Less Water, Less Work, and More Beauty: Small Steps to Transform Your Yard

You can make your yard a place of beauty and calm, while reducing your yard work and water use all at the same time. We are blessed with abundant, vibrant, and hearty plants that are adapted to our climate and that can add splashes of color to your yard.

You don’t have to tackle it all at once and you don’t have to have a landscaping degree or even prior gardening experience. Try taking on just one small section each year. Here are some tips:  

Trim down the amount of grass. Instead of edge-to-edge turf grass, cut in around the edges to make your grass plot more rounded. Consider a meandering stone or brick pathway through the middle, or an island. Add an area for a boulder, a bench, an interesting piece of wood, or a large pot with herbs or tomatoes. Reduce your watering accordingly.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. Look around the neighborhood for flowering plants, bushes, and groundcovers that thrive. Look for the PlantSelect label or low water section in your local garden shop. Ask on NextDoor for plant cuttings or do a plant swap. Put in a mix of different plant sizes and leaf colors. Some plants will do well in your garden and some won’t – just keep experimenting.

Think twice before using herbicides and pesticides. Plants that are adapted to our semi-arid Colorado climate require less herbicides and pesticides – which means better health for you, your children or grandchildren, your pets, our butterflies and pollinators, and the planet.

Treat yourself. Gardening can clear your head of all the clutter and stress, giving you literally a breath of fresh air. The physical benefits too, will last a lifetime.