Hi, Gertrude - welcome to Colorado (soon)!

I live in the south suburbs of Denver and am a xeriscape fiend. I took over a dozen of the Denver Water Board's xeriscape classes over a decade ago and have been using those principles in my yard ever since. My front yard is all drought tolerant, low maintenance, flowering perennials. You'd be welcome to come by and look at the plants I have to see what they look like growing in a real yard (or I can text you photos in the meantime). I can also talk to you about their habits, tendency to spread (or lack thereof), etc. The backyard has lawn and shrubs, roses and other perennials, sun and shade so I get to do some of everything. :) And having areas for lawn and higher need plants is actually a xeric principle!

That plant list is a real whopper, but there are a lot of great things on there. Have fun Googling, and then ask us if it's really a good idea to plant that valerian or achillea in a spot where you don't want things that spread! :) High Country Gardens is a fantastic resource, they really know their stuff. We all have extra plants we're happy to share at our plant swaps so expenses can be kept down on some things. Plus every time I look at my yellow columbine or waterperry veronica I get to think of Dee, and Liz for my peonies and Karen for my daylilies and...you get the idea!

I only dabble in veggies, there are many others on this forum who would be a far better resource on that front.

My favorite nurseries are Tagawa Gardens in Aurora and The Gardens in Highlands Ranch but they're spendy. (I am not above buying a boxwood or an apple tree at Home Depot on occasion.) I also love going to the Iris4U garden in Lakewood. Bob has some really beautiful iris and is a great resource (and talk about supporting the local guy!). The garden has gotten smaller as he gets older but I can still spend hours there.

We bought our house as a foreclosure - the back yard was full of 6' thistle, HORRIBLE shrubs, and a lot of bindweed everywhere. We yanked everything out, solarized the soil, and started over from scratch. It's been slow going - not sure I'd tackle something quite so desperate a second time.

I like Pioneer for bulk supplies but some people in this group have had varying experiences depending on which location they went to. Santa Fe Sand & Gravel is good too. Stay away from Silver Crown Landscape, we got horrible, oily (!), garbage-filled 'compost' from them way back when. Wish I'd known enough to look into the bed of the truck and tell them to take that crap back instead of letting them dump it onto my front yard. Lesson learned! I've heard great things about Paulino's and Timberline but they're a little far north for me to hit regularly.

There are several turf farms around here (I like Graff's) that make turf and turf blends specifically for our climate. We installed the 'Reveille' grass nine years ago and it's been wonderful.

Whew! That's a start, anyway. I'm sure you'll see more posts soon. This is a very knowledgeable and friendly group - we'll take good care of you!

Amy

If you buy a home in an older neighborhood, look out for elm trees. We bought our house 12 years ago and have had to take 3 of our 5 Chinese elms down to the ground due to Chinese elm disease.

That's my 2 cents worth! Welcome!

~Cat

Hi there!

I live in Colorado Springs, so south of where you will be, but one bit of input that I have is to check whatever property you are looking at to determine whether the soil is sandy and well-drained or slow-drained and clayey or a mixture of both. Some areas of my yard are one, some the other, and some are alternating horizontal layers of one then the other. When they excavate to lay foundations they don't think about gardeners! :) You'll end up prepping your soil regardless, but it'll give you an idea of which plants will be happy where. You already know about gardening in shade, so checking for that goes without saying. Finding plants that do well in dry shade can be tough.

As for myself, I've been gardening for about ten years and so am still very much still a beginner. I do perennials - no containers; I kill whatever is in them. Nor do I do any veggie gardening - too lazy. :) I love how much lushness and color you can get out of drought-tolerant plants, especially when you combine perennial flowers and shrubs with ornamental grasses. Xeriscape is by no means boring! The phrase I've heard over and over is "right plant, right place."

The picture is of my back yard (at its peak of course!), and I regard it as my haven.

I'm a newbie to this forum as well, and am looking forward to putting faces to names in Arvada at the swap.

Missycat

Amy-- Thanks for all the info! I'm glad to find people who've had success with xeriscaping. I love to garden, but I don't really enjoy babying plants along--prefer to have time to enjoy my labors, not constantly worry about maintaining an artificial environment so something unusual will grow. I would really enjoy trading ideas with you and missycat about some different plant options once we find out where we are going to be. Thank you for all the great resources too. I'm sure I'll be dragging DH and DS along on some nursery trips after we get settled. I'm definitely going to miss the spring swap, but I'm hoping that we will be far enough along by the fall meet-up that we have some proper beds for some new plants. I'm afraid I won't have anything green to trade though... would people be willing to barter for some baked goods?

cat--I will keep my eye out for elms. I had enough of tree issues a few years ago-- we bought a house with a dead conifer in the back (don't know what type, but it was giant and brown), and then DH spent the next couple of years battling year round leaf drops (the tree in the front only shed in the spring/summer, and the tree in the back only shed in the fall/winter). Thanks for the welcome!

Missycat-- I battled ridiculous clay issues when I was in CA. I'm pretty sure a lot of it had to do with the leftovers from the house being built, as there were some interesting things I pulled up while doing soil amendments. All part of the fun though-- maybe! Your yard is absolutely lovely--and I love the grasses. I love color, but also the movement grasses provide. I'm hoping to get to try some interesting varieties when we get the plans together for the beds.

I live in central/NE Denver (near City Park) and as I'm supremely lazy, I xeriscape.

Most of my yard is perennials. I have some herbs and limited veggies in raised beds. I also have lavender in another part of my yard, but I use it only for the flowers, not food. The small grass area I have is buffalo grass, which is great as it takes almost no work, but is only green about three months of the year. I’m not a fan of ornamental grasses, so I don’t have any of that.

I got a pear tree with the house, which I love when the blooms don’t freeze in spring. The house also came with bindweed, sigh. I’ve had decent luck with bindweed mites out on the tree lawn that doesn’t get much water (just the trees), but it didn’t do as well in the more irrigated areas of my yard. The house came with pokey agave that I try to yank out, but the crazy deep roots mean it never truly leaves. The ivy I inherited I like fine so it remains, although I have to make sure it doesn’t ruin the brick, as it is the variety with crazy strong roots.

Typical for Denver, I have clay soil. I’ve amended some, but tried to get plants that do well in clay. For instance, I don’t have any penstemon as they do better in sandy soils.
Things that consistently worked well for me: yarrow, bearded iris, vinca (some people consider it invasive, but I like not having to weed), sedum, helianthus, daylily, dianthus, veronica, catmint, lamb’s ear, partridge feather, ajuga, snow in summer, powis castle, beebalm, Russian sage, salvia, and mum. Also dandelions thrive, even though I don’t grow those on purpose. I have a color palette of white, yellow, pink and purple, so I’ve never tried those xeriscape plants that don’t fit my colors.

I work at Denver Water (mentioned in Amy's post), and you can come by the main building during business hours to see the xeriscape gardens. http://www.denverwater.org/Conservation/Xeriscape/XeriscapeResources/

Denver Botanic Gardens has native, rock, and water smart sections. They also have a green roof, if you are interested in trying to do something with that, as there are a surprising number of houses in Denver with flat roofs or, like my house, a flat garage roof.

I tried to attach pictures of the same area of my yard from early spring and fall, just to give an idea of how the yard changes over the season, but only one seems to take. Because I have flowering plants all season long, every insect known to Colorado seems to reside in my yard. H (for Holly)

Holly-- Your garden is lovely as well! I will definitely make time to visit the botanic gardens and the Denver Water gardens. Thank you for all of the advice and information-- some of the plants that you grow in your garden are some of my favorites, so its nice that I'll be able to incorporate them into the new plans. I'd also like to have another go at ajuga... last time I had some in one of my gardens, it really didn't do very well.

Hi Gertrude,

Welcome to RMG! And a "future welcome" to Denver! You're gonna love it!

Thanks for telling us about yourself!

This is going to be uncharacteristically short for me! I'm sitting in a little cabin in Yellow Jacket, and need to get up early in the morning to pack everything in the car and head for another little cabin on Grand Mesa! But when I read your post I had a whole lot of things to say and will try to quickly hit a few of them now.

When you're looking for a house:

Try to find out what kind of watering restrictions you might have in summer before you buy so you'll know up front how limited you will or won't be in what you can grow (water)!

If you're seriously thinking all xeric, look for a yard with as much sun as possible. Most of the truly xeric perennials don't just want a lot of sun, they NEED it.

If you buy a house in one of the "older" Denver neighborhoods, you will almost certainly get a yard that comes with built-in weeds. For instance, many years ago I lived in a house in Park Hill (NW Denver) and had some nasty weed I called "carrot weeds" because of the big, nasty taproots they had. After living there for several years, and constantly "fighting" them, they were still there as big and beautiful (NOT) at ever! Newer houses have had the soil dug up more recently and will often not have the "deeply established" weeds you'll find in the older neighborhoods. Many of the older "original" Denver areas--like the Denver Bungalow areas--will also tend to have smaller yards, but not always.

The far south side of Denver, like around Parker and Castle Rock, get more snow--usually--than Denver proper, and the north end of the Metro area. That can be good for moisture, but can be bad for plants that are already growing! Double edged sword! Just thought I'd give you a heads up!

There are nice areas all over the Metro area. I recommend if you're considering a specific area you come post and get pros and cons from the folks here about it. We have people who live all over the Metro area. I live on the north end in Thornton, and there are some really nice subdivisions up this way, like the Eastlake areas.

Don't have time to post links, but when you're looking for plants I recommend Paulino's for nursery stock--trees and bushes. They still carry a pretty good selection in the nursery. Broadway and about 62nd.

For the best selection of perennials, including xeric perennials, Timberline gardens on the far west side of town, at 58th Avenue and about Simms.

When planning your yard you might want to consider a smaller area that you'll be watering more often where you can plant things like shasta daisies and such that require more water. That way you can have your cake and eat it too! Mostly xeric, but one spot where you can plant things you really love that need to be watered more often so you don't need to go completely without them.

What's your biggest problem gonna be? Soil! Somebody mentioned sand or clay--chances are you'll have some pretty bad clay, but either way you'll need to plan to just keep adding organic matter--year after year after.......... I very highly recommend you plan for a compost pile somewhere in your yard (as opposed to some rinky-dink little store-bought "compost bin"), so you can "grow" your own "organic matter," and, if you build it directly on the ground, grow your own worm supply too! I don't have time to reread all the above, but I think somebody mentioned the awful stuff they bought, and even if you find some "good" stuff to buy, it's not gonna be as good at the stuff you make yourself!

Now my questions! Where are you moving from? (If I missed it in your post I'm sorry!) Do you have any idea when?

You can definitely "make it" in Denver! It just takes a little "adjusted thinking" if you're from a "wet and humid" place--and be sure to bring your Sense of Humor with you! It helps! And there's always moral support here on RMG!

Gotta go,
Skybird

P.S. Almost forgot this! When you get here and come to a swap I can/will very definitely get you some Ajuga to play with! Two or three kinds! But remind me when you're coming to your first swap!

This post was edited by skybird on Sat, May 17, 14 at 2:09

Hi skybird!

We are looking for a place with a clear patch of full sun (preferably a yard full of sun). I'd really like to put some time into getting better at fruit and veggie production, and I know I'd like some clear ground for that.

We will absolutely be installing a compost bin. We had a store-bought one at one of our other houses, but it was never big enough for what we were putting into it. I'm hoping we can build a two section rectangular one so I can get to it from the front for better access for turning the pile, and so we can transfer the compost that's in different stages from one side to the other. DH used to think I was nuts because I obsessed about dirt so much (rather than just digging a hole and plunking something in), but if you are working with clay, I think it's much less frustrating to just go ahead and obsess a little about dirt in the beginning when you are putting the bed together:-)

Thanks for the offer of the ajuga! The poor ones I tried to grow never really took off. I think it might have been to damp for them in the place I planted them.

We are actually in the UK right now. I'm not sure when we will be moving exactly, but sometime in the next couple of months I think. It would be really nice to get settled in before winter hits :-)

Thanks for all of the good info!

I'm beginning to realize how lucky I am to have sandy soil! Some of the plants other than those already mentioned that work for my are blue mists, red hot pokers, winecups (also known as poppy mallow), and for my dry shade, gallium oderatum. I know that that is considered by some to be invasive also, but where I have it it can go at it! Silver lace also does well for me, although I cut three of mine back hard just before our hard freeze and wonder if I killed them...