Landscape Nurseries guide customers to drought tolerant plants

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Dead and dying lawns are everywhere, but, despite the drought and watering restrictions, while keeping grass alive may be next to impossible, an attractive yard is still possible.

Mike Ravicchio said, "It doesn't have to look like a desert, it can still be soft and lush and almost meadow like."

Ravicchio owns the Evergreen Garden Center. He's stocking lots of water smart plants, meaning they can get by on the limited watering now allowed. And, the garden center has created a display to show how such a yard could look, without a green lawn.

Designer Enrique Mendoza explained, "Now we are going to have to depend on color, foliage, texture."

Mendoza put together a mixture of plants that can get by without much water.

"We have a sage here, Russian salvia, it's a dwarf form so it's not going to be so big. We do have the agaves, like I said, put them in the back, don't put them in the front where kids can get to them," said Mendoza.

There are grasses, flowers, and the usual drought tolerant plants like succulents.

"Everybody thinks succulents full sun. No they actually want some partial sun," Mendoza said.

Many yards are already being transformed. Replacing grass with mulch helps save water for the plants. And not everything has to go.

"You can keep your roses, your roses are good," said Mendoza. "They are not saying lose your landscape completely, they are saying losing the lawn, that's the number one water user in your household."