Have you ever thought about xeriscaping your yard? Xeriscaping is the process of landscaping, or gardening, that reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation. But it’s not just about rocks! You can find native and low-water-use plants to place in your yard that will not only look beautiful but will help lower your water bills. Xeriscaping can highlight the natural beauty of an area by using the native, local plants, and it can eliminate the need for chemical lawn treatments. Some other great benefits of this style of landscaping is the low-maintenance plants and grasses save you tons of time and energy by eliminating the need for an irrigation system and lawn mower. Xeric plants and low-maintenance lawns can also raise your property value.   Such a project does not need to be done all at once, and can be phased in over time in your yard.

If you’re a water utility customer of the City of Fountain, the city has a Lawn Replacement Program. The cost share program invites utility customers to remove sections of healthy turf, and will provide them with free drought tolerant, native, water-wise plant materials such as perennials, a design plan, drip conversion kit, and one on one landscape advice for the project. Your design could include a variety of trees, shrubs, ornamental grasses, flowers, pavers, and boulders. The design can also be pet resilient and friendly, drought tolerant, recreational, and be designed to attract pollinators. Through partnership with the CSU El Paso County Extension office we are creating a guide that lists various plants that thrive in our hardiness zone. Since that guide is not finished yet, you can utilize the plantselect.org website that is a great resource for plant selection.

Of course you can always contact the City of Fountain Utilities Department at 719-322-2010 for more information and assistance, or visit them at the City website at www.fountaincolorado.org. You can find more information on the Lawn Replacement Program and submit an application for the program at Lawn Replacement Program - Resource Central.