Population growth is straining water supplies and delivery systems, causing many water providers to provide great incentives to reduce water use.  Homeowner’s, businesses, and HOA’s are also looking for ways to trim their budgets and increase their long-term sustainability.

But landscape renovations can get expensive.  Thankfully, there are some great rebates out there that you can take advantage of to help offset the costs.  When you factor in the rebates, as well as significant water and maintenance savings, a landscape renovation can make a lot of sense for your property.

Irrigation Upgrades vs. Turf Removal

Most of the rebates out there focus on 2 main areas: Irrigation Upgrades and Turf Removal.

Irrigation upgrade rebates are offered to water customers to increase the efficiency of their irrigation systems.  Rebates are often offered to install more efficient spray nozzles, rain sensors, and controllers.

The rebates for these items are usually calculated per item installed, for example, $5 per efficient rotary nozzle, and $50 for a rain sensor.  For larger commercial properties there are often limit to the maximum rebate that can be obtained.

Turf removal rebates are geared toward removing areas of high water-use landscaping (usually lawns and turfgrass) and replacing those areas with low water-use landscaping.  The replacement landscaping can consist of  Xeriscape, native plants, and a variety of colorful shrubs, perennials, trees, and ornamental grasses.

This approach has the ability to lower water use dramatically, as the landscape itself is being changed to REQUIRE less water to be healthy.  As such, the rebates offered for a turf removal landscape renovation are generally much higher.

Turf removal rebates are usually calculated based on the square feet of the area being changed, for example $1.50 or $2.50 per square foot of area that is changed from high water-use to low water-use.  The total amount available varies by water provider or City, and can be a couple thousand dollars to as much as $25,000 and more for larger properties.

When pursuing a turf removal type rebate, a good landscape design can be very beneficial and is often required in order to get the rebate.  Most rebates require that the replacement landscaping consist of a variety of low water-use plantings that will help to create an interesting and beautiful replacement landscape.

Consider hiring a professional landscape architect- In most cases the rebate you receive will more than pay for the services of a professional, and your experience will be a lot more enjoyable.  In some cases, additional rebates are offered to customers who use a professional to do the design.

It takes a little bit of research to figure out which rebate is right for you, but in the end a rebate can be a great way to offset the cost of renovating your landscaping.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• Up to $25,000 Rebates Available through 2010 Aurora Xeriscape Program
• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• The Top 10 Benefits of Making Landscaping More Water Efficient
• Xeriscape Rebate Programs Provide a Great Opportunity for HOA’s and other Property Owners
• Save Money and Water by Converting Sod to Xeriscape

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

If  you read my Fall landscape maintenance tips, you know that I am not a proponent of keeping the landscape perfectly tidy over the winter.  Now that spring is here, among other things you will need to clean your beds of those leftover leaves, and cut back your perennials and grasses.

Key Dates

• Early May:  Time to start up that irrigation system.  Resist the temptation to start your sprinklers before May 1st.  In Colorado, we generally get plenty of moisture in March and April so lawns do not generally need supplemental water yet and it will go to waste.  Many shrubs and perennials are only just beginning to emerge.

Trees and Shrubs

• Remove winter tree wrap from any trees.  Now would also be a good time to remove tree stakes that were put in place last season.
• Don’t prune trees and shrubs in the spring.  They are budding out and are susceptible to more stress and damage at this time.  I find that it can also be difficult to tell whether a branch is dead or alive without physically checking each one, since the leaves have not yet emerged.  Wait until late summer or fall to remove any dead branches and to do any other pruning.
• Before you start your irrigation system remember to check soil moisture, and give trees and shrubs extra water if needed.  In typical years you will not need to water in the spring, but if the weather has been dry or warm you should keep an eye on soil moisture.

Perennials and Ornamental Grasses

• Cut back perennials and grasses so that they will regenerate bigger and better than before.  For perennials, cut them back to about 2″ above the ground.   For woody
  

  Woody perennials like Russian Sage may not completely die back

  perennials,such as Russian Sage, some of the old growth will often begin to leaf out and you can leave more of the existing plant to re-grow.

• When cutting back ornamental grasses, a rule of thumb that I like to use is to cut them back to 1/5th (or 20%) of their maximum height.  Feather Reed Grass, for example, grows to a height of 4-5′, so you would cut them back to 10-12″ height.
• You can begin to “divide and conquer”!  Divide up fall-blooming perennials and grasses and transplant them throughout the landscape-  This gives them time to grow this season, so that in the late summer you will have new plants to enjoy.
• Remove excess mulch and leaf scraps from around the bases of plants, along with any extra mulch that was placed around plants to protect them over the winter.  Spring is the wettest time of the year, and the mulch is needed the least at this time.  Leaving excess organic material around the bases of plants in spring can cause root rot, mold, and insect damage.

Lawns

• I like to rake the lawn areas once really well in the spring to clean up any leftover sticks, pine needles, etc.  In the summer I use a self-mulching lawnmower that mulches and re-deposits the clippings in place rather than bagging them.  However the first time I mow in the spring I like to attach the bagger to suck up any new clippings and other debris left over from the winter.

Cut grasses back to 1/5th of their full height

• Consider aerating your lawn.  Aeration allows greater movement of water, fertilizer, and air which stimulates healthy turf.  Aerating also increases the speed of decomposition of the grass clippings and enhances deep root growth.  Compacted soil especially benefits from core aerating.  Be sure to mark the locations of sprinkler heads with flags prior to aerating so that they will not get damaged.
• You may want to fertilize your lawn in the spring to give it a boost.  Don’t over do it though, because fertilizer can wash off of your lawn and the runoff can be harmful to water supplies and wildlife
• Remove dandelions and other weeds before they go to seed and spread throughout your yard, or your neighbors yard.
• Assess the size and configuration of your lawn, and how much water you used this year to keep it green (or, brown?).   Consult with a landscape architect about how you canredesign your landscape to make it more attractive, sustainable, and functional.

Planting Beds

• Weed control in bed areas is very important in the spring.  You will want to get a leg up on the weeds now, while the soil is soft and easy to work with and the weeds are small.  If weeds are allowed to “run wild” throughout the spring you will have a maintenance headache later in the summer.  Weed control can be a fast and easy task if it is done correctly from the start of the year through the end.

Irrigation

• Pressurize your irrigation system and check for and leaks and for proper spray distribution.  Adjust the angle and throw of sprinkler heads.  Check irrigation equipment for clogged nozzles and sprinkler heads for damage.  Realign heads if necessary.   Examine any drip irrigation to make sure there are no leaks or other issues, and plan to make regular check-ups on your irrigation system throughout the season.

Spring Weather Considerations

• Watch for those freak spring snowstorms!  Trees and shrubs that are flowering and/or leafing out will catch the heavy wet spring snow on their branches, often causing serious damage due to limbs breaking off.

Other

• Check any metal edging to make sure that it is has not heaved over the winter.  If it has heaved, you should repair it.  Edging keeps the sod from creeping into landscape beds areas, which can be a maintenance nightmare if it gets out of hand.   Metal edging can also be a safety hazard to pets and children.  If you have a plastic protective cap on your edging, inspect it and replace it if necessary.
• If you follow all of the above recommendations you will end up with a lot of organic material and cuttings as a result of your spring cleanup.  If you have the space for it, consider composting this material.  Or, rather than throwing the material away to go in the landfill, check to see if there is a local recycling center that will take the material to compost it.

Spring cleanup is a time honored tradition among gardeners, as an excuse to get outside after the long winter months and to freshen up the landscape as it springs to life.  With Xeriscape, spring maintenance is even more important.   Since Xeriscape requires less regular maintenance through the summer, it is critical to get the summer started off right so that your Xeriscape will require very little maintenance throughout the year.

Regardless of the landscape style that you are maintaining, if you start off on the right foot in the spring you will be well on your way a beautiful landscape to enjoy throughout the coming year.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• Building a Deck – What is the Best Decking Material?
• Should Ornamental Grasses be Cut Back for the Winter?
• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• What Not to Do – Planting a Large Tree Directly Under Power Lines

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

In the project above, we worked with a home owner’s association (HOA) to design and oversee the installation of a water-saving landscape renovation.  Significant drainage problems were also addressed in the design. The aerial photo above shows Phase 1 of the improvements.  Because the high water-use turf areas were replaced with low water-use Xeriscape plantings, the renovation shown above will result in water savings of over 900,000 gallons of water per year that will no longer be needed for irrigation.  Because of the success of the project, the client asked us to design 2 more large phases that were subsequently completed.

The site in the second example, shown above, included a long narrow strip of irrigated lawn along the border of a multi-family property.  The lawn area was not being utilized by the residents, and since it was on a west facing slope the grass did not grow well and the irrigation water often produced wasteful run-off onto the parking lot and into the storm drain.  Furthermore, the adjacent wood fence along this strip was getting severely damaged by the overspray from the irrigation.  As I noted in a previous post, this is a condition to avoid.

The design solution for this landscape renovation was to limit the lawn areas to smaller, yet large enough to be usable, areas for the resident and their dogs.  We also utilized non-irrigated native seeding (visible in the lower left hand corner of the site) in the back areas along the fence.  This landscape renovation project resulted in significant reductions in water-use and maintenance, saving the community association a substantial amount of money in their annual budget.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• Xeriscape Rebate Programs Provide a Great Opportunity for HOA’s and other Property Owners
• Save Money and Water by Converting Sod to Xeriscape
• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• How to Design Your Landscape to be a Sponge for Rainwater
• Up to $25,000 Rebates Available through 2010 Aurora Xeriscape Program

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Juniper bushes are common in older landscapes. Here they were not given adequate room, so they have been sheared off along the walkway.

Why is this?  I think there are a few main reasons, aside from the fact that they are prickly beasts that we have all tangled with a one point (either landing in one while playing as a kid, or getting that annoying rash on your arm while trimming them) :

1) They were simply overused in the past.  People are just tired of them and want something unique and new.  And since they live for ages and rarely die, they are often the only living survivors guarding the front doors of homes in any older neighborhood.

2) They were not planted with enough room to grow.  Many of the varieties get quite large after say, 20 years, and quickly outgrow the planting bed.  Because they grow too large for their setting they require excessive pruning to keep them at a manageable size.  This pruning then exposes all of the dead old growth inside the base of the plant- ugly!

3) The aforementioned prickliness.   And good luck getting the baseball you were tossing around out of the center of that green monster.

Given these negatives, why then should you consider using Juniper plants in your landscape?

1)  They require little water and are very well adapted to the western and southwestern United States.  That is why in places like Eastern Colorado (where few woody plants survive, and water is a scarce resource) they are used by landowners and farmers for windbreaks.  They are an excellent Xeriscape plant.

When used correctly, such as in this Denver Xeriscape, Junipers can be an attractive addition to the landscape.

2)  They are long-lived plants.  In some places native specimens have lived for several hundred years in the wild.

3)  Given an appropriate amount of space, they require almost no maintenance.

4)  They are evergreen, so they provide good winter interest.  They can be used to add texture and scale to a landscape, and make terrific visual screens, hedges, and windbreaks.

5)  There are many forms and colors available that offer endless design possibilities, ranging from narrow upright forms to low mat-forming spreading varieties, and everything in between.  Colors can range from dark green, to blue-gray, to bright green, to yellow green, with some varieties changing to purplish-red shades in the winter months.

So, the next time you decide to tear out those old Juniper shrubs, consider re-introducing them into your new landscape design to enjoy all of the benefits these versatile plants have to offer.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• Scenes from a Colorado Garden – June 2010
• The 20 Best Xeriscape Plants for Colorado
• Building a Deck – What is the Best Decking Material?
• 5 Ways to Use Landscaping to Enhance Your Christmas Decorations
• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

One of the best ways to do this is to convert your high water-use landscaping into a Xeriscape (pronounced “zeer-escape”).  This can be done anywhere-  from a small home landscape, to a large commercial property.

Many people have an image of Xeriscape as a “sea of rocks, with a few cactus plants”.  But Xeriscape can also be a lush, green and colorful landscape that is interwoven with flowering plants, textures, and beauty throughout each season.  In my opinion it is much more beautiful and interesting than “traditional” landscaping.

The Top 10 Benefits Are:

10.  Less Maintenance
9.  Use Less Water & Better for the Environment
8.  Prevent Water Damage
7.  More Beautiful, Colorful & Unique
6.  Better Wildlife Habitat
5.  Less Fertilizers & Pesticides Needed
4.  Better Suited to Your Site’s Unique Conditions
3.  More Winter Beauty
2.  Better Prepared for Drought
1.  Saves You Money

Now I will discuss each benefit in greater detail and explain what each one can mean for you:

10.  Less Maintenance
Xeriscape takes less maintenance than traditional landscaping- and here is why:  A traditional landscape usually has quite a bit of lawn (turf, sod, etc.).  In order to keep a lawn healthy it requires weekly mowing, trimming around edges, edging the lawn along sidewalks, fertilizing, aerating, treating any number of fungi or diseases, adjustment of sprinkler heads, etc., etc.

Think about all of the time and effort that goes into all of that maintenance and mowing every week.  A well designed Xeriscape on the other hand limits the amount of lawn to maintain.  The plants themselves need little care.  If you give the plants room to grow- they need little to ZERO amount of pruning.  The idea of Xeriscape is to let the plants grow just as they do in nature.  The biggest maintenance items for a Xeriscape are an annual ”spring cleanup” and occasional weeding.

9.  Use Less Water & Better for the Environment
Obviously, a landscape that is more water efficient uses less water!  Why is this important?   Because fresh water is a very scarce resource throughout the world.  Population growth and droughts put a tremendous strain on our water supply, especially in the west and southwest United States.

And watering landscaping uses a huge amount of water.  For example, here in Colorado the average household uses 50% of their water for landscaping!  And that is after years of conservation efforts.  A well designed Xeriscape with drip irrigation can use up to 60% less water than a traditional landscape.

8.  Prevent Water Damage
This is probably the most unkown benefit on the list.  Water is the primary cause for damage of building foundations, paving, retaining walls, curbs, fencing, and just about anything else man-made.  So by limiting the amount of water you are applying to your landscape and around buildings, you greatly reduce the likelihood of damage and additional maintenance costs to these items.

7.  More Beautiful, Colorful & Unique
The next time you are in a suburban area of the United States that was built in the 1980′s or early 1990′s- look around at the landscaping.  I am willing to bet that you would see the same basic design of the landscaping in just about any city in the US- despite the fact that the local climates in these places are completely different!  How boring is that?!

Low water-use landscapes utilize plants that are either native to the local area, or well adapted to the region.  The choices you have in plants and the design possibilities are almost limitless.  You can utilize beautiful plants that do well in your area and exhibit a variety of interesting colors, forms, and textures.

6.  Better Wildlife Habitat
Low water-use landscapes and Xeriscapes utilize native plants that the local wildlife enjoy and are familiar with.  Flowers attract hummingbirds, songbirds, and insects including bees that are important to nature as pollinators.  Diverse plantings also offer cover and even food to a variety of birds and animals.

5.  Less Fertilizers & Pesticides Needed
Landscapes that are better adapted to the local environmental and weather conditions are less likely to be under stress, and therefor less susceptible to pests and diseases.  Lawns often require large amounts of supplemental fertilizer to stay healthy- native plants thrive under natural soil nutrient and weather conditions.  Additionally, applying large amounts of water to a landscape can promote fungi, mold, and bacteria issues.

4.  Better Suited to Your Site’s Unique Conditions
You know that big, dry, shady patch under the Oak tree where you can never get the grass to grow?  With low water-use landscaping you have many options for lovely plantings that enjoy dry shade.  The same goes for that southwest facing spot that gets baked by the sun all day- there are plants that thrive in those conditions!  Have clay or rocky soil?  You can select plants that prefer those soil types.  It makes more sense than planting lawn everywhere and artificially dousing it with water to keep it barely alive.

3.  More Winter Beauty
Xeriscapes and low water-use landscapes can be stunning in the winter.  You can use a combination of evergreen shrubs, ornamental grasses that catch the winter light and move in the breeze, plants with fall and winter foliage color, and shrubs with colorful and interesting bark to create contrast and texture in a snowy winter landscape.

2.  Better Prepared for Drought
Drought sounds like something that only third world countries should worry about.  But the fact is severe droughts and water shortages occur every year in all parts of the world.  Australia is currently in a prolonged drought that is having serious consequences on their water supply.  And in the early 2000′s Colorado experienced a major drought that caused rationing and restrictions on the amount of water one could use on their landscaping- causing lawns to turn brown all over Denver.  Low water-use plants are better suited to not only survive, but remain attractive during times of drought.

1.  Saves You Money
Water is a precious resource that costs more money every year.  And water rates are projected to continue to rise.  Significant savings can be achieved through a well designed conversion to low water-use landscaping:  in most cases a savings of up to 60%!  Several of the other benefits listed here also save money:  requiring less maintenance, preventing water damage, and surviving drought to name a few.  Raise your hand if you like to save money!

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• Why Do Water Providers Want You to Use Less Water?
• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• 5 Reasons to Reconsider your Hatred of Juniper Bushes
• California Water Provider Announces New Water Conservation Rebate Programs

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Delosperma (Red Mountain and Mesa Verde Iceplant) and Actostaphylos x coloradoensis (Panchito Manzanita)

Dry Xeriscape Garden

Erigonum umbellatum (Kannah Creek Buckwheat)

Delosperma (Red Mountain and Mesa Verde Iceplant)

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• 5 Reasons to Reconsider your Hatred of Juniper Bushes
• The 20 Best Xeriscape Plants for Colorado
• Building a Deck – What is the Best Decking Material?
• Should Ornamental Grasses be Cut Back for the Winter?
• 5 Ways to Use Landscaping to Enhance Your Christmas Decorations

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

The average person in Denver uses 128 gallons of water per day for residential use.

The breakdown of residential water use:

• 1%  Dishwashers
• 5%  Leaks
• 6%  Faucets
• 10%  Showers and Baths
• 11%  Laundry
• 13%  Toilets
• 54%  Landscaping

Source:  Denver Water

Why is this such a high number for landscaping?
The simple answer is that over the last 150 years as people have settled in Colorado and built homes and commercial properties, they have installed high water-use landscapes to look like the landscapes of the east coast and Midwest.

Being from the Midwest myself, I understand the fondness for those landscapes.  The problem is that the Front Range area of Colorado only receives about 17 inches of rain per year.  In New York or Michigan these landscapes often thrive without any irrigation-  but in Denver these landscapes have to be heavily irrigated to “fake” that same look.

I like my fake landscape- what is the big deal?
Aside from the fact that you are paying for the water, and your tax dollars go toward maintaining the system, Colorado is running out of water.  Experts expect that we’ll have a 630,000 acre-feet shortage in 20 years.  1 acre-foot is 325,851 gallons!

Xeriscape can reduce landscape water-use by up to 60%
Since the largest percentage of residential water use goes toward landscaping, the best way to reduce water use is to use less for landscaping.   And the most effective way to use less water for landscaping is to convert high water-use landscapes to Xeriscape.  This can easily be done for homes and large commercial properties.  There are several articles on this blog and our website that describe the process.   Studies have shown that a good Xeriscape will increase your property value by as much as 15%.

Xeriscape was a term coined by Denver Water in the early 1980′s.   It is not a specific look or group of plants, but rather a combination of seven common-sense gardening principles that save water while creating a lush and colorful landscape.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• The Top 10 Benefits of Making Landscaping More Water Efficient
• Up to $25,000 Rebates Available through 2010 Aurora Xeriscape Program
• Xeriscape Rebate Programs Provide a Great Opportunity for HOA’s and other Property Owners

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

That being said, I do think a small list can be helpful to people who are new to the area, or are not familiar with the available plant choices and may be overwhelmed by a catalog of thousands of plants.   Although this is a Colorado list, most of these plants can be used in many places throughout the world depending on the local climate.

• Fernbush – Chamaebatiaria millefolium    Fernbush is a medium sized shrub with interesting fern-like leaves that persist throughout the winter.  This shrub requires little water or maintenance, and produces clusters of small white flowers in the late spring through early summer.
• Agastache - Agastache ssp.    Agastache, or hummingbird mint, is a fragrant group of colorful perennial herbs that is available in many colors mostly ranging from orange to pink.  The plants are covered with beautiful tubular flowers from mid-summer to fall.  Hummingbirds absolutely love these plants.
• Panchito Manzanita - Arctostaphylos x coloradoensis ‘Panchito’    Panchito Manzanita is a low growing woody shrub with shiny, oval, dark green leaves that persist throughout the winter.  It gets small, pale pink flowers followed by small red berries- but it’s best characteristics are the evergreen foliage and the fact that it requires little care or water.  For more info read my previous post dedicated to this plant.
• Yarrow - Achillea ssp.    Yarrow is a group of Rocky Mountain native perennials that are available in many colors, ranging from yellow, to white, to red.  The plants are very drought tolerant, requiring almost no watering once established.  Fern-like, finely dissected leaves form clumps at the base of the plant, often naturalizing and spreading.  Flowers are produced on stiff, tall stalks throughout the summer.
• Spanish Gold Broom - Cytisus purgans ‘Spanish Gold’    Spanish Gold Broom is a medium sized deciduous shrub that is native to the Mediterranean.  In late spring it is covered with small yellow pea-like blossoms.  This shrub grows in a mounding, cascading form of bright green stems that remain green throughout the winter.  The small leaves drop by mid-summer.
• Catmint - Nepeta ssp.    Catmint is a widely used mint that produces an abundance of blue flowers.  The reasons that I like this plant are first, that it is one of the earlier Xeriscape perennials to emerge in the spring to form an attractive clump of blue-green foliage, and second, that it flowers all summer long and requires zero maintenance.
• Iceplant - Delosperma ssp.    The Iceplant that we use in Colorado is a perennial that is native to the higher elevations of South Africa.  Note that this is not the invasive Iceplant that is a problem in Southern California.  Delospermas form a ground-hugging mat of succulent leaves that range from grey to green.  The plants are coated with shiny, delicate flowers in colors from red, to purple, to pink, often with different colored centers.  One of my favorite plants.
• Blue Avena Grass - Helictotrichon sempervirens    Blue Avena Grass is a striking addition to any landscape.  Large clumps of blue-gray leaves give this grass a unique texture and contrast among other plants.  In mid-summer a large group of tan seedheads gracefully arch from the plant and stand out from the blue foliage.  Like most grasses, Blue Avena requires little maintenance or supplemental watering.
• Penstemon - Penstemon ssp.    Penstemon is another group of Rocky Mountain native perennials that requires little watering once established, preferring well drained soils. Penstemons are available in just about every color.  These plants are small in size which makes them ideal for filling in between other Xeriscape plants.  They provide an abundance of colorful blooms that attract butterflies and hummingbirds.
• Mojave Sage - Salvia pachyphylla    Mojave Sage is a large shrubby perennial that produces an abundance of striking purplish-blue flowers throughout the summer.  The silver-green foliage really stands out too, growing up to 3 feet tall, and persisting as a semi-evergreen throughout the winter.
• Prairie Winecups - Callirhoe involucrata    Prairie Winecups is a Colorado native perennial that grows in a low mound of trailing stems covered in round dark-green leaves.  The plant produces a large number of cup shaped wine-red colored flowers from late spring through summer.  Because this is a native plant it is well adapted to our local climate and requires little maintenance.
• Mexican Feather Grass - Nassella tenuissima    Mexican Feather Grass has a fine, hair-like form that gives this grass a texture like none other.  Early in the summer the fine tufts of grass are bright green, then they fade to a striking golden yellow in the mid summer through the fall and winter.  The way that this grass moves in the breeze brings a graceful movement to the landscape.
• Torch Lilly - Kniphofia ssp.    Torch Lillies are interesting because of their unique foliage and flowers.  The foliage is grass-like, and grows in thick clumps ranging in color from blue-green to dark green.  The flowers are produced in a tight bunch on tall spikes, and the flowers open from the bottom of the spike upwards.
• Crimson Pygmy Barberry - Berberis thunbergii ‘Crimson Pygmy’    Crimson Pygmy Barberry is a compact deciduous shrub with small red leaves and stems.  The red color makes an excellent contrast with the tan and blue hues of the late summer Xeriscape.  This shrub is easy to care for, and maintains a very compact and dense form.
• Agave - Agave ssp.    Agave is native to the Southwestern United States and Mexico, and it thrives in hot, dry locations.  Most of the Agave’s have beautiful thick blue foliagewith spines on the tips of the leaves.  A very low maintenance plant for dry southern and western exposures.
• Prairie Coneflower - Ratibida ssp.    Prairie Coneflower is a tall, vigorously growing perennial that requires little maintenance and produces flowers throughout the summer.  The foliage is bright green, and available flower colors include yellow with dark brown centers, and burgundy red with dark brown centers.  The seeds are easy to harvest and sow the following spring.
• Creeping Western Sand Cherry - Prunus besseyi ‘Pawnee Buttes’    Creeping Western Sand Cherry is the low growing form of Western Sand Cherry that is native to the Rocky Mountains.  The plant has bright green leaves, and produces fragrant white flowers in the spring, followed by small black fruit that attract birds and wildlife.  In the fall, the leaves turn to beautiful shades of burgundy and red.
• Coral Bells – Heuchera ssp.    Coral Bells are a widely used favorite because they are easy to grow and care for. The large leaves are available in a variety of hues from light green, to burgundy, to silvery green. Coral Bells does very well in shade to partial sun.  Available flower colors range from white to red, and are produced on slender stalks in late spring to early summer.
• Yucca - Yucca ssp.    Yuccas are native to the Southwestern United States and Mexico.  There are many different varieties to choose from with various forms of stiff sword-like leaves ranging from dark green to blue-green.  Yuccas are a true evergreen that brings form and structure to the landscape year-round.  Most Yuccas produce large showy spikes of white bell shaped flowers in mid summer.
• Apache Plume - Fallugia paradoxa    Apache Plume is large native deciduous shrub with whitish stems and branches covered with small light green leaves.  Some of the leaves persist throughout the winter.  The shrub produces single white flowers in mid summer, followed by the very unique and attractive rose and pink colored plumes that give this plant it’s name.  A very unique and versatile shrub that grows vigorously in it’s native habitat of Colorado.

The Criteria for this List:
- This list is for the Front Range of Colorado.  We are somewhere in the middle of zone 4 to 5 on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.  I will plan to follow up with a separate post for the mountain areas located above about 7,000 feet in elevation.

- I have only included plants that are very easy to care for, and have excluded plants that require a lot of water since that is a key component of Xeriscape.  The “best” plants, in my opinion, are those that are well adapted to the local climate and do not require much additional water and maintenance.  Of course there are occasions where the use of higher water-use plants is desirable, such as in drainage areas, however I have left them off of this particular list.  And if this were a list of my personal “favorite” plants then I would probably include some that require a little extra care.

- I am not a botanist- I am a landscape architect.  This means that I am far from an expert on the science and anatomy of plants.  Instead, I am influenced by characteristics such as:  how the plant works in an overall design, its adaptability to a variety of sites, the colors and form of the foliage, the availability and cost of the plants, etc.

- This list includes a good mixture of evergreen and deciduous shrubs, perennials, and ornamental grasses that will provide a variety of color, texture, and interest throughout each of the seasons.  I have excluded trees, bulbs, and annuals for the purpose of this list.  There are so many of each to chose from that I will provide future lists for each category.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• 5 Reasons to Reconsider your Hatred of Juniper Bushes
• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• The Best Plants for High Altitude Landscaping
• The Top 10 Benefits of Making Landscaping More Water Efficient
• Scenes from a Colorado Garden – June 2010

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

photo of a converted xeriscape that was previously a lawn area

The City of Aurora, Colorado and Aurora Water have been pioneers in water conservation through supporting regionally appropriate landscape design.  Outdoor Design Group has been actively involved with the program for the last couple of years.  For 2010, the Xeriscape Rebate program has been allocated $250,000 dollars for rebates to convert high water use landscapes (sod, turf, or lawn) to Xeriscape.

In past posts on this blog, I have documented the money and water savings and given examples of the beauty of these landscapes.  Each site is different, but in general you can expect a reduction in irrigation water use of 30-70%, and a 20-40% reduction of landscape maintenance costs.  This is a great opportunity for HOA’s, commercial properties, and homeowners to achieve long-term savings, in addition to acquiring the rebates.

Here are some key aspects of the 2010 program, from Aurora Water’s website:

• Xeriscape is a great landscape option for our climate because of its reduced watering needs and ability to tolerate periods of drought.
• In addition to decreased water consumption and resilience to drought, Xeriscape has the potential to significantly decrease time and resources expended on maintenance.
• Aurora Water customers interested in Xeriscape as a landscape alternative may be eligible for a rebate of up to $1 per square foot for turf grass that is replaced with low water use plant material.
• $250,000 has been allocated for the 2010 season. The maximum square footage (rebate) is $10,000 for residential and $25,000 for commercial and large properties such as Homeowner’s Associations and multi-family dwellings.

For commercial and large properties such as home owners associations- the program requires that you haver a plan prepared by a licensed landscape architect.  This is a good idea anyway, as a landscape architect can help you prepare a budget and phasing for the project before you commit to a contractor to do the installation.  Landscape architects are also good at communicating what the new landscape will look like- through the use of plans, photos, drawings, and presentations.

Aurora is an ideal community for a rebate program like this, because there are many older landscapes were built in the 1970′s, 80′s and 90′s, and are ready for a renovation simply to update the look of outdated properties.  Although most new landscape codes mandate low water use landscaping, that was not the case in the past-  many older landscapes were designed in a way that requires large amounts of water and maintenance.

But Aurora is far from alone in offering this type of program.  Water supplies are stretched extremely thin throughout most of the Western United States.  A simple Google search for “Xeriscape rebate” brings up 26,400 results.  Similar programs exist throughout Colorado, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and elsewhere.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• Xeriscape Rebate Programs Provide a Great Opportunity for HOA’s and other Property Owners
• Save Money and Water by Converting Sod to Xeriscape
• Why Do Water Providers Want You to Use Less Water?

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

This $400,000 project entailed correcting some serious drainage problems and replacing outdated high water-use landscaping with new low water-use landscaping as part of Aurora’s Xeriscape Rebate Program.  Outdoor Design Group worked with the HOA to design the improvements, submit plans to the City for approval, and apply for the Xeriscape rebate.  We then worked with the general contractor in the field on the re-grading of large areas, piping of downspouts, and the creation of drainage swales.  Finally, we provided bid procurement services for installation of the approved landscape and irrigation design, and worked closely in the field with the selected landscape contractor to complete the project.

Through careful planning, design, and coordination, we were able to obtain the maximum possible Xeriscape rebate for the HOA while reducing the water-use and associated costs by over 60%.  The maintenance costs for the landscaping are expected to be reduced by 20-40% with the new low-maintenance approach.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• Up to $25,000 Rebates Available through 2010 Aurora Xeriscape Program
• Save Money and Water by Converting Sod to Xeriscape
• Why Do Water Providers Want You to Use Less Water?

Be Sociable, Share!

•