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ColoradoScaping

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Bring home the beauty of plants that thrive naturally in Colorado’s climate, like the Fire Spinner Ice plant. Photo credit: Plant Select.

ColoradoScaping around your home reduces water use, frees up your time and ensures water is available for the fun COLORADO stuff. Plus, it makes Colorado more Colorado (and less Kentucky).

Less Water Use, Naturally

ColoradoScaping is about living within the semi-arid climate around us. It's about being efficient, not excessive. It’s about being in harmony with the natural environment in a way that doesn’t consume your time and does enhance our communities. It’s a landscape that doesn’t impose itself on Colorado but reflects it.

Reducing water use respects the beauty of our great state and ensures a safe water supply for generations to come. It’s simply the right thing to do. It’s a Colorado thing.

What is ColoradoScaping?

It’s not about swaths of thirsty Kentucky bluegrass. But it’s not fields of gravel, cactus and desert.

It’s an inspired landscape that’s vibrant through all of Colorado’s seasons, with a natural palette of color, texture and dimension that always pleases the eye.

It takes design cues from Colorado ecosystems — with elevation changes punctuated by boulders; drought and climate resilient plants that help maintain vibrant urban landscapes; and tree canopies that benefit our communities, wildlife and the environment.

Why no “Cash for Grass?”

Denver Water is seeing significant progress in reducing outdoor water use as the region grows denser, landscape irrigation practices becomes more efficient and property owners take steps on their own to transform landscapes by using more climate-appropriate plants and grasses and cutting back on turf areas.

Cash for grass is a more cost-effective approach in hotter regions, where irrigation occurs year-round. We see efficiency programs, conservation, partnerships and education, at least for now, as the best practice for the Denver region.

Denver Water is in the process of creating long-term programs to address customer needs and help remove barriers so that changing residential yards to ColoradoScape is more accessible for all.

Get Inspired

It’s not easy to maintain thirsty Kentucky bluegrass in the Denver area, where landscape enthusiasts face weather that constantly fluctuates — when it’s not just plain dry.

Your yard could be a lot more interesting than grass alone. Even better, it could use less water. Check out these resources to help you reimagine your landscape:

Get Going

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Bring home the beauty of plants that thrive naturally in Colorado’s climate, like the Denver Daisy. Photo credit: Plant Select.

Does your yard have some decorative, thirsty turf that you want to switch out with ColoradoScaping?

A diverse, water-smart landscape of trees and plants brings cooling summer shade and year-round beauty to our neighborhoods. It also offers rich habitat for the wildlife, birds and pollinators that live among us.

Start with a plant or two, or a patch of lawn.

And you don’t have to go it alone.

Need help removing turf grass?

  • Lawn Removal ServiceDenver Water partners with Resource Central to provide discounts on quick and affordable lawn removal services for those who don’t want to do it themselves. Plan your project and choose your Denver Water discount when you complete the online application with Resource Central. Discounts are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Visit ResourceCentral.org/lawn or call 303-999-3820 ext. 221 to enroll or join the interest list.
  • Colorado State University Extension — Get information and facts about what to consider for DIY turf removal projects.

Need help selecting plants?

  • Colorado State University Extension — Find resources to help you be successful with flowers, vegetable plants, trees, shrubs and more.
  • Plant Select — Look for the Plant Select label at your local garden store when buying plants that thrive in the high plains and Rocky Mountain regions. Developed from a nonprofit collaboration of CSU, Denver Botanic Gardens and professional horticulturists, this resource can help you pick the right plant for the right place.
  • Resource Central — Check out the spring and fall garden sales from this nonprofit. Home to the popular Garden In A Box program with plant-by-number designs, its experts have helped people save water for more than 40 years. Sign up for sale notifications.


Xeriscape Plans

Thinking about adding Xeriscape to your landscape? We've got a plan for that.