permaculture

["Sharon Gordon" <gordonse@one.net>]

The Southern Nevada Water Authority has been paying people to switch their
yard landscaping away from water-guzzling turf.  And they have provided five
suggested designs with themes of
Color Explosion Front Yard
Child-Friendly Back Yard
Low Maintentance Front Yard
Mojave Accents Back Yard Entertaining Back Yard
with plans and pictures of suggested plants at:
http://www.snwa.com/html/ws_landscape_designs.html

I've been thinking of writing them an encouraging letter for what they are
already doing along with some suggestions for an edible or more useful
permaculture style yard.

>From what the designers already have  in their designs, it looks as though
varieties chosen for taste/usefulness of
Pistachio
Salvia
Yucca
Agave
Maybe other fruiting cactus
Willow--is there a desert medicinal one that is also good for baskets?
Alliums of all sorts

would work.

Other plants that seem like good candidates to me would be:
Utah servicebery
Desert hackberry
Water melon (Citrullus lanatus)
Winged pigweed
Prairie clovers (are they good for tea?)
Mission lettuce
Slender buckwheat
Cherries, almonds, peaches that are drought resistant
Echinacea
Rosemary
Thyme
Oregano
Lavender
Tepary beans

would all be good.

Other things I wondered about are
Artichokes
Cardoon
Cotton from desert areas
Mustard
Melons from african desert areas
Peanuts
Peppers, especially hot ones

Anyone have thoughts about how well they might work?

What else would be good, especially drought resistant varieties of more
common food crops?

Sharon
gordonse@one.net