from an urban garden that pairs cactus with date palms and wild banana for a lush, jungle-like look to a minimalist entryway with plants that complement modern architecture. We caught up with Nolan, who shared six of his strategies for creating low-water gardens with elevated style.
Photos by Caitlin Atkinson
1. Use Plants to Complement Architecture
When choosing plants for residential designs, “I typically look at the home’s architecture first,” Nolan says. “Most of the time I want plants that will complement the home’s structure and have real substance.”
For this contemporary home in Menlo Park, California, Nolan used MacDougall’s century plants and ‘Blue Glow’ agave: two dry-garden plants that are as bold as the building’s strong lines but with rounded, spiky forms that contrast the architecture.
Plant list: MacDougall’s century plants (Furcraea macdougalii, USDA zones 9 to 11; find your zone) and ‘Blue Glow’ agave (Agave ‘Blue Glow’, Zone 9)
Light requirement: Full sun
Water requirement: Low
1. Use Plants to Complement Architecture
When choosing plants for residential designs, “I typically look at the home’s architecture first,” Nolan says. “Most of the time I want plants that will complement the home’s structure and have real substance.”
For this contemporary home in Menlo Park, California, Nolan used MacDougall’s century plants and ‘Blue Glow’ agave: two dry-garden plants that are as bold as the building’s strong lines but with rounded, spiky forms that contrast the architecture.
Plant list: MacDougall’s century plants (Furcraea macdougalii, USDA zones 9 to 11; find your zone) and ‘Blue Glow’ agave (Agave ‘Blue Glow’, Zone 9)
Light requirement: Full sun
Water requirement: Low
2. Choose Neutral Containers to Make Plants Stand Out
“I almost always use a neutral container, because bright colors create a distraction and compete with the plants,” Nolan says. If you start out neutral and minimal, he adds, you can always give the design more color punch with a small pot or accessory.
The charcoal-colored containers on this San Francisco balcony blend in with the concrete floor and dark walls, allowing the golden spines of the barrel cactus and other plant forms to stand out.
Plant list: Prickly pear (Opuntia spp.), golden barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii, Zone 8) and Mexican organpipe cactus (Stenocereus marginatus, Zone 9)
Light requirement: Full sun
Water requirement: Low
Find a landscape designer on Houzz to help with your low-water garden
“I almost always use a neutral container, because bright colors create a distraction and compete with the plants,” Nolan says. If you start out neutral and minimal, he adds, you can always give the design more color punch with a small pot or accessory.
The charcoal-colored containers on this San Francisco balcony blend in with the concrete floor and dark walls, allowing the golden spines of the barrel cactus and other plant forms to stand out.
Plant list: Prickly pear (Opuntia spp.), golden barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii, Zone 8) and Mexican organpipe cactus (Stenocereus marginatus, Zone 9)
Light requirement: Full sun
Water requirement: Low
Find a landscape designer on Houzz to help with your low-water garden
3. Think of Plants in 3 Categories
To avoid overplanting a space and complicating a design with multiple forms, Nolan recommends including three types of plants: one plant type that adds height, a middle plant to occupy the midrange space and a low-growing plant that complements the larger plants and helps pull the whole look together.
For example, for this design outside Clos Pegase Winery in California’s Napa Valley, Nolan planted a Wilson olive tree for height, San Pedro cactus to act as a taller midlayer plant and ‘Grape Jelly’ dyckia, pictured in bloom, as the low-level plant.
Plant list: Wilson olive (Olea europaea ‘Wilsonii’, zones 8 to 11), San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi, zones 8 to 10) and ‘Grape Jelly’ dyckia (Dyckia ‘Grape Jelly’, zones 8 to 11).
Light requirement: Full sun
Water requirement: Low
To avoid overplanting a space and complicating a design with multiple forms, Nolan recommends including three types of plants: one plant type that adds height, a middle plant to occupy the midrange space and a low-growing plant that complements the larger plants and helps pull the whole look together.
For example, for this design outside Clos Pegase Winery in California’s Napa Valley, Nolan planted a Wilson olive tree for height, San Pedro cactus to act as a taller midlayer plant and ‘Grape Jelly’ dyckia, pictured in bloom, as the low-level plant.
Plant list: Wilson olive (Olea europaea ‘Wilsonii’, zones 8 to 11), San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi, zones 8 to 10) and ‘Grape Jelly’ dyckia (Dyckia ‘Grape Jelly’, zones 8 to 11).
Light requirement: Full sun
Water requirement: Low
4. Embrace Repetition for a Lush Look
“Commit to a plant and repeat,” Nolan says. The repetition of plant forms creates a more lush and verdant garden, Nolan says, and avoids what he refers to as the Noah’s Arc effect in planting design: where dozens of one-off plants make it into a garden, and the overall look becomes messy and disparate.
In this sloped San Francisco backyard, Nolan planted masses of a few species in defined planting zones. Plants include silver torch cactus along the upper deck railing and a tropical-looking mix of bird of paradise tree and pygmy date palm in the lower built-in planter.
Plant list: Silver torch cactus (Cleistocactus strausii, zones 9 to 10), bird of paradise tree (Strelitzia nicolai, zones 9 to 11) and pygmy date palm (Phoenix roebelenii, zones 9 to 11)
Light requirement: Full sun
Water requirement: Moderate to low
“Commit to a plant and repeat,” Nolan says. The repetition of plant forms creates a more lush and verdant garden, Nolan says, and avoids what he refers to as the Noah’s Arc effect in planting design: where dozens of one-off plants make it into a garden, and the overall look becomes messy and disparate.
In this sloped San Francisco backyard, Nolan planted masses of a few species in defined planting zones. Plants include silver torch cactus along the upper deck railing and a tropical-looking mix of bird of paradise tree and pygmy date palm in the lower built-in planter.
Plant list: Silver torch cactus (Cleistocactus strausii, zones 9 to 10), bird of paradise tree (Strelitzia nicolai, zones 9 to 11) and pygmy date palm (Phoenix roebelenii, zones 9 to 11)
Light requirement: Full sun
Water requirement: Moderate to low
5. Keep Container Arrangements Simple and Deliberate
While Nolan’s design strategy to plant in groups of three could work for larger containers, the designer says he often prefers to keep containers more minimal. “One plant per pot is my usual rule,” Nolan says, adding that he finds it makes designs look more deliberate.
Nolan shies away from most flowering plants, saying he prefers to focus on species with fabulous forms and foliage. He goes for plants in soothing colors. “I almost never use red. It’s too jarring for me,” Nolan says. “My go-to plants are usually [in] shades of green, blue and silver.” Here, tree euphorbia towers above a cascade of blue-green donkey tail succulent and a separate pot of velvety kalanchoe.
Plant list: Tree euphorbia (Euphorbia lambii, zones 9 to 11), donkey tail (Sedum morganianum, Zone 11) and velvet leaf kalanchoe (Kalanchoe beharensis var. subnuda, zones 11 to 12)
Light requirement: Full sun to bright, indirect light
Water requirement: Low
Find planters on Houzz
While Nolan’s design strategy to plant in groups of three could work for larger containers, the designer says he often prefers to keep containers more minimal. “One plant per pot is my usual rule,” Nolan says, adding that he finds it makes designs look more deliberate.
Nolan shies away from most flowering plants, saying he prefers to focus on species with fabulous forms and foliage. He goes for plants in soothing colors. “I almost never use red. It’s too jarring for me,” Nolan says. “My go-to plants are usually [in] shades of green, blue and silver.” Here, tree euphorbia towers above a cascade of blue-green donkey tail succulent and a separate pot of velvety kalanchoe.
Plant list: Tree euphorbia (Euphorbia lambii, zones 9 to 11), donkey tail (Sedum morganianum, Zone 11) and velvet leaf kalanchoe (Kalanchoe beharensis var. subnuda, zones 11 to 12)
Light requirement: Full sun to bright, indirect light
Water requirement: Low
Find planters on Houzz
6. Go Bold With Houseplants (and Choose Ones You Won’t Kill)
A self-described houseplant addict, Nolan knows the impact a well-chosen houseplant can make in a space. In the corner of this room, for example, an oversize Euphorbia ammak ‘Variegata’ adds size, color and design oomph to the simple arrangement.
The plant on the table is a sansevieria, a go-to houseplant for Nolan. “My own home and clients’ projects almost always contain one or a dozen kinds of Sansevieria. They’re just the easiest — you can leave for a month and come home to a still-living plant,” he says.
Plant list: Sansevieria and Euphorbia ammak ‘Variegata’
Light requirement: Bright, indirect light for euphorbia; low light for sansevieria
Water requirement: Low
On Working With a Landscape Designer
“I think it’s important to really edit your inspiration points,” Nolan says. “ I see photos clients have saved that go from Japanese minimalism to cactus gardens to California meadows, and it’s really too much. I tell my clients to pick a direction and stick to it.
“Selecting a designer is a lot like picking a partner. It’s absolutely fine to go on a lot of dates and see what’s out there, but when you select a designer you definitely need to trust their vision and really commit. I’ve seen it happen too many times where a client will change or do the ‘What if we…,’ and the wheels fall off. So my advice is to really listen to your designers.”
A self-described houseplant addict, Nolan knows the impact a well-chosen houseplant can make in a space. In the corner of this room, for example, an oversize Euphorbia ammak ‘Variegata’ adds size, color and design oomph to the simple arrangement.
The plant on the table is a sansevieria, a go-to houseplant for Nolan. “My own home and clients’ projects almost always contain one or a dozen kinds of Sansevieria. They’re just the easiest — you can leave for a month and come home to a still-living plant,” he says.
Plant list: Sansevieria and Euphorbia ammak ‘Variegata’
Light requirement: Bright, indirect light for euphorbia; low light for sansevieria
Water requirement: Low
On Working With a Landscape Designer
“I think it’s important to really edit your inspiration points,” Nolan says. “ I see photos clients have saved that go from Japanese minimalism to cactus gardens to California meadows, and it’s really too much. I tell my clients to pick a direction and stick to it.
“Selecting a designer is a lot like picking a partner. It’s absolutely fine to go on a lot of dates and see what’s out there, but when you select a designer you definitely need to trust their vision and really commit. I’ve seen it happen too many times where a client will change or do the ‘What if we…,’ and the wheels fall off. So my advice is to really listen to your designers.”
Dry Gardens: High Style for Low Water Gardens, by Daniel Nolan, was published by Rizzoli in September.
Planning a landscape project? Find your inspiration and choose a landscape designer on Houzz
Planning a landscape project? Find your inspiration and choose a landscape designer on Houzz
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@CGinNoCo, I couldn’t agree more about the hummers and bees (and butterflies and the many beneficial insects that need blooming plants). My entire acre garden (in NoCo) is devoted to pollinators and hummers. They are nourished, and I am nourished watching them.
While I agree with the comments about pollinators, I also understand that flowers in dry zones don't work very well. Also, many of the plants shown in this article do flower some, just not like plants in Colorado and elsewhere where water is not as big an issue. Picture #4 is a perfect example...
Great article.