Norman, OK Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

NCC 36-551's xeriscape design principles include an appropriate-plant-selection standard for anyone using the alternative method to meet off-street parking landscaping requirements: many varieties of drought tolerant plants are available that have a lower demand for water once established, and native species, being better adapted to this climatic zone, should be used. That sits alongside the section's baseline plant-material rule, which requires that all species used in required parking-lot landscaping, xeriscape or not, be acceptable to the Director of Planning, who keeps the approved list in Appendix F of the Code.

The native-plant principle is paired with a mulch standard (three inches deep over breathable fabric, never solid plastic sheeting) and a maintenance standard directing that turf be mowed high in summer with a mulching mower and clippings left to decompose, both aimed at reducing water demand across the whole planting. As with the rest of the xeriscape option, this is offered as an alternative way to satisfy NCC 36-551's landscaping requirement, not a separate native-plant mandate that applies outside commercial and multifamily parking-lot development. Every landscape plan for a lot with six or more parking spaces still has to be submitted to Planning and Community Development for approval, and a maintenance and replacement guarantee equal to 50 percent of plant material cost is held for three years to make sure whatever is planted, native or not, survives.