Xeriscaping

Xeriscaping is, according to Webster's online dictionary, a landscaping method developed especially for arid and semiarid climates that utilizes water-conserving techniques (as the use of drought-tolerant plants, mulch, and efficient irrigation). In Florida, we have to face the reality that water is scarce, and plants that thrive up North do not do well in Florida's hot, dry climate. Miles of endless turfgrass are simply not efficient! An old Florida favorite, St. Augustine Grass, is VERY thirsty, often consuming as much as 1 gallon of water per square foot per day (that's over a 6 million gallons per year for a single neighborhood block!). It also happens to require endless amounts of fertilizer, which is slowly poisoning our local water sources (look at the '87 algae blooms in Lake Tarpon that killed 3/4 of the lake's inhabitants). If you must have turfgrass, check out this Guide to Turfgrass Selection.

The first site I'd recommend checking out is the Florida Friendly Yards and Neighborhoods Program website. They have a Florida-friendly Plant Database as well as a good overview of the Nine Florida Friendly Yards Principles which include Right Plant, Right Place - or making sure you've selected plants appropriate to the sunlight, soil and moisture conditions of a specific site, Mulching, Attracting Wildlife and Reducing Stormwater Runoff - through methods such as swales (those depressions you see in yards near the edge of the property line), rain gardens (swales with appropriate plants) and rainbarrels.

Florida Yards and Neighborhoods also has a compreshensive PDF guide covering most of these topics.

Some tips on saving water around the house

Some general information on household water conservation can be found here: 25 ways to save water, 100 ways to save water (bigger list, some stuff repeated). The two big ones are low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators. Even if you don't have a paltry $10 to spend on a low-flow showerhead (which, I might add, will easily save you that much per year on water), you can get low-flow faucet aerators at most home improvement stores for less than $5 each. They can reduce the water being used by your faucets by half.

In addition, even if you can't install a new low-flow toilet because you're renting, can't afford to right now, or whatever reason, you CAN put an inch or two of gravel or sand at the bottom of a two-liter plastic bottle, fill the bottle with water and stick that in your toilet's tank. You'll be saving a half gallon every time you flush.