Colorado landscaping, explained honestly.

The Colorado Springs seasonal calendar

If you do only one thing with this site, copy the checklist below into your phone and work through it month by month. It's what we run our crews on.

March · Wake it up

• Cut back all ornamental grasses to 4 inches before new growth shows.
• Prune summer-blooming shrubs (potentilla, spirea, Russian sage) hard — down to 8–10 inches.
• Apply a pre-emergent to beds before daytime soil temps pass 55°F.
• Do not start irrigation yet. Hand-water new plantings if we get a dry three-week stretch.

April · First bloom

• Start irrigation on the first dry week after April 15. Short cycles only — 4 minutes a zone.
• Dethatch and aerate turf the same week. Overseed bare spots with turf-type tall fescue.
• First feed on the lawn: slow-release nitrogen, half the bag rate.

May · Plant month

• Wait until after Mother's Day to plant tender annuals — frost risk runs into mid-May.
• Divide and move perennials while soil is moist.
• Prune spring-blooming shrubs (lilac, serviceberry) right after bloom, not before.

June · Settle in

• Candle-prune mugo pines — snap off half of the new candles before they harden.
• Bump irrigation up, but check each zone by hand rather than trusting the controller.
• Top-dress beds with 1 inch of compost; refresh mulch to 2–3 inches.

July · Hold the line

• Peak heat. Water deep, not often — 1 inch twice a week on turf, less on beds.
• Deadhead salvia, catmint, and blanket flower for a second flush.
• Watch for bark beetles on ponderosas — remove any trees showing pitch tubes immediately.

August · The monsoon window

• Back off supplemental water when the afternoon storms roll in.
• Start fall planning: this is the best time to design and get on our fall install calendar.

September · Plant again

• September is the best planting month of the year for trees, shrubs, and perennials. Cool nights, warm soil, reliable rain.
• Core-aerate turf a second time. Apply fall-weight nitrogen.

October · Wind it down

• Last mow at 2.5 inches. Leave ornamental grasses and sedum standing for winter interest and bird food.
• Book irrigation blow-outs now. Freeze damage to valves and backflows is not warrantied by anyone.
• Plant bulbs — tulips, daffodils, alliums — 6 inches deep by Halloween.

November–February · Rest

Winter-water evergreens and new plantings once a month on a sunny day above 40°F, when the ground isn't frozen. Don't prune in cold — wait until March. Use the time to read seed catalogs.

The best gardeners we know aren't the ones who work the hardest — they're the ones who know what not to do in each month.

Soil prep for clay and granite

Our soils around Colorado Springs fall into three broad camps: heavy clay in the lower elevations (around Fountain and the eastern plains), decomposing granite along the foothills (Broadmoor, Manitou), and sandy loam in the old glacial outwash (Black Forest, Monument). Each one needs a different approach.

Step 1 · Know what you have

The mason jar test takes five minutes. Fill a quart jar one-third with soil, top with water, shake for a minute, then let it settle overnight. Sand falls first, silt next, clay on top. The layer proportions tell you which soil type you're dealing with.

Step 2 · Amend, don't replace

Full soil replacement is almost always wasted money. Instead: till in 2–3 inches of high-quality compost (we use A1 Organics or Pioneer Sand & Gravel's Mountain Blend) to a depth of 6–8 inches. For planting holes, mix native soil 50/50 with compost — don't over-enrich, or roots won't leave the hole.

Step 3 · Solve drainage before you plant

If water pools for more than 24 hours after a storm, no amount of amendment will fix the planting. You need a French drain, a dry well, or a regrade. Plant what the site wants — bog-tolerant natives in wet spots, xeric plants on the high ground — rather than fighting physics.

Xeriscape basics (it's not just rock)

Xeriscape is a design philosophy, not an aesthetic. A well-designed xeriscape uses 40–70% less water than conventional landscape while looking lush — because the plants are matched to the conditions instead of fighting them.

The seven principles

1. Planning and design. Group plants by water need. Match zones to irrigation.
2. Soil improvement. Amend where beds will be, leave native soil where grass will stay.
3. Efficient irrigation. Drip in beds, MP rotators on turf, a smart controller.
4. Appropriate plant selection. Natives first, then adapted plants from similar climates.
5. Mulch. 2–3 inches, everywhere. Shredded bark in shade, cobble and gravel in sun.
6. Turf management. Keep turf where the family uses it; remove it where it's just filler.
7. Maintenance. Less than a traditional yard, but not zero. Plan for a weekly 20-minute walk.

The CSU rebate

Colorado Springs Utilities pays up to $2 per square foot of turf replaced with qualifying xeriscape, capped around $2,000 for most residential projects. The paperwork includes a pre-inspection, a planting plan, and a post-inspection. We handle all of it on projects we install.

A starter palette

If we were designing a 400 sq ft xeriscape bed tomorrow, here's the palette: 3 Russian sage for structure, 9 yarrow and 5 blanket flower for color, 7 blue grama and 5 little bluestem for movement, a few clumps of creeping thyme at the edges, and one serviceberry for height. That's it. See the plant library for specs on each.

Smart irrigation without overdoing it

The single biggest waste of water in Colorado Springs isn't people taking long showers. It's irrigation controllers running on factory defaults through July. Here is what actually works.

Deep and infrequent beats shallow and daily

A healthy turf lawn wants 1–1.5 inches of water per week in July, delivered in two or three soakings — not seven. Deep watering drives roots down. Daily light watering keeps them at the surface where they fry in August.

Cycle and soak

Colorado soils, especially clay, can't absorb 15 minutes of spray in one shot — half of it runs off. Split the run time into three short cycles with an hour between them. Every modern controller can do this.

What an audit finds

A proper head-by-head audit usually turns up three to five heads per yard that are misaligned, clogged, or watering the sidewalk. Fixing them saves 10–20% of total irrigation water for the cost of an hour of labor. We run audits between April and June — see the irrigation service page.

A realistic lawn-care plan

Good lawns in Colorado come from two things: mowing height and water depth. Fertilizer, weed control, and aeration are important, but they're the icing. If you get the first two wrong, nothing else matters.

Mow tall

Kentucky bluegrass: 3 inches in summer, 2.5 going into fall. Fescue: 3.5–4 inches. Never remove more than the top third of the blade in a single mow — it's called the one-third rule, and it's the difference between a stressed lawn and a resilient one.

Six feedings, not five

The standard "5-step" program is designed for the Midwest. For Colorado, we add a sixth round: a light late-October feed of winterizer that helps roots store carbohydrates through the cold months. It makes a huge difference in spring green-up.

Winterization, the short list

• Blow out irrigation by October 15. A frozen backflow preventer costs $400 to replace.
• Drain garden hoses and store them indoors. Split hoses shred connectors next spring.
• Mulch leaves into turf rather than bagging them. A mulching blade chops them into free fertilizer.
• Wrap young trees. Crab-apple, honeylocust, and autumn blaze maple all sunscald on exposed south sides. Paper tree wrap, October through April.
• Winter-water once a month on warm days when soil isn't frozen. Evergreens especially.
• Leave seed heads standing. Coneflower, sedum, grasses — birds feed on them all winter.

A winter-prepared yard is a spring that starts three weeks earlier. Do the short list — skip everything else.

After the hail: what to do this week

Colorado Springs is one of the three most hail-prone cities in the United States. If you garden here, you will lose plants to hail. Here's the 5-day protocol that saves most of them.

Day of · do nothing visible

Your instinct is to grab pruners. Don't. Shredded leaves are ugly, but they're still photosynthesizing. Cutting them off now forces the plant to push new growth at the worst possible moment. Walk the yard, take photos (for insurance), and leave everything alone.

Day 1–2 · deep water and triage

• Water every damaged shrub deeply. Hail strips the waxy cuticle on leaves, which sends transpiration into overdrive. Extra water prevents dehydration collapse.
• Look at the bark, not the leaves. A shrub with chewed leaves and intact bark will recover. A shrub with bark stripped off the main stem is likely done — call us to assess.
• Stand up flattened perennials. Use bamboo stakes and soft ties. Do not cut stems unless they're snapped clean through.
• Clear shredded plant debris from beds. Mashed tissue rots fast and invites fungal issues.

Day 3–5 · foliar kelp and patience

• Apply a mild kelp or seaweed foliar spray at half the label rate, early morning or evening. Seaweed hormones accelerate wound healing — it's the closest thing we have to a bruise cream for plants.
• Wait until Day 5 to prune. By then you can see which leaves are dead (crispy brown) versus merely damaged (torn but green). Cut only the dead.
• Hold off on fertilizer for 2–3 weeks. Feeding a stressed plant is like forcing a sick person to run laps.
• Watch for fungal issues in the 10 days after. Hail wounds + wet weather = powdery mildew or bacterial spot. Neem or copper spray at the first sign.

Most homeowners over-react the day after a hailstorm and lose more plants than the hail took. Patience and water — in that order — save more than pruners ever will.

What deer and rabbits won't eat

If you live in Black Forest, Northgate, Monument, or any foothills neighborhood, "deer resistant" is the single most important tag on a plant label. Here's what actually holds up — tested on our own client properties for decades.

Shrubs deer mostly leave alone

• Russian sage — aromatic oils repel browsing, blooms June through October.
• Potentilla — bright yellow bloomer, tough as nails, deer take one bite and give up.
• Barberry (crimson pygmy, golden nugget) — the thorns do the work.
• Rabbitbrush — native, deer-proof, golden fall bloom when nothing else is flowering.
• Boxwood — occasional nibbles but rarely destroyed; reliable in Monument.
• Juniper (most varieties) — evergreen structure, usually ignored.

Perennials that work

• Lavender, Russian sage, salvia, catmint — anything in the mint family. Deer hate aromatic oils.
• Yarrow and Jupiter's beard — bloom all summer, deer don't touch them.
• Lamb's ear and hens-and-chicks — fuzzy textures deter browsing.
• Daffodils and alliums (bulbs) — toxic to deer, 100% reliable.
• Ornamental grasses (Karl Foerster, little bluestem, blue grama) — rarely grazed.

Plants deer will eat to the ground

• Hostas. All of them. Every time.
• Tulips — deer candy. Plant daffodils instead.
• Young fruit trees — wrap trunks from fall through April.
• Most roses (tea roses especially).
• Arborvitae — sometimes called "deer lollipops" in our industry.

When a deer population is hungry enough (late February, heavy snow year), they'll eat things the books say they won't. For those weeks, Plantskydd or Liquid Fence sprayed every 3 weeks on key plants buys time until greenup.

Planting at 6,000+ feet

Colorado Springs sits at 6,035 feet. Monument's at 7,000. Black Forest ranges 7,000–7,500. The USDA zone map calls us Zone 5b, but altitude trumps latitude here — and that changes everything.

What altitude actually does to a plant

• UV intensity is 30% higher per 3,000 feet. Leaves scorch faster, bark sunscalds on young trees.
• Humidity is rarely above 40%. Plants lose water to the air even at 60°F.
• Frost dates lie. Last frost "May 10" is an average — we've had killing frosts June 3. First frost averages Oct 1 but can arrive September 12.
• Diurnal swings are brutal. 70°F day / 28°F night breaks more plants than a steady cold.
• Soil warms slowly. Air temperature hits 65°F in April, but soil temperature doesn't reach 55°F until mid-May.

Adjustments that make plants live

• Buy one zone hardier than recommended. If a tag says "Zone 5," buy Zone 4. You're buying insurance against the swing, not the average.
• Plant in fall, not spring. September 1 through October 15 is our best planting window — warm soil, cool air, winter rains do the watering.
• Mulch 3 inches, no exceptions. Soil temperature stability matters more than rainfall here.
• Wrap young tree trunks October through April. Sunscald kills more 1-year maples than anything else.
• Pick native or Front-Range proven varieties. Our plant library filters for this. A gardenia in Monument is a six-month houseplant.
• Water deeply monthly in winter when soil isn't frozen. Desiccation is our #1 evergreen killer, not cold.

The short version: up here you're not just fighting winter. You're fighting sun, wind, dry air, and a 40°F swing every 24 hours. Choose plants that evolved for that — or accept that your garden will be a conveyor belt of replacements.

The pruning calendar

Prune at the wrong time and you cut off next year's flowers (or kill the plant outright). Print this, tape it to the inside of your shed door, and never guess again.

February — dormant season

• Fruit trees (apple, pear, cherry, plum) — shape and thin.
• Shade trees (oak, maple, honeylocust, linden) — remove crossing and dead wood.
• Grapes — hard prune to 2–3 buds per spur.

March — before growth starts

• Summer-blooming shrubs: potentilla, spirea (summer types), Russian sage, butterfly bush — cut to 8–10 inches.
• Ornamental grasses — cut to 4 inches before new blades emerge.
• Roses (shrub, landscape, knockout) — shape and remove dead.
• Clematis group 3 (late-bloomers) — cut to 12 inches.

April

• Evergreens (spruce, fir) — light shaping, not hard cuts.
• Junipers — selective thinning, avoid cutting into old wood.
• Boxwood — first shape of the year.

May–June — after flowering

• Spring-blooming shrubs: lilac, forsythia, chokecherry, serviceberry, spring-bloom spirea — within 3 weeks of bloom drop.
• Rhododendron and azalea (uncommon here but present) — after flowers fade.

July–August — avoid heavy pruning

Don't make large cuts during heat. Light shaping only: boxwood, privet, yew. Deadhead perennials and roses to encourage a second flush.

September–October — cleanup only

• Remove dead wood anywhere you find it.
• Do not hard-prune — it triggers new growth that can't harden before frost.
• Leave perennial seed heads (coneflower, sedum, grasses) standing for birds and winter interest.

November–January — dormant assessment

Walk the yard. Note what needs work in February. Enjoy the absence of anything pushing new growth.

Pruning is one of the three things homeowners get most wrong in Colorado (watering and mulch are the others). Timing matters more than technique.

The three weeds that will own your yard

Dandelions are annoying. These three will genuinely take over a property if you ignore them for one summer. Here's how to kill each one without a chemistry degree or a dead dog.

Field bindweed (the one that looks like a tiny morning glory)

Roots reach 20 feet down. Hand-pulling feels good for about six hours, then it regrows. Chemical is the only reliable kill.

• Spot-spray with 2,4-D or triclopyr on a warm, calm morning. Hit the flowering tips — that's when the plant is translocating sugars downward to the roots.
• Don't use glyphosate (Roundup) on bindweed in turf — it kills the grass too. Broadleaf-selective herbicides only.
• Follow up every 3 weeks for a full season. You're attacking the root reserves, not the vines.
• Biological option: bindweed mites (Aceria malherbae), released by Colorado State, take 2–3 years but work.

Myrtle spurge (the blue-green succulent in the front bed)

State-listed noxious weed. Sap causes severe skin burns — wear long sleeves and gloves, always. Every property that has it acquired it from a former owner who thought it was cute rock-garden filler.

• Dig out entire taproot before seed heads form (April–May). Any root fragment regrows.
• Bag everything in contractor trash bags — do not compost, do not leave in a pile.
• Monitor for 3 years. Seed bank lasts that long.
• If chemical is needed, cut-stump treatment with glyphosate works better than foliar spray on established plants.

Canada thistle (the thorny perennial nobody planted)

Creeping root system spreads 10 feet per year. A single plant becomes a colony in two seasons.

• Mow or cut before flowering every 3 weeks for two seasons. Starves the root system.
• Spot-spray with clopyralid (Transline) — selective for thistle, safe for most turf and trees.
• Don't pull. Broken roots regrow as multiple new plants.
• Dense planting beats empty mulch — thistle invades bare ground. Fill beds with perennials and ornamental grasses to crowd it out.

For all three, prevention is worth more than any spray: keep beds mulched 2–3 inches, keep turf dense, and walk the property in May and July with a bag in hand. Catching one plant is 100 times cheaper than catching a colony.