Drought-tolerant landscaping in Los Angeles means replacing a thirsty lawn with plants suited to a dry Mediterranean climate, a mulched or permeable ground surface, a feature that holds rainwater on the property, and drip irrigation in place of spray sprinklers. If you are an LADWP customer, get the turf rebate pre-approved before any grass comes out. Removing it first disqualifies the project, and the program’s rules (three plants per 100 square feet, a stormwater feature, no solid paving and no unmodified spray sprinklers in the converted area) should shape the design from the first sketch. Plant in the cool season. October to March is the window LADWP itself recommends.
We are Green Design and Build, a licensed residential general contractor based in Van Nuys (CSLB #1110975), working across Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties and western Riverside and San Bernardino counties. We design and install drought-tolerant planting, soil preparation, drip irrigation and the hardscape around it. This guide gives no prices. Lawn conversions vary too much from yard to yard, so we explain what drives the cost instead, and the actual number comes from a site visit. Rebate amounts quoted below are the water agencies’ published figures, checked in October 2026, and they can change without notice.
What drought-tolerant landscaping (and xeriscape) actually means
Drought-tolerant landscaping is a garden designed to look good on a fraction of the water a lawn needs, using plants that evolved for long dry summers. “Xeriscape” is the older name for the same idea. It does not mean gravel and a few cacti. A well-built Los Angeles yard is usually more planted than the lawn it replaces, with layers of shrubs, perennials and grasses over a mulched surface.
A real conversion has four parts: climate-appropriate plants grouped by water need, a mulched or permeable soil surface, a feature that keeps winter rain on the property, and drip irrigation. Those four parts are also what the regional turf rebate requires, so designing to the rebate rules from the start gives you a better garden as well as the money.
The LADWP turf rebate: start here, not with the shovel
What it pays and who qualifies
The LADWP Turf Replacement Rebate pays residential customers $5.00 per square foot of lawn converted. That is $3 from LADWP plus $2 from the Metropolitan Water District’s regional program. Projects must be between 250 and 5,000 square feet, so the residential maximum is $25,000. Applications go through the SoCal Water$mart website, not LADWP directly. You must currently have grass to qualify. The program is for removing a living lawn, not for re-landscaping bare dirt.
The rebate is paid after the work is finished and approved, so you fund the project first. Both agencies say amounts can change at any time, depending on funding when your application is approved.
What every rebate project must include
The requirements come from the Metropolitan Water District’s Turf Replacement Program, which LADWP’s rebate runs through:
| Requirement | What it means on the ground | Where projects go wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-approval before work starts | Reserve the rebate with photos, measurements, the first page of your LADWP bill and a simple landscape plan | Killing or stripping the lawn “to get ahead”. A project already underway is denied. |
| 3 plants per 100 sq ft | A 1,000 sq ft front lawn needs at least 30 plants in the ground. Existing trees in the area count; each newly planted tree counts as three plants. | Relying on potted plants, which do not count |
| A stormwater feature | A rain garden, dry creek bed, swale, berm, infiltration trench, rain barrel or cistern, sized to the area | A token feature far too small to hold an ordinary storm |
| Permeable surfaces only | Mulch, gravel and other permeable ground cover. No solid hardscape inside the converted area. | Pouring a concrete path through the converted area |
| Spray sprinklers replaced or modified | Drip, hand watering, micro-spray or rotating nozzles instead of standard spray heads | Leaving the old spray heads unchanged “for now” |
| No live turf or synthetic turf | No grass and no turf-looking grasses in the converted area. Artificial turf is not eligible. | Assuming artificial grass qualifies because it saves water |
| Finish on time and keep it | Complete within 180 days of approval; LADWP requires the area to stay compliant for five years | Running out of time over summer, or adding lawn back later |
The program also offers an optional tree incentive of $100 per new tree, up to five trees per application, and the program FAQs answer most edge cases, including parkways, measuring odd shapes and photo rules. LADWP runs a separate parkway landscaping rebate for the strip between sidewalk and curb.
The order of operations
- Measure and photograph the lawn as it is. Wide shots showing the house, fence or street; close-ups of grass and online images are rejected.
- Sketch the plan. Show where the plants, the ground cover and the stormwater feature go. A hand drawing is acceptable.
- Apply and wait for pre-approval. Do nothing to the lawn until the approval email arrives.
- Build within 180 days. Remove the turf, convert the irrigation, grade the rain feature, plant, mulch.
- Submit completion photos. The project is reviewed and may be inspected before the rebate is issued.
Outside LADWP
Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, Santa Monica and Long Beach, along with most suburbs in our service area, are served by water agencies other than LADWP. If your agency is within the Metropolitan Water District’s region, the regional program pays a base of $2.00 per square foot, up to 5,000 square feet per year. Some agencies add their own money on top. The SoCal Water$mart site has an “estimate your rebate” tool that shows the total for your address.
Drought-tolerant front yard and backyard ideas
The best xeriscape ideas for Los Angeles depend on how the space is used. A front yard is mostly seen from the street and walked through. A backyard is lived in.
Front yard
- A dry creek bed that does real work. Run it from a downspout across the yard to a low planted basin, and it doubles as the rebate’s stormwater feature.
- Low berms and a gentle swale instead of a flat plane. A few inches of grade change gives plants better drainage on top and catches water below.
- Repetition over variety. Drifts of three to five species read as designed. One of everything reads as a nursery sale.
- A permeable path to the door: gravel, decomposed granite or flagstone set in gravel rather than mortar, so it stays inside the rebate rules.
Backyard
Backyards need surfaces to walk, sit and play on. The rebate counts only the area converted to planting and permeable ground cover, so a solid patio sits outside it. Plan the hardscape layout first, then the planting around it. A paver patio or a concrete patio with a planted border next to a converted planting area is a common combination. For children and dogs, some families keep a small play area in artificial turf and convert the rest. The turf area earns no rebate; see what drives artificial turf cost before deciding where it goes. Sloped yards often need terracing or low retaining walls before anything can be planted.
Plants that suit Los Angeles
Two free references do most of the work. Calscape, created by the California Native Plant Society, shows which native plants grow naturally near your address. WUCOLS, the University of California, Davis water-use database, rates landscape plants as very low, low, moderate or high water use for each California climate region. Most of Los Angeles falls in its South Coastal or South Inland regions. Check a plant’s rating for your region before you buy it, not after.
| Role in the garden | California natives to consider | Climate-appropriate non-natives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structure and screening shrubs | Toyon, coffeeberry, California lilac (Ceanothus), manzanita | Olive, rosemary (upright forms), pineapple guava | Give them their mature width. Most planting mistakes are shrubs placed for their nursery-pot size. |
| Mid-height color | Cleveland sage, California buckwheat, California fuchsia, bush sunflower | Lavender, salvias, kangaroo paw | Many natives go semi-dormant in late summer. That is normal, not dying. |
| Grasses and texture | Deer grass, California fescue | Lomandra, blue fescue | Grasses soften gravel and edge paths well. |
| Groundcover | Low manzanitas, prostrate Ceanothus, yarrow | Creeping thyme, trailing rosemary | Shades the soil and crowds out weeds once it fills in. |
| Sculptural accents | Our Lord’s candle (Hesperoyucca), Dudleya | Agave, aloe | Keep spiny plants away from walks and play areas. |
| Shade trees | Coast live oak, western redbud, desert willow | Olive, strawberry tree (Arbutus ‘Marina’) | Trees shade the soil and the plants beneath them. City Plants offers free trees to City of LA residents. |
“Drought-tolerant” on a nursery tag means once established: every new plant needs regular water through its first one or two summers. After that, many natives are adapted to dry summers and can decline if watered like a lawn in July.
Mulch, gravel and permeable surfaces
Bare soil between plants dries out, crusts and grows weeds. The surface has to be permeable to satisfy the rebate, and near the house it is also a fire question.
| Surface | Good for | Watch out for | Within 5 ft of the house |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood chip / shredded bark mulch | Planting beds; feeds the soil as it breaks down | Needs topping up; washes out on slopes | CAL FIRE advises no combustible bark or mulch here |
| Gravel / crushed rock | Paths, dry creek beds, succulent beds | Reflects heat; weeds seed into it without a good base | Suitable |
| Decomposed granite (DG) | Paths and sitting areas with a natural look | Tracks indoors; stabilized DG drains less freely than loose DG | Suitable |
| Flagstone or stepping stones set in gravel | Walk routes through planting | Mortared joints turn it into solid hardscape | Suitable |
| Permeable pavers on an open-graded base | Patios and paths that need a firm, flat surface | Base design matters; a standard dense base does not drain the same way | Suitable |
If a firm surface inside the converted area is part of your plan, describe exactly what it is in the rebate application so the reviewer can confirm it counts before you build it. For a broader look at materials and finishes, see our paver design ideas and what drives paver patio cost. City of LA residents can also get free mulch through LA Sanitation’s mulch giveaway program.
Rain capture: the stormwater feature
Los Angeles gets most of its rain in a few winter storms, and a lawn on compacted soil sheds much of it to the street. The program asks that the feature be proportional to the area and able to capture most, if not all, of the rain from an average storm.
- Rain garden: a shallow planted depression that ponds briefly after rain and drains within a day or two. Place it well away from the foundation.
- Dry creek bed or vegetated swale: a channel that slows water and spreads it through the planting. It looks natural in a front yard.
- Rain barrel or cistern: stores roof runoff from a downspout for later use. Rain barrels and cisterns have their own SoCal Water$mart device rebate as well.
Every one of these has to send water away from the house; ponding against a foundation turns a water-saving project into a moisture problem. On hillside lots, soaking water into a slope can be the wrong move entirely, and that is a drainage decision, not a planting one.
Converting spray sprinklers to drip
Most lawn zones can be converted to drip without replacing the whole system. The valves, wiring and controller usually stay. At each spray head, the riser is either capped or fitted with a drip conversion adapter, and tubing runs from there to the plants. Where the old layout does not suit the new planting, we cap the old lines and run new tubing from the valve.
- Filter and pressure regulator at each drip valve. Drip emitters clog without a filter and blow apart at full house pressure.
- Emitters sized to the plant: more flow, or more emitters, for a shrub than for a perennial. Add emitters outward as roots grow.
- Inline drip tubing for dense groundcover, point-source emitters for spaced shrubs.
- Flush caps at the line ends, and tubing under the mulch, where it is protected from sun.
- A controller schedule that changes with the season. A weather-based “smart” controller is recommended by the rebate program but not required. Hand watering is also acceptable.
Spray heads near patios and walls are worth converting even outside a rebate project. Constant overspray keeps paver bases and stucco wet. Our landscaping and irrigation service page explains how we convert spray zones next to new patios and paths.
Watering days and rules in the City of Los Angeles
The City of Los Angeles is in Phase 2 of its water conservation ordinance, which limits sprinkler watering to three days a week. According to LADWP’s water conservation page:
- Addresses ending in an odd number water on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; even numbers on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.
- Standard spray sprinklers are limited to one cycle of up to 8 minutes per station per watering day; systems with water-conserving nozzles may run two 15-minute cycles.
- No outdoor watering between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
- No runoff onto streets, driveways or gutters, and no watering of hard surfaces.
- Hand watering with a self-closing shut-off nozzle is allowed any day before 9:00 a.m. or after 4:00 p.m.
These rules bite hardest in the first summer, when new plants need frequent water; hand watering fills the gaps. Other water agencies set their own schedules.
Fire zones: what goes near the house
Drought-tolerant and fire-resistant are not the same thing. Some dry-climate plants are oily or hold dead material, and a deep bark mulch against a wall can carry embers straight to the house. If you live in or near a fire hazard severity zone, the layout should follow CAL FIRE’s defensible space guidance:
- The first five feet from the house is the area CAL FIRE calls the most important. It recommends hardscape such as gravel, pavers or concrete there, and no combustible bark or mulch.
- Out to 30 feet: keep it “lean, clean and green”. Remove dead plants and leaves, and space shrubs and trees away from each other and from furniture and woodpiles.
- Out to 100 feet (or the property line): continue reducing fuel. State law (Public Resources Code 4291) requires 100 feet of defensible space where it applies.
As of October 2026 there is no statewide Zone 0 rule in force for that five-foot area. CAL FIRE’s guidance there is a recommendation, not a requirement. Inside the City of Los Angeles, properties in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone also fall under LAFD’s brush clearance requirements, which reach 200 feet from structures and apply year-round. Our guide to wildfire home hardening covers the building side: vents, gutters, fences and decks.
Does California’s landscape water ordinance apply to you?
Usually not, for a simple lawn swap. California’s Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO), most recently amended effective January 2, 2025, applies to rehabilitated landscapes of 2,500 square feet or more that require a building or landscape permit, plan check or design review. For new construction, the threshold is 500 square feet. A homeowner replacing a lawn with no permit involved typically falls outside it. Cities adopt their own versions, and in Los Angeles the requirements reach landscapes through the city’s Green Building Code. A landscape that is part of a larger permitted project, such as a new ADU, an addition or a rebuild, may therefore come with a water-budget or prescriptive-compliance requirement. Ask your plan checker early.
Timeline, planting season and the first two summers
Plant between October and March. Cool weather and winter rain let roots establish before the first hot summer, and LADWP recommends the same window. Working backward from that, apply for the rebate in late summer or early fall so pre-approval arrives before planting season.
How the turf comes out decides what grows back. Bermuda and kikuyu grass, common in older LA lawns, regrow from underground runners, so cutting off the sod and leaving the roots usually brings them back through the mulch. Removal has to go deep enough to get the runners. Sheet mulching under cardboard works on cool-season grasses but is less reliable on Bermuda.
Maintenance changes over time:
- First year: frequent, deep watering; weekly weed pulling while plants fill in; check emitters for clogs.
- Second year: stretch the intervals between watering; add emitters as plants grow; top up mulch.
- Established: occasional deep summer watering for most plants; light pruning after flowering; cut back dead growth before fire season; flush the drip lines once a year.
What drives the cost of a lawn replacement
We do not publish a price for lawn conversion because two yards of the same size can differ widely. These factors move the number:
- Turf removal and haul-away. Bermuda or kikuyu needs deeper removal than a cool-season lawn. Access for equipment and disposal volume add up.
- Irrigation. Converting existing zones costs less than re-piping, adding valves or replacing a failing controller.
- Grading and the rain feature. A shallow swale is simple. Moving soil, a large rain garden or a cistern is not.
- Plant size and density. One-gallon plants fill in more slowly but cost far less than five- and fifteen-gallon sizes. Trees are the biggest single plant line.
- Ground surface. Mulch is the least expensive; gravel, DG, flagstone and permeable pavers step up from there.
- Slopes and walls. A hillside yard can need terracing, erosion control or retaining walls before planting starts.
- Everything around it. Patios, paths, lighting and patio covers are separate line items; our backyard remodel cost guide covers those items.
The rebate offsets part of the cost, but it is paid after completion and only on the converted lawn area. Budget for the whole project, and treat the rebate as money that comes back later.
Mistakes that cost people the rebate, or the plants
- Removing the lawn before pre-approval. The rebate is lost, and it cannot be fixed afterward.
- Counting potted plants toward the three-per-100-square-feet requirement. Only plants in the ground count.
- Leaving a standard spray head “just for the roses”. The program requires overhead spray in the converted area to be replaced or modified.
- Planting in June. Summer planting needs far more water and loses more plants.
- Mixing water needs on one valve. Either the succulents rot or the shrubs go thirsty.
- Weed fabric under mulch in planting beds. It blocks the mulch from feeding the soil and weeds root into the top anyway. Use it, if at all, under gravel paths.
- Bark mulch against the house in a fire area. Keep the first five feet non-combustible.
For more inspiration, browse our outdoor living design ideas, or see how planting fits into a full outdoor living project with patios, outdoor kitchens and shade. If a pool is part of the yard, our guide to artificial turf around a pool covers heat, drainage and safety next to the water.
Drought-Tolerant Landscaping FAQs
How much is the LADWP turf rebate?
As of October 2026, LADWP pays residential customers $5.00 per square foot of lawn converted, combining $3 from LADWP and $2 from the Metropolitan Water District, for projects of 250 to 5,000 square feet, up to $25,000. Amounts can change, so confirm the current figure when you apply through SoCal Water$mart.
Can I remove my lawn before applying for the rebate?
No. You must receive pre-approval before removing any grass or starting the project, and a project that has already begun is denied. Photograph and measure the lawn as it is, apply, and wait for the approval email before any work starts.
Does artificial turf qualify for the turf rebate?
No. The regional Turf Replacement Program does not allow synthetic turf in a rebate project, and the converted area must contain no live turf or turf-looking grasses. Artificial turf can still make sense for a play area, but that area earns no rebate.
How many plants do I need for the rebate?
At least three plants per 100 square feet of converted area, planted in the ground. Existing trees in the area count, each newly planted tree counts as three plants, and potted plants do not count.
What is the difference between xeriscaping and drought-tolerant landscaping?
They describe the same approach: a landscape designed around low water use, with suitable plants, mulch, efficient irrigation and plants grouped by water need. Xeriscape is the older term. LADWP and the regional program use the term California Friendly landscaping.
When is the best time to plant a drought-tolerant garden in Los Angeles?
October through March. Cooler temperatures and winter rain help roots establish before summer heat, and LADWP recommends the same window. Apply for the rebate in late summer or early fall so approval arrives in time.
Do I need a permit to replace my lawn?
Planting itself does not need a building permit, but parts of a conversion can: retaining walls, significant grading, changes to the water connection or backflow device, lighting circuits, and landscape work inside a larger permitted project. Confirm your exact scope with your city.
Are there watering restrictions in Los Angeles?
Yes. The City of Los Angeles is in Phase 2: odd-numbered addresses water on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, even-numbered on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, never between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., with sprinkler run-time limits per station. Hand watering with a shut-off nozzle is allowed any day outside those hours.
Planning a lawn replacement in Los Angeles?
We can walk the yard with you, map the planting, rain feature and drip zones to the rebate rules before you apply, and build the hardscape around it in the same project. Site visits take about two hours, we reply within one business day, and written proposals follow within 48 hours. See our landscaping and irrigation services or contact our team to schedule a visit.