I live in Utah, but I think there are a lot of similarities in conditions.

The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to be patient in the spring or to plant indoors (or in a greenhouse). The first year I gardened out here, I planted my garden three times. It warmed up and stayed warm for a while, so I planted and it froze. I waited until it warmed up again, and repeated the cycle. I was getting ready to plant again but saw an article in the paper that said you could tell who the transplants were because they were already planting their gardens. Now my rule of thumb is to wait until Mother's day.

You should also be aware that much of the soil in the intermountain west is alkaline, so acid loving plants are difficult to grow. Even some plants that wouldn't neessarily be considered acid loving can get iron chlorosis (yellow leaves with green veins). There's iron in the soil, but the plants can't use it due to the alkalinity.

Hi, Lee! I just moved to the western side of the state this spring, but I lived in Castle Rock for over 5 years, so I am familiar with the gardening conditions where you live. I'm not sure about Elizabeth, but we had water restrictions from May - Sept., so planting things that have a low water requirement will increase your success rate. Also, a good online source for things that will grow there is High Country Gardens.

Bpgreen is right about the acid loving plants. You won't see any Dogwoods trees or Azaleas blooming in the spring : (. But living here has introduced me to a lot of plants that I would never have known about living in the south, that are equally beautiful.

Welcome to Colorado, and Happy Gardening!

Thanks for the welcome and the advice bpgreen and highaltransplant! I did find a really great garden center just about 2 miles from me, and am working on getting perenials and trees that will do well in our climate, will come back every year after winter, and do not require much water. I am dying to get some evergreen trees, but they are so incredibly expensive unless I buy them at 6-12" tall :(

I left my hydrangeas and azaleas back in CA. But I do love Russian Sage and other salvia, and they seem to do very well here.

Re salvia, you might want to go to the website for High Country Gardens and request a catalog, they have an excellent supply of salvias that are adapted for the area. Many of the same plants are available in local nurseries, but this gives a good idea of what works.

There is also a rose outfit in Utah that does own-root roses adapted to the local conditions, but the name escapes me.

Hello, Lee, I'm about 60 miles east of you. Every blizzard you will hear about us because they close the roads and people get stuck here. It's a conspiracy to help the local motels and food joints.;) LOL!

On the Palmer Divide, we have to get used to some of the wackiest weather but it all balances out. I agree with David about HCG. They have marvelous plants and my yard is filled with many of them and even more ideas from them.

You might look around at some small tree farms that are sprinkled in the Black Forest, or south of Kiowa, you might find a better deal on trees there.

Hi Lee,

Welcome to Colorado gardening and congratulations on your new house!

This past year has been my first experience gardening in Colorado as well, having come from California too (southern ca). I live in Castle Rock about 25 minutes from Elizabeth.

Like others have suggested, High Country Gardens has been so educational for me. Sign up for their monthly newsletter and catalog, it's packed with great tips including plant combinations. I actually visited their gardens/greenhouses this summer.

Also the books by Lauren Springer Ogden that someone from GW forum recommended to me "The Undaunted Gardener" & "Passionate Gardening" are awesome. She helps you get excited and envision a whole new way to garden without using up Colorado's precious water. I finally bought my own copies because I kept having to renew my copies from the library over & over.

My son and I are getting ready to put in a 25'x25' wildlife garden for birds/butterflies/hummingbirds in a spot that is highly visible from the house and is just ugly bare ground and weeds right now. I'm using many of the plants done in an experiment by the Cheyenne zoo in Colo. Springs. They started "no water" gardening on the zoo property relying on earlier and later planting times for cooler weather and natural rainfall. They did not amend the soil at all only applying a two inch layer of mulch. The website lists each plant and how it fared (or not) in the following years with absolutely no supplemental water. I'm going to try it! I hope to take advantage of plant sales going on this fall. I've attached a link for downloading the plant lists if you're interested.

Everyone is very helpful on this RMG forum. Good luck to you!

Charlene

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Create a No Water Garden in Colorado

I feel your pain on the cost of evergreens! We are in the process of landscaping our new home, and when I went to the local tree farm, they wanted $325 for a 5' Bristlecone Pine. They said the high cost was due to their incredibly slow growth rate. Anyway, I had to settle for a Juniper :(

Singcharlene,

Thanks for all the info - I will definitely check it out! We drive into Castle Rock all the time - our church is there, and hubby does a lot of his construction work there. I love the landscaping they have done in town, and I love that antique barn (can't remember the name).

Lisa :)

Re planting evergreens, I did most of mine using very inexpensive seedlings, protecting them from the deer for the first several years with fencing. Eight years later, they have caught up and now considerably surpassed my neighbors, who purchased the 5 foot expensive ones.

david52: Which evergreens did you use? I've thought about ordering some trees from www.musserforests.com. I wanted to order either serviceberry or redbud for my driveway (we have a very long gravel driveway that needs something pretty with a small amount of shade), and they also have good deals on their evergreens. We love the blue spruce, and several varieties of pine and spruce. I also have to take into consideration not to get something my horses will want to eat ;)

Everyone: I absolutely love irises, have several named ones (if I can remember the names LOL), and would love to get more. These are all from a garden friend in CA who "shared the wealth" when she was thinning out her irises. Mine are pretty young right now, but I'm sure I will have plenty to share in the next couple years.

Hi Lee/Lisa,

I'd like to add my welcome to Colorado and RMG. I'm glad you like it here, though it's hard for me to imagine anybody not liking it! I've lived in the Denver area since 1964 and wouldn't even consider permanently moving away.

If you're looking for trees, check out the link below to The National Arbor Day Foundation. You have to join to get the member prices, but joining is only $10---and you get TEN free trees with your membership---and redbuds are one of the choices of free trees for our area. Blue Spruce is another of the choices. The trees they ship are VERY small, only about 12", but if you're willing to wait and watch them grow, as David did, you can get some really good prices. The whole purpose of the Arbor Day Foundation is to get people to plant as many trees as possible. I haven't used them for many years now, but I used to live on a couple acres near Parker and got some things from them then. If it hasn't changed, they ship everything bare root. Even if you decide to not join, there is some great basic information on their site.

Since you like salvia's, be sure you get some Salvia nemorosa 'May Night' (a/k/a 'Mainacht'). It's dark purple/blue, reblooms very easily if deadheaded promptly, and will often rebloom again if deadheaded early enough after the second bloom. All the S. nemorosa's are xeric and do well in this area--as do many of the other hardy salvia's.

Some other perennials you might want to check out that are xeric and easy to grow around here are Agastache--a whole bunch of different varieties all with a different wonderful scent; Perovskia, Russian sage--variety 'Longin' is the most upright one for small spaces, but since you have lots of room, they'd all work well; Gaillardia--lots of different varieties/heights; Nepeta faassenii, catmint--several different varieties/heights; a hundred different species and varieties of Penstemon--if you like salvia-type spike flowers, you'll like Penstemon; Lavandula angustifolia, English lavender--other species you may have grown in SoCal won't be hardy here; and a kazillion different varieties of sedum and ice plant (Delosperma).

If you'd like seeds for Aquilegia chrysantha in exchange for something you have to offer sometime in the future, send me your address privately and I'll mail them to you. It's a VERY fragrant, yellow columbine that's a Colorado native. And I can throw in some lavender seeds and a few other things I have and some sedum cuttings (unrooted) since you like to propogate things.

Once again, welcome,
Skybird

Here is a link that might be useful: The National Arbor Day Foundation

Welcome! I'm in northern Colorado but my parents live in Black Forest - like two different planets in terms of gardening (we have very high clay soils and a much longer, warmer growing season while they have almost pure sand and have had their heat on for a few weeks now).

Having only ever gardened in Colorado, I never quite understood that we have challenges (I thought everyone had to wait at least 2 growing seasons for anything to really "take off") until my friend who recently moved here from the Bay Area showed me pictures of her gardens one *1* season after planting and it looked like a jungle of flowers...

I have the very best luck with own-root roses (High Country Roses is the place in Utah), especially Champagne Arches, John Cabot, Applejack, and William Baffin. Your very best resource is a local nursery (Fort Collins Nursery is the VERY best near us - definitely worth a day trip in the spring).

My parents have had great luck with epilobium (fireweed) and fir trees (planted as 12" starts). I don't recommend buying a large bristlecone. In addition to the cost, they are very slow to recover from transplanting. You will have far better luck with smaller transplants in general.

Enjoy! I can't imagine life without a garden!

Skybird: THANK YOU!!

One of these days, I may have something to trade with you. I have some named Daylilies and Irises, but just put them in the ground and I'm sure it will take about 2 years before I have lots of extras ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: Bialy Ranch

Hi Lisa,

I just went to your bio to send you an email to get your address to send the seeds and cuttings, but you don't have email contact enabled. Please send me an email via GW (go to my bio and click on send an email) with your address and I'll get the things in the mail in the next couple weeks. If it gets too late you might have trouble trying to root the sedums outside.

Skybird

Hi again,

I just re-read my post above and realized the offer of seed could be taken a couple different ways! What I meant was that I'll send you the seed and cuttings now, and sometime in the future when you have something to offer you can return the favor.

Just wanted to clear that up,
Skybird

If you love irises, then during iris blooming season, you might want to make a trip to a place called Iris 4 U up in Denver. He has a fantastic selection of irises. I've bought more than I have room for, because I couldn't resist. Here's some pics I took there a couple of years ago:
Iris 4 U pics
I've put a link to their site below.

If you like perennial salvias - I've had great luck with salvia transylvanica. It's doing a bit of rebloom right now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Iris 4 U

Hi, Lee - I'm over in Highlands Ranch and would be happy to share some of my extras. My daylilies won't be ready for division for another year or so but I have a couple dozen named varieties and would be happy to work out trades. I tore up my front lawn and xeriscaped - I have extra catmint (nepeta x faassenii "Walker's Low"), red valerian (centranthus ruber) and sunset hyssop (agastache rupestris) if you would like some for spring planting. I also found new "Mainacht" salvia babies a few weeks ago and transplanted them, I'm willing to bet there will be more in the spring and can keep an eye on them for you if you'd like. The twinspur is spreading (still blooming its head off) and if you have a sharp shovel you're welcome to a couple of chunks of that as well.
The Denver Water Board did free xeriscaping classes, I learned a great deal there - anyone know if they're still doing those? I didn't see anything about it on the website...
Welcome to Colorado, enjoy the rain while it lasts!!

Amester:

I am always up for volunteers! I just wish I had stuff right now to trade. My irises won't be ready for that for another year or two :(

I have a monster juniper in the front yard that my hubby wanted to use a chain saw and get rid of, but my dad came out from CA and did a bonzai cut on it. Looks amazing! This thing must be about 10x20 feet - just huge! I've been working on cleaning up the bed, and that's been quite a chore. I would post pictures on here, but I have no clue how to. I have pulled out about 3 wheelbarrows of rocks, and they are coming in handy for landscaping. I've planted sedum stonecrop, creeping phlox, pink dianthus and cranesbill. Still working on the monster though.

Amester and/or Skybird: I haven't tried to grow Agastache here yet, but many of them are only listed as hardy to zone 6, or say zone 5 if heavily mulched for winter. Are they pretty hardy, or do they just reseed?

Thanks twhgardener for letting me piggyback on your thread : )

Get in touch with me in the spring, Lee - I'm happy to find new homes for my volunteers, trades or no (but I'll keep those iris in mind!). And I love cranesbill - can't wait to plant some myself.
Highalt, my agastache are doing great!! I leave them standing over the winter and they are lightly mulched but that's it - they've been watered maybe a dozen times in the past three years and they are glorious. The upslope ones are much bigger (they love drainage and my soil is crappy clay) but even my wetfoot one is looking happy. I have lots of volunteers, not sure if it's from the roots that were left when I dug the bigger ones up or if they seeded but you are welcome to as many as you'd like if you want to come and dig them.

Hi high alt,

I donÂt know about z4, but you should definitely be able to grow most AgastacheÂs in z5. Because they take up a lot of spaceÂand I have so little of itÂI only have A. Rupestris (anise or licorice or root beer hyssop), and it does fine over winter with no special care at all. MineÂs still blooming some, but after we get a hard freeze IÂll cut it most of the way down and thatÂs all I do. If you do decide to mulch, be sure you use something that will give it good air circulation. If any of the AgastacheÂs stay too wet they wonÂt be happy at all.

Some others that should definitely be hardy to z5 are A. aurantiaca (orange hummingbird hyssop), A. barberi (giant hummingbird hyssop), A. barberi ÂTutti Frutti"Âsmells just like it sounds, A. cana (double bubble mintÂand thatÂs what it smells like!), A. cana ÂSinning Sonoran Sunset, and A. ÂApricot SunriseÂ. IÂm sure there are more, but thatÂs all I have on my list. If you check different sites, youÂll probably find them listing different zones. ThatÂs true for a lot of things! Sometimes I can hardly believe the differing opinions you find for some of the ornamental grasses! Since soil differences and micro climates can make so very much difference, the only way to know for sure if theyÂll work for you is to give them a try. With Agastache, IÂd say chances are that theyÂll make it. And they do reseed quite easily. The one I have now was a VERY small seedling that I dug up in my old yard when I moved in here. I worried about it the first winter since it was so small, but itÂs doing fineÂtoo good! ;-)

Be sure you plant them somewhere where you can easily Touch & Sniff!

Skybird

twhgardener, the offer of seeds and unrooted sedum cuttings still standsÂno strings attached. Just pay the postage or come pick them up if youÂre ever in the Thornton area! I just sent a boxful to somebody in PA I met on GardenBuddies, and IÂm gong to visit my family in IL for a couple days and taking a bunch back for them. My sedumÂs all need cutting back right now anyway! I arranged a trade on the Plant Exchange Forum last year and got totally ripped off, so I decided IÂd rather just send my stuff to people I meet who might enjoy getting them. ItÂs fun!

Skybird--Glad to hear you're back from all your vacations. Hope you had fun.

You had offered me sedum a while back. I bought two at HD about a month ago for like $1.00 when everything thing was 75% off. I also bought many of the butterfly/hummingbird perennials at that sale (I got so much for $50--LOVE THAT!).

The deer discovered my new perennials still in pots near the veggie garden waiting to be planted. They left everything except the sedums which they gobbled up like they were dessert. So, I think sedums may not be a good choice in my garden :( Everything else was stronger scented like butterfly bushes, salvias, thymes, catmint, agastache, gaillardia and others they didn't touch. I've seen their tracks around those same plants for the last month and and they haven't touched anything but the sedum down to the stem.

I have tons of iris all over my property that probably haven't been divided in years (purples, yellows & some burgundies). I don't know the first thing about dividing them but I'd be willing to share :)

Charlene

The cool barn in Castle Rock is called "The Barn".

Well, I just rediscovered this thread, LOL. Amester: If you are in Highlands Ranch, I used to live about 20 minutes from there (in Castle Rock), but I'm west of Glenwood Springs now (a little speck on the map called Silt), about 3 1/2 hours from you! Too late to plant any agastache this year, but I would like to try 'Rupestris' or 'Apricot Sunrise' in the spring. How tall do those two get?

Hi High,

My A. rupestris was a good 3' this year. 'Apricot Sunrise' should be a little shorter than that--about 2' or a little over. I just cut my A.r. down last week and for a couple days I had the absolute best smelling compost pile in the history of the world! Wow! The whole area smelled like licorice with a hint of mint! It was WONDERFUL! Was just out there today and it's getting buried and the smell is gone--would probably be back if I stirred it up--but, oh, well! It sure was nice while it lasted! Be sure when you plant yours next year they're somewhere where you can touch them on the way by. The neighbors probably think I'm nuts, but when I walk by mine I rub my hand along a stem and then walk around in the backyard sniffing my hand! Sniffing Agastache will definitely get you as high as some of the other sniffable things! Wish I had room for more varieties!

Skybird

I'll second Skybird, my Apricot was maybe 20" (but it's just in its first year, we'll see where it goes) and my upslope Rupestris are close to 4' (downslope are around 30", they do like their drainage!). And Skybird, the smell is what got my husband addicted - he'd plant the whole yard with them if I'd let him. Yummy stuff.
Stay warm, everyone!

Hi Lee,

If you are still reading this thread and want some plants, please contact me...I live fairly close to Elizabeth and can give you some of my extras/volunteers this spring and summer. I'm starting a bunch of plants from seed (native shrubs, native/xeric flowers, etc), and I usually start waaaayyyy too many. I'll also be rooting some of my roses, so if you're intersted in those, please let me know.

I have the best luck with shrubs here rather than trees. We have some Ponderosa pines on our property, but that's it for trees. Spruce are too problematic here for me because they require WAY too much water to thrive. Likewise aspen, plus they sucker like nobody's business. Yuk!

Favorite shrubs for me are currants, rabbitbrush/chamisa, mountain mahogany, New Mexican privet, apache plume, creosote bush, artemisias (of course), winterfat, scrub oak, mockorange, yuccas. I also use lots of ornamental and native grasses in my garden, as well as roses up near the house.

Welcome!

Nancy

nancy_rynes @yahoo.com (remove space before @)

Just moved to Colorado Springs from Parker. Both places I planted xeriscape, all grew so quickly it took me by surprise. Raspberries have been great too.

This spring I am redoing the back yard which is half shade due to huge/old trees, a new challenge.

Thanks to all of you for the heads up on plantings which work, some I have not used....fun to look for and try this spring.

One thing I will caution on is buying decidious trees from the two tree nurseries off of Parker Rd. I bought 3 15' trees, one died and the other lost half it's life. They replace, but charge you the replanting fee which is half the cost of the tree itself. And try not to buy them in Spring....the year warranty ending in spring will not tell you if they made it through the year. Trees planted won't bud til later...which is usually after the warranty.

All of you may hate this, but my successful trees have been from Lowes at 20/30 a piece. For some reason they are just happy growers and I'm pretty sure they don't grow them locally.

I love Red Buds, have continued to try them but they either don't make it or become a bush from my cutting off dead branches. Think it is a gamble and one I keep playing. There are Red Buds in Cherry Creek shopping area which have done well, planted about 2 feet from store fronts. Maybe they need the warmth and shelter of the buildings. Any suggestion for success would be welcomed.

I planted 5 redbuds as 18" starts. Two near the east end of the house thrived and bloomed in 5 years. Two died and one froze back and was just a low bush during the drought years. Last year when it got wet again, it grew new trunks and quickly turned into a nice little tree.

In summary, they like shelter from northwest winds and lots of water.

Handee, Thanks. It sounds like we both have had the same experience with redbuds. The last two are planted between the house and neighbors fence, outside of my bathroom window. I chose this space to give them some cover from wind, cold, etc. There is enough sun to make them happy. Also, the neighbors veg. garden is right on the other side. Her watering will do them well.

I'm getting inpatient for spring to see what will come back after this cold winter. Things did so well last year with all the rain, but much was newly planted and concerned hey may not have had enough growing to pull through.

Hi -- I'm in Parker and not a very experienced gardener. Hope to be someday!!! Elizabeth is generally cooler with more evergreens but it truly depends upon where you live. I'm in suburban sprawl central and have the requisite single tree out front and a boring back postage stamp.

I have a small garden space in my front lawn. It gets a ton of sun and heat throughout the day. My lavender (3 different varieties) LOVE it. As do my daylilies and my purple coneflower. I have some thyme thrown in for good measure and it seems to like it as well. Haven't had much luck with roses in that space. I also have two lilac bushes that are beautiful and I seem to actually get to see the flowers about every 2 years when the frosts don't kill them. sigh.

I'm diving into my back yard this summer and would be curious to find out what success you have. I've been putting it off as I'm paranoid nothing will grow. But the gardening mags are hitting the stands and all those beautiful lush southern gardens get my hopes up.