Welcome! I would guess that your grass is Kentucky Bluegrass all the way around. After researching different grass types, I've opted to stay with that. It doesn't need as much water as people think, and our watering restrictions are actually better for it than the day-in-day-out watering that had been going on before. The trick is to limit your lawn to areas where you actually need grass. The rule we've adopted at our house is one I saw suggested by a garden writer--"If you only walk on your grass to mow it, you don't need it." That's been a good rule of thumb for how much grass is needed and where.

The Denver Botanical Gardens are beautiful. You'll have a fun trip. The zoo also has lots of good landscaping ideas, though their plants aren't labeled. If you are going to buy a book or three, make sure to include Lauren Springer's Undaunted Garden on your list.

Hope you enjoy the Springs. It's a great place to garden once you become accustomed to the idiosyncracies. :)

A lot of people are replacing KBG lawns with buffalo grass. IMO, buffalo grass isn't such a good choice in your area (or mine). Buffalo grass is a warm season grass, so it would likely be brown much of the year.

I'm trying a couple of cool season grasses for my lawn. One is western wheatgrass, and the other is streambank wheatgrass. Both are native and use very little water. They also spread by rhizomes. Supposedly, once they get started, they need little or no water other than what they'd get even from the little rain and snow they'll get here.

The western wheatgrass didn't come up enough last fall for me to tell how it looks in comparison to KBG. The streambank wheatgrass is about the same texture as KBG, but a little lighter in color. I plan to cut way back on my watering so that most of my KBG dies off, then overseed more of these grasses until they take over the lawn.

Another cool season grass that is getting a fair amount of use for lawns is crested wheatgrass. I decided not to go with crested wheatgrass because I learned that it's non-native, and I liked the idea of a native lawn.

I am very familiar to your area, athough I lived in the mountains to the west (Guffey), I worked in the area, spent a lot of time in the "Springs".
The area in the east gets a lot of wind, you may want to consider planting windbreaks to the north and east on your property, just to make it easier to establish less hardy plants. It allows to save water and heating bills, too.
Lilacs and tougher varieties of Roses make great small hedges for this.
There is a big nursery in the south east corner of town I used to do buy from, sorry I coundn't be more specific, I left the area about 5 years ago.
Good Luck to you.

Two good nurseries on the east side are Hardings Nursery at Platt and Powers (NE corner), and Phelans on Austin Bluffs a mile or two east of Academy.

Lots of perrenials will grow well. I've had good luck with penstemon, delphinium, iris, veronica, hardy geraniums, clematis, salvia, dianthus, coreopsis, and the list goes on. A lot depends on your soil...I'm betting sandy if you live east. You'll need to add a lot of organic material for water retention and fertility. And of course mulch, mulch, mulch.

If you have a suburban plot, it is hard to beat Kentucky Bluegrass. It can be relatively drought tolerant with training. We hardly watered ours at all last year with all the rain, but that is unusual. One way to lessen the water consumption is to make the grass area smaller, instead of doing away with it altogether. That way you have the added benefit of getting to use more plants, as well as using less water. :)

Cotoneasters are some of my favorite low water shrubs. Junipers are drought tolerant also, but are overused. Try and find some of the newer, smaller, more interesting cultivars. Crabapples are probably the best flowering trees for this area. Find cultivars that are resistant to scab and fireblight...Prairiefire and Thunderchild come to mind. Serviceberry, Hackberry, and Amur Maple (a drought tolerant Maple, believe it or not) are some good tree choices. A good book to help you is Rocky Mountain Gardening by Creti (I think thats how you spell his name...his first name is John I believe).

Welcome to Colorado Springs. Gardening is a challenge, but it makes the rewards even sweeter.

A must as far as books is The Undaunted Gardener by Lauren Springer.
Don't forget to use the Colorado State Extension Service as a resource. The Master Gardener group is large and active here in the Springs. The office is at 301 South Union and they will have a wealth of info for you. Check out the Extension Service online as well.
Another great nursery is Hillside Gardens & Nursery on S. Institute. Great selection of natives, xeric and other hard to find plants. Not terribly expensive and the owners and staff very knowledgable.
Check out the Colorado Spring Utilities Xeriscape Garden on Mesa Road. The office is open during regular working hours of course, but the gardens are open on the weekends. Lovely area and great ideas. They are online too and so is the list of plants for the gardens.
Welcome and do let us all know your progress!!

Welcome to Colorado!!!!

I second the Colo Spgs Utils Xeriscape Garden - it's wonderful!!! Also, Harding Nursery is good as already stated, but Paulino's Nursery up in Denver is WELL worth the drive. That place is absolutely amazing. as far as books, there is the "Xeriscape Plant Guide" and several others by the same folks. Lauren Springer's books are good as far as information but can be tough to read...in her first book, her writing skills weren't yet perfected ;) Her second one with Rob Proctor is also good and more readable.

I live on the north/east end of town, up by Monument. I'm growing: blue grama/sideoats grama grasses in a "pseudo-prairie", many many varieties of penstemon, many varieties of very tough roses (no Hybrid Teas though - not tough enough to thrive here), rabbitbrush, big sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata), New Mexico Privet, Apache Plume, a couple of peonies and clematis in near the house, Agastaches (a wonderful flower), Maximillian Sunflower, several types of yarrow, iris and daylilies (surprisingly xeric), gaillardias, ornamental grasses, and a heckuva lot more.

I grow veges in a "hoophouse" (small greenhouse) and tomatoes in clear "tents"...protects from weather and cool nights.

My biggest challenges here are not the dry conditions or cold winter, it's the clay soil (actually a benefit because it holds water) and HAIL!!! Holy Cow, this area can have some whopper hailstorms! I've learned that plants with fern-type leaves or narrow, flexible foliage do very well, while stuff like hostas get absolutely shredded. Maximillian's Sunflower, Agastache, Artemesias, and penstemons survived 19 hailstorms at my home last summer unscathed, and we had a couple of absolute whopper storms. Roses did surprisingly well too. Gaillardia got pummeled but bounced back very quickly.

good luck with your new home and garden!!! Enjoy!!

Nancy

Thank you all for the help so far. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions once we get moved in and I get a plan. I got a catolog today from High Country Gardens so I can get an idea of certain plants and what they look like.

We did our home inspection today and the inspector noticed the row of tree/bush things that the previous owners planted along the back fence last year. He refered to them as an Austrailian tree that grows really fast. To me, they look like the birches you get from Lowes or something. I don't have a photo right now, but does anyone have any idea of what they might be? Also, we have a small tree that I think is a flowering cherry. Is there much chance of this surviving here?

Thanks again! And I'll be checking out those nurseries!

dmill, You should check out the Colorado Springs Utillities Xeriscape garden on Mesa Road. They have an area where they tried Buffalo grass and other types. You could look at it and then decide. We ripped out 1,000+ sq. feet of grass and put in flowers and ground covers! My husband went along with the idea because it would lower the water bill. Then he also discovered that his mowing job was cut in half. He now is planning on building more beds for more plants!! LOL!

Do look at the Agastaches on HCG. They grow well here and bloom for long periods and you will get hummingbirds. Be sure to amend the soil with compost and Spaghnum Peat Moss. Adding nitrogen and super phosphate is a good idea.

The lawn in back may never have recovered from our drought. Some lawns in patches went brown. My thought was it happened because they received more of our burning sun than other areas. You could try appling Revive every two weeks and see. Revive is a soil wetting agent. I also sperad compost all over the lawn last year and ferilzed in May to September. The problem with some of our lawns is the soil underneath. The compost and Revive help to get water to the grass roots.

Istanbuljoy

I think the tree your home inspector was referring to is the "Austree", a relatively new hybrid. A fast grower but a water-lover; I believe it's some kind of hybrid Willow.

As for lawngrass, I didn't see anyone mention Dwarf Fescue. It's in your HCG catalog, and it's a good compromise between bluegrass and the native prairie grasses. I bought some seed at our local nursery (Brady's) here in Canon last year, so it's starting to become more available. Good luck.

If it really is an "Austree", you might not want to keep them
this is waht Colorado State University Extension has to say about them

The Austree, or "tree from Australia", is a hybrid willow botanically known as Salix matsudana x alba.

Promotional literature may sound too good to be true. While there may be some potential on Eastern Colorado farms and ranches for windbreaks, shelterbelts and erosion control, Front Range gardeners are advised not to plant the tree in their yards.

This willow, like other willows, must have plenty of water and will show dieback if it experiences any drought, summer or winter. Fast-growing trees, such as willows, are susceptible to storm damage. Willows have vigorous, extensive root systems that can invade and clog sewer lines.

If planted in the Denver area, homeowners also can expect the tree to be short-lived, prone to winter injury, chlorosis, bacterial wetwood, aphids and canker diseases. Many more desirable landscape plants are available.

Here is another site:
http://www.treesforyou.org/Selection/Articles/austrees.htm

Welcome to Colorado! The Denver Water Board's free Xeriscaping classes are a good way to go as well, the lecturers are very knowledgeable and cover trees, perennials, lawns, etc. (although I think this year's sessions may already be over...). They also have a several excellent handouts with planting plans, plant lists, etc. as well as a demonstration garden. Their site is www.denverwater.org - the Xeriscape info is under the "Conservation" link. My entire front yard is xeric plants (no lawn) and we have beautiful flowers all summer - happy to make recommendations once you're ready. :) Keep us all posted and enjoy the High Country Gardens catalog, it's a good starting point!