Xeriscape
Beautifying your landscape with drought-tolerant plants, trees, flowers, and shrubs plus having a water efficient irrigation system not only adds great value to your property investment, it also saves much needed water. Here, you’ll find lots of fun and useful information, but if you have a specific question not addressed in these guides, just contact Craig Miller.
Resources
- 101 Ways to Conserve Water
- Guide to Outdoor Watering
- Guide to Home Water Management
- Caring for Trees in Dry Climates
- Spring-Summer Tree Watering Schedule
- Fall-Winter Tree Watering Schedule
- Planting a Blue Grama Lawn from Seed
- ET Based Smart Irrigation Controllers
- The 7 Principles of Xeriscape
- Trees, Shrubs, Junipers, Evergreens, Perennials, Vines and Grasses
- Water Management for Homeowners and HOAs
- Winterizing Residential Irrigation Backflow Prevention Assemblies
- Xeriscape Plant of the Month
FREE Xeriscape Classes
- Annual Class Schedule - Classes are FREE. Join us at Tagawa Garden Center. 7711 South Parker Road, Aurora, CO 80016-1456
- Class Descriptions
- Class Handouts and Outlines
- View Online Calendar
Plant This, Not That
This may be blasphemy, but here in Colorado, is there anything more inappropriate than a bluegrass lawn? Let's think about this for a second - we get less than 16" of precipitation a year, which classifies us as "semi-arid", or not to put too fine a point on it, pretty 
much a desert. Unless you actively use your bluegrass lawn (you have kids or dogs that run around and play on it), why DO you have that water-hungry green pestilence in your yard?
The solution? Buffalo Grass (Buchloe dactyloides), a Colorado native that thrives in our climate. Buffalo grass produces a uniform and attractive turf that ranges in color from spring
green to gray-green, and it reaches a mature height of 4 to 6 inches. The narrow leaves curl downward to produce a shorter-looking grass even without mowing. It can be left longer for a soft, prairie look, or cut to 3 inches for a neater looking lawn. Being a warm season grass, it does green up several weeks later than traditional bluegrass.
Since buffalograss is hardy and disease resistant, there is little need for supplemental fertilizer or pesticides. The lower, slower growth rate of buffalograss also means less watering and mowing is necessary.
Buffalograss is a beautiful and water thrifty alternative to traditional landscaping turfs. It can be established either from seed, sod or plugs. For those interested in creating a more native, water conserving landscape, buffalo grass is the natural choice.
Freebies
FREE: water saving devices – we have low flow shower heads, faucet aerators, leak detection kits, and rain gauges.
Do-It-Yourself Home Water Audit Kit and more.
Free conservation activity books and handouts for kids. Just stop by the office during business hours.
Contact
Craig Miller: cmiller@pwsd.org