The lawn and garden that passersby love looking at is a source of pride for a lot of folks. It’s also a major investment in both time and money. According to the website lawnchick.com, Americans will spend nearly $50 billion dollars this year beautifying their yards. That figure also includes paying someone—landscapers—to make things look good.
But since it is that time of year again, Amanda Weidner a Pueblo-based Colorado State University County Horticultural Specialist, advises that before you turn one shovel of soil, think about what you’re planting.
“The first thing is to garden for your area,” said Weidner. “We have plants that fit here better than in other places. Look at your site carefully.” As obvious as it may seem, she said, paying attention to where the sun shines most and where the shade falls just makes sense. Also, before shelling out any money, know what you’re planting.
“I try to encourage people to seek out water-wise options,” Weidner said. “A lot of native species are bet- ter.” Because Colorado continues to attract new residents, there’s always an urge to plant those things people are most familiar with. But that’s not always a good idea.
Americans spend on average anywhere from $70 to $400 per person on gardening, everything from lawncare to gardens. You don’t want to invest in a plant, Weidner advises, that isn’t right for Colorado, a high desert and semiarid environment.
A few good choices for Front Range gardeners include Lavender Phenomenal, a bluish-purple flower with silvery leaves. Two benefits: it’s drought tolerant and disease resistant. Other good choices are roses, which come in a variety of colors, Echinacea Cheyenne Spirit, a colorful, disease resistant flower that attracts bees and butterflies, daffodils, lilacs, poppies and, of course, the Rocky Mountain Columbine, a white and lavender blossom—and our state flower.
In Pueblo, anyone interested in spring planting should circle March 30th on the calendar. A symposium covering the A-to-Z of gardening will be held at Pueblo Community College from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., said Weidner.
If you want to beautify your yard or try your hand at growing your own vegetables, Weidner said, the best first step is education. It will save you money and may even result in serving your own homegrown produce. Also, she said, you may want to think about Pueblo’s ‘seed lending’ program.
The program, which began in 2013, allows anyone with a Pueblo library card to visit any of the city’s libraries and check out—for free—seeds for planting. The idea is to harvest some of the seeds from the plants that will grow and donate them back to the library’s seed stock for the follow- ing year. The program, it says in its literature, “makes every effort to ensure that the seeds are NON-GMO” or genetically modified organisms. The seeds are for both outdoor gardens and indoor plants.
Backyard gardens are also becoming more and more popular, especially since the pandemic. Tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are the three most popular plantings. Of course, when planting these vegetables, said Weidner, consult a reliable nursery to learn how best to protect your investment and, above all, avoid using poisonous insecticides. Also ask about environmentally friendly options for controlling both weeds, bugs and, of course, squirrels and nocturnal diners.
Growing in popularity, especially in a climate like Colorado’s, is xeriscaping. The term, first coined in Denver a number of years ago, is a type of landscaping that relies on little to no water.
Across the southwest where the combination of climate change and booming populations has resulted in a more responsible approach to water conservation, some municipalities have officially endorsed this new aesthetic.
In Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas, three of the Southwest’s booming population centers, local governments have banned the planting of certain trees and vegetation and also prohibited planting grass. In Colorado, the city of Aurora offers rebates for replacing turf with water-saving landscaping.
Also in Aurora, single-family homes can no longer have aesthetic turf—lawns—in the front of side of their homes. There are also restrictions on city medians and curbside landscapes. Exceptions are made for multi-family and commercial developments, schools, sports fields and interior landscaped common areas.
