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HandoutHandout 2: Xeriscaping Cheat Sheet
Handout 2: Xeriscaping Cheat Sheet
Print this, stick it to the fridge or the garage wall, whatever gets it in front of you when you're actually out in the yard. This is the short version of everything we cover in class. Nothing fancy here, just the stuff I wish somebody had handed me eight years ago.
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Watering
- Deep and rare, not shallow and often. Our hard water and dry air trick people into watering a little every day. That trains roots to stay near the surface. You want roots going down looking for water, not sitting up top waiting for you.
- Once established, most xeric plants want water every 10-14 days in summer, and that's soaking the whole root zone, not a quick spray.
- First year is different. New plants need regular water while roots settle in. Established is usually year two.
- "Loving it to death" is my term for overwatering. It kills more plants around here than drought ever does. If in doubt, wait a day.
Mulch
- Three inches, wood mulch or gravel, right over the root zone.
- This is the cheapest thing you can do for a bed and the one everybody skips. Holds moisture, keeps roots cooler, beats back weeds. I'll die on this hill 👍
- Skip the landscape fabric under it. Weeds root right into the gravel sitting on top and you can't get them out without tearing the whole thing up. I did forty feet of that once. Never again.
Planting
- Buy small. One-gallon pots establish faster and cheaper than the big showy five-gallon ones. Instant costs more and roots worse.
- Plant in fall, not spring. Everybody wants to plant in April because that's when the nursery looks good. Fall planting lets roots settle over winter, so the plant's ready to go by the time summer heat hits. Nurseries won't tell you this because spring is when they sell plant.
- Give plants room. They look small in the pot. They will not stay small. My first bed ever, I planted everything shoulder to shoulder because that's how it looked at the nursery, and two years later I had a jungle and had to dig half of it back out.
Plant Choice
- Look for "belongs here." Penstemon, rabbitbrush, blanketflower, desert four o'clocks, native grasses. These plants evolved for our elevation and our dry summers, they're not fighting the climate, they're built for it.
- Lavender's a solid non-native that acts like it belongs here anyway. Marian's three bushes by the front walk have outlived nearly everything I've planted since. I don't love admitting that.
- A little lawn is fine, if people actually use it. It's the 4,000 square feet nobody walks on that needs to go.
What Not to Do
- Don't rock your whole yard and call it done. That's not xeriscaping, that's a parking lot. It bakes in the sun, radiates heat back at your house, and looks dead by August. Plants are the point.
- Don't skip mulch to save a few bucks. You'll pay it back in water and weeding.
- Don't plant everything the day you buy it, especially not in the heat of the afternoon. Early morning or evening, when the sun's not beating straight down.
Quick Numbers
- Elevation here runs around 4,600 feet, so things dry out faster than gardening books from lower elevations assume. Adjust your instincts accordingly.
- Mulch depth: 3 inches.
- Water established beds: every 10-14 days, deep soak.
- Spacing: check the tag, then add a little more than you think you need.
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One small thing to do this week: go stand in your yard and figure out which patch of grass nobody actually walks on. That's your first bed. Don't plan the whole yard yet, just find the one patch 🙏
WorksheetHandout 3: Plan Your Bed — Worksheet
Handout 3: Plan Your Bed — Worksheet
This is the one you fill out before you buy a single plant. I've watched too many people (me included, first bed I ever did) get excited at the nursery and bring home stuff that has nowhere to go. Do this part first. Takes twenty minutes, saves you a summer.
Grab a pencil and go stand in your yard if you can. 🌞
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1. Pick your spot.
Where's the lawn that nobody actually walks on? Measure it, roughly is fine.
Length: __________ ft    Width: __________ ft
2. Watch the sun for a day.
Full sun (6+ hours) [ ] Part sun [ ] Mostly shade [ ]
Most of the plants I talked about in class want full sun. If you've got shade under a maple like I used to fight with, that changes your plant list. Say so here:
_______________________________________________
3. Check the slope.
Does water run off this spot when it rains, sit and pool, or stay pretty flat?
Runs off [ ] Pools [ ] Flat [ ]
4. What's under there now?
Lawn [ ] Bare dirt [ ] Old landscape fabric or gravel [ ] Something else: __________
If it's fabric, budget extra time. I've pulled forty feet of that stuff out of a bed with weeds rooted right through it. Not fun. Plan on it.
5. How much water do you actually want to run out here?
Be honest. This decides a lot. Circle one:
None once established — occasional deep soak only A little, maybe twice a month in July/August I still want a hose bib nearby for hand watering
6. Sketch it.
Big box below. Draw the shape of your bed. Mark where the sun comes from, where your downspouts or hose bibs are, and anything you want to keep (a tree, a path, Marian's lavender, whatever your version of that is).
`` ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ ``
7. Three plants you liked from class.
I know the Latin names slide right out of my head too, so just write what you remember. "The purple one" counts.
1. _______________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________
3. _______________________________________________
8. Mulch check.
Circle it now so you don't skip it later, because everybody skips it later:
Wood mulch [ ] Gravel [ ] Haven't decided [ ]
Three inches over the root zone, minimum. Cheapest thing you'll do and the thing I see people leave out every time.
9. When are you planting?
Fall [ ] Spring, because I don't want to wait [ ]
If you circled spring, that's fine, plenty of people do it. Just know your plants will sulk a little more the first summer. Fall planting lets roots settle in over winter before the heat hits. Nurseries won't push you toward fall because spring's when they sell. I'm telling you anyway.
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One thing to do this week:
Stand in the spot you picked at two different times of day and actually watch the light. That's it. That's the assignment. Everything else on this sheet gets easier once you know your sun. 👍
HandoutHandout 4: Troubleshooting Guide — When Things Go Sideways
Handout 4: Troubleshooting Guide — When Things Go Sideways
Sooo you planted things and now something's wrong. Happens to everybody, happened to me plenty, still happens some years honestly. Here's the stuff I get asked about most, in the order it usually shows up.
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1. Plant looks droopy and sad a few weeks after planting. This is normal. It's not dying, it's sulking. New roots take time to figure out the ground they're in, especially natives. Give it steady water for the first few weeks, not extra, just steady. My son Travis called me three times his first month panicking about this. Everything lived.
2. Leaves turning yellow, plant looks limp even though you're watering it. This is usually not thirst, it's the opposite. I call it loving it to death. Overwatering is the number one killer of low-water plants, which sounds backwards but it's true. Roots sit wet, can't breathe, rot. Back off. Let the soil dry out a couple inches down before you water again.
3. Weeds coming up through the gravel. If you put landscape fabric under there, this is why. Weeds root right in the dust and grit that collects on top of the fabric, and then you can't pull them because the roots are tangled in the mesh. I ripped out forty feet of the stuff one fall cursing the whole time. Skip the fabric next time. A good three inches of mulch or gravel over bare soil does the weed-blocking job without the trap.
4. Plants crowded and tangled two years in. Ha, yeah, this was my very first bed. Everything looks tiny in the one-gallon pot at the nursery so you plant them close, and then they grow into each other and it's a jungle. Check the tag for mature spread and actually give it that space, even though it looks silly and bare the first year. It won't stay bare.
5. New plants dying, old established ones fine. Check when you planted. Spring planting stresses everything because the plant's trying to grow roots and survive summer heat at the same time. Fall planting lets roots settle in over the cool months so the plant's ready to go by the time it gets hot. I plant almost everything in fall now.
6. One section of the drip line bone dry, rest of the yard fine. Drip systems are not my strong suit, I'll admit that straight out. I rewired my own emitters wrong more than once and had a whole section run dry for most of July before I noticed. Walk your lines every couple weeks, actually look at each emitter, don't just trust the timer.
7. Plant looks fine but never really grows or fills in. Might be watering too shallow and too often. Our hard water and dry air trick people into little daily sprinkles, and that trains roots to stay near the surface where it's hot and dry. Water deep and less frequent so roots go looking for it further down. That's where the plant gets strong.
8. Mulch disappeared, soil's bare again by midsummer. Wind and irrigation wash it away, and it breaks down. Top it off once a year, spring is fine for this even though I plant in fall. Three inches, not a token half inch. This is the cheapest fix in the whole class and the most skipped one.
9. Whole yard looks like a gravel parking lot, nothing green. This isn't a plant problem, it's a design problem, and I'll say it plain: gravel-everything isn't xeriscaping, it's just rock. It bakes in the sun and radiates heat back at your house. If this is your yard, the fix is adding plants back in, not more rock.
10. You don't know what's wrong, it just doesn't look right. Take a picture. I photograph my yard all the time, not for anybody else, just so I can see it later and notice the pattern. Sometimes the answer's obvious once you're looking at it instead of standing in it. 👍
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 1
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —wait, say that again, because I want people to hear it. You added it up on the back of what?
SCOTT: A water bill. It was August, the number came in, and I just sat there at the kitchen table doing the math on what that lawn actually cost me all summer. Sooo that was a bad afternoon.
JESS: This is Scott Sorensen, by the way, if you're just joining us. He's teaching Xeriscaping for Utah Yards, first session's coming up, and I wanted to grab him for a few minutes before people show up with questions.
SCOTT: Happy to. 🙏
JESS: So the water bill's the origin story.
SCOTT: Part of it. Marian wanted somewhere to sit outside in the evening that wasn't just, you know, staring at grass. So I tore out a strip along the south fence, put in penstemon, some rabbitbrush, a little rock, mostly just to see what would happen.
JESS: And?
SCOTT: It lived through the whole summer on almost no water. And the bees showed up. That was the thing that got me, honestly, more than the water bill. The bees showing up like the place had been waiting for them.
JESS: That's eight years ago now.
SCOTT: About that. Marian says if she let me I'd have paved the whole yard in gravel by now. She's not wrong, but I keep telling her, gravel-everything isn't xeriscaping, that's just a parking lot. Bakes in the sun. Looks dead. Plants are the whole point.
JESS: Okay, tell the Travis story. People love the Travis story.
SCOTT: Oh man. So my son puts in a xeriscape at his place in Lehi, after seeing mine, and he calls me three times the first month in a full panic. Everything's dying, Dad, what did I do wrong.
JESS: Was it dying?
SCOTT: Nope. Native plants sulk their first year. They're putting all their energy down into roots, not up into looking pretty for you. I had to talk him off the ledge three separate times. Same conversation each time. "It's fine, Travis, leave it alone."
JESS: Leave it alone. That's basically your whole philosophy, isn't it.
SCOTT: Pretty much. The hardest part of a low-water yard is learning to leave things alone. I killed a whole flat of seedlings my first spring watering them like tomatoes. Loved them to death, is what I call it. Once you stop babying things, they figure out how to be tough. That's the whole trick.
JESS: Give people something they can actually do this week. Something that doesn't require signing up for anything.
SCOTT: Mulch. Three inches of it over the root zone of whatever you've got, wood chips or gravel, doesn't matter which. It holds water in, keeps weeds down, and it's the cheapest thing you can do for a yard and the most skipped thing, every single time. If you do nothing else, do that.
JESS: That's it? Just dump mulch on it?
SCOTT: Spread it, don't dump it. My grandson Christopher helped me one Saturday, he was six, and he dumped an entire bag in one three-foot pile "so the plant would be extra happy." Sat there a week before I could bring myself to spread it out, I was laughing so hard every time I walked past it.
JESS: 👍 noted, spread the mulch, don't pile the mulch.
SCOTT: Words to live by.
JESS: What are we doing first session?
SCOTT: We're gonna get our hands in actual soil. I'm bringing plants, one-gallon pots, and I want people feeling the difference between a root ball that's healthy and one that's been sitting in a pot too long getting root-bound. You can read about that all day, doesn't mean much till you've felt it.
JESS: And you're not a spring planting guy.
SCOTT: No sir. Everybody wants to plant in April because that's when it's pretty at the nursery. Fall's better. Roots get all winter to settle in before they have to deal with a Utah summer. Nurseries won't tell you that because spring's when they make their money.
JESS: So why are we doing this class in spring.
SCOTT: 'Cause I want you picking plants and thinking it through now, so you're ready to actually put them in the ground come fall. Get the choosing done early, do the doing late. 🌞
JESS: Alright. Next time we're talking soil and what actually belongs here.
SCOTT: That's the phrase I keep coming back to. Belong here. That's the whole class, honestly.
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 2
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —so wait, you loaded HOW much rock in that truck?
SCOTT: I'm not gonna give you a number.
JESS: Scott.
SCOTT: Marian knows the number. That's all I'll say. This is the truck story, right, this is the one you wanted me to tell.
JESS: This is the one. For anybody just joining us, welcome back, this is the podcast for Xeriscaping for Utah Yards, I'm Jess, I run the podcast side of things for Utah Community Learning, and this is Scott, who apparently blew a tire hauling rock.
SCOTT: Oh man. Okay so. This was maybe five years ago, I'm doing a bed along the back fence and I need river rock, so I take the truck down to the landscape yard and I'm having them load it into the bed. And the guy running the loader looks at me and goes, "you sure?" And I said sure, yeah, load it up, I'm not driving far.
JESS: Famous last words.
SCOTT: Famous last words. I get about, I don't know, a mile from the house, and I hear this bang and the whole truck kind of lurches. Blew the tire clean off the rim. Sitting there on the shoulder going, well. That was maybe a little much rock.
JESS: Did you have to unload it right there?
SCOTT: Had to unload about a third of it on the side of the road just to get the jack to do anything, yeah. In front of, I don't know, whoever drives that road. Real dignified. I called Marian and she didn't even ask what happened, she just said "how much rock, Scott" like she already knew.
JESS: She knew.
SCOTT: She knew. So the lesson there, and I do actually use this in class, is know what your truck's rated for and don't trust your own eyeball on "that doesn't look like that much rock." It's always more than it looks. Rock's heavy in a way that surprises people.
JESS: Okay, that's a good segue actually, because I want the one tip. Somebody's listening on their lunch break, they're not signed up for the class, they just want one thing they can do this weekend. What do they do.
SCOTT: Mulch.
JESS: That's it?
SCOTT: That's it. If you do nothing else I say in ten weeks, go put three inches of mulch over the root zone of whatever you've got planted. Wood mulch, gravel, whatever fits your yard. Three inches, not one, people always go too thin. It holds the water in, our air out here is so dry it just pulls moisture right out of bare soil, and it keeps weeds from getting a foothold. Cheapest thing you can do in the whole yard and it's the thing everybody skips because it's not exciting.
JESS: Not exciting like new plants are exciting.
SCOTT: Right, everybody wants to go buy the pretty thing at the nursery. Mulch first. I'll die on this hill, Jess, I mean that.
JESS: I believe you. Okay, so last week we talked about picking plants that belong here, and I know a couple people in the room asked about actually getting stuff in the ground. Is that where we're headed next session?
SCOTT: That's next session, yeah. We're gonna talk about when to plant, which, spoiler, it's not April no matter what the nursery signs tell you.
JESS: Wait, really, not spring?
SCOTT: Nope. Fall planting. I go into the whole why of it next time but short version is, roots settle in over the winter when nothing's stressing the plant, and by the time summer hits it's already established and ready to go. Spring planting, you're asking a brand new plant to root AND survive its first hot July at the same time. That's a lot to ask.
JESS: So why does everybody plant in spring then.
SCOTT: Because that's when the nurseries have all their inventory out and looking good, and nobody's telling you fall's actually better because spring's when they sell the most stuff. I'm not saying it's a conspiracy. I'm saying, follow the incentives a little bit.
JESS: I love it when you get a little cynical.
SCOTT: 👍 that's just me being honest. Anyway. Bring your questions next time, and if you've got a spot in your yard you're thinking about redoing, bring a photo of it on your phone, we'll look at a few in class.
JESS: And bring your truck receipts if you've ever overloaded it, apparently that's a whole genre now.
SCOTT: Marian's gonna hear this episode.
JESS: Marian already knows, Scott.
SCOTT: That's true. That's fair. Alright, see everybody next week. 🌞
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 3
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —wait, say that again, because I don't think I've ever heard someone describe a landscape fabric as a "trap" before.
SCOTT: It is though. Oh man. People think they're being smart, right, you put the fabric down so weeds can't come up through the gravel. But weeds don't read the plan. Seeds blow in, land right on top of the gravel, root down into the dust that collects in there, and now they're growing right through the rock with the fabric underneath just... trapping everything. You can't pull them without the whole mat coming up.
JESS: So it does the opposite of what it's for.
SCOTT: Pretty much. I ripped out about forty feet of it one fall. Cursing the whole time, quietly, because Marian was inside. Won't recommend that stuff to anybody anymore.
JESS: Okay so file that under "things Scott has learned by doing wrong first," which I feel like is most of this podcast.
SCOTT: Sooo that's most of the class too, honestly. 👍
JESS: Alright, before we get into today's actual topic — which is watering, water schedules — I want the story you mentioned before we started recording. About your son.
SCOTT: Oh, Travis. Okay so Travis lives down in Lehi, and he saw what we did in our yard and got excited, put in his own bed that first fall. Good for him, right. Except about three weeks in he calls me, kind of panicked, saying half his plants look dead. I go look and I'm like, Travis, they're not dead, they're sulking.
JESS: Sulking.
SCOTT: That's what native plants do the first year. They're putting all their energy into roots, not leaves, so they look kind of sad and small up top. He called me three times that first month. I kept telling him, leave it alone, it's fine. And by the second summer that yard looked great. But that first year is a real test of nerves for people.
JESS: That feels like it connects to today's tip, actually. The watering thing.
SCOTT: Yeah, this is the one I really want people to hear even if they never take the class. Our water here, it's hard, and the air's so dry, especially once you get any elevation on you, and it tricks people into watering shallow and often. Little five minute run every evening because the top inch of soil looks dry. But that trains the roots to stay up near the surface where it's easy. You want the opposite.
JESS: Deep and rare instead of shallow and often.
SCOTT: Right. Water less often, but when you do, really soak it, let it go down twelve, eighteen inches if you can. That pushes the roots down looking for it, and a plant with deep roots handles our August heat so much better than one that's been babied on the surface. It's basically the same thing as the overwatering lesson, honestly. Loving it to death, just a slower version.
JESS: So somebody listening right now who's never coming to a single class, that's the thing they do this week.
SCOTT: That's the thing. Water deep, water less. Stick a screwdriver in the ground after you water, if it goes in easy a foot down, you did it right.
JESS: I love that as a test, actually, a screwdriver.
SCOTT: 👍 works better than any gadget I've bought.
JESS: Okay, so next session, we're finally getting into the hands-on part, right? People bring gloves—
SCOTT: Yep. We're doing actual planting. I'm bringing one-gallon plants, some penstemon, rabbitbrush, we'll talk about why small pots beat the big showy ones every time, and everybody's gonna get their hands in real soil, feel what a healthy root ball feels like versus one that's been sitting too long. Fall's actually the best time to be doing this too, so it's good timing, not just class timing.
JESS: Wear clothes you don't care about.
SCOTT: And bring a water bottle. We start early. 🌞
JESS: Scott Sorensen, everybody. See you next week.
HandoutHandout 1: Supply & Shopping List
Handout 1: Supply & Shopping List
Sooo, before you buy anything, here's the deal. You don't need to spend a lot to start a xeriscape bed, but you do need the right handful of things, and a few of them people skip and then wonder why the bed's fighting them by August. Read this before you go to the nursery, not after 👍
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The Basics (budget tier)
This is what actually gets a bed in the ground. Don't let anybody upsell you past this list for your first section.
- Plants, 1-gallon pots. Small plants establish better than the big showy ones and cost a fraction as much. I know the one-gallon looks sad next to the five-gallon at the nursery. Give it two years. It'll pass the big one right up.
- Mulch, wood or gravel, enough for 3 inches deep over the whole bed. This is the cheapest thing on this list and the most skipped. Measure your bed square footage before you go so you're not guessing at the checkout.
- A hand trowel and a shovel. You probably already own these. If not, don't buy fancy ones.
- A soaker hose or basic drip line and a battery timer. You want water going down deep and rare, not a daily sprinkle. A cheap timer keeps you honest.
- Compost, one bag per few plants, worked into the planting hole. Our soil here is hard clay under a thin topsoil in a lot of Utah County yards, and native plants still want a decent start.
- Work gloves. The soil out here is rocky enough to earn them.
That's genuinely enough to do a section of yard. Everything below is nice, not necessary.
Nice-to-Have Tier
- Landscape edging (metal or stone) to keep the bed line crisp against the lawn. Looks sharp, not required.
- A soil knife or hori-hori. I use mine constantly now, but I dug beds for years with just a trowel.
- Boulders or larger accent rock. Adds structure, costs real money by the ton. Start small, add later if you want it.
- A pressure-compensating drip kit with individual emitters instead of a basic soaker hose. More precise, more parts to mess up. I've had an emitter clog and run a whole section dry for most of July without noticing. Check yours.
- A kneeling pad or a five-gallon bucket to sit on. My knees vote for this one every spring now. Not glamorous. Efficient.
What NOT to Buy
- Landscape fabric. Skip it. Weeds root right into the gravel sitting on top of it and then you can't pull them without ripping the fabric too. I tore out forty feet of it one fall cursing the whole time. Mulch alone does the job better.
- A truckload of gravel to cover the whole yard. That's not xeriscaping, that's a parking lot. It bakes in the sun and looks dead by July. Plants are the point. Use gravel as a mulch layer around plants, not as the whole plan.
Shopping Notes
- Buy plants small. One-gallon, not the impressive-looking pots. Your wallet and your root system will both thank you.
- If you're hauling rock or mulch yourself, don't overload the truck bed the way I did once. Blew a tire halfway home. Marian still brings it up.
- Big-box stores are fine for mulch and tools. For the actual native plants, a real nursery that carries drought-tolerant stock will have better variety and someone who can talk plants with you, even if you're calling everything "the purple one" like I do.
- Buy in fall if you can wait. Nurseries push spring planting because that's when they sell, but fall-planted stuff settles roots over winter and comes up strong by summer. We'll talk more about timing in a later handout.
See you in class with dirt under your nails 🙏

Around the web

Sites we keep coming back to. Some picked by your instructor, some shared in class.

USU Extension: Water-Wise Plants for Utah Landscapes ↗
Utah State University's Center for Water-Efficient Landscaping hub with searchable plant lists, hydrozone guidance, fact sheets, and an irrigation calculator built for Utah's climate.
Localscapes ↗
Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District's five-step Utah landscaping method, offering free pre-made yard designs, classes, and park-strip layouts you can adapt at home.
Conservation Garden Park ↗
A West Jordan demonstration garden with a database of 1,000+ waterwise plants tested in Utah, plus sample designs, videos, and free landscaping classes.
Slow the Flow: Utah-Friendly Landscaping ↗
Statewide water-conservation program with practical planting and watering tips, curated Utah plant lists, and information on local rebates for lawn conversion.
EPA WaterSense: Landscaping Tips ↗
Federal guidance on water-smart landscapes covering plant selection, soil health, hydrozoning, and mulching, with a downloadable Water-Smart Landscapes guide.

Videos worth your time

Hand-picked by your instructor, with notes on what to watch for.

Award-Winning Utah Yard Tours – Xeriscaping & Garden Pavilion
Adobe Rock
Watch how two real Utah homeowners transformed their yards, this gives you concrete before and after inspiration for your own space.
Xeriscape 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Waterwise Landscaping
Resource Central
This is a solid starting point since it walks through the core waterwise landscaping principles a true beginner needs first.
7 Principles of Xeriscape Gardening
CityofKamloops
Pay attention to the seven principles covered here since they form the checklist you will use when planning your own xeriscape design.