Colorado Landscape Theme
Landscaping style varies quite a bit across the Colorado Landscape Theme, but it’s safe to say that stately evergreens and long grasses fit the aesthetic. Planting with evergreens doesn’t have to be boring; they come in a million different shades of green, plant shapes, and growing habits.
There are also plenty of hardy flowering shrubs and native plants you can incorporate for a pop of color. Landscaping can either be simple and sparse to emphasize gorgeous views, or dense and lush to create a sense of privacy and wilderness in the middle of the city.
There are several benefits to emphasizing Colorado’s natural beauty within your landscape.
Especially with larger properties, and lots adjacent to opens spaces, blending with your surrounding makes your landscape feel right at home in its natural setting. Native grass blends are a great way to accomplish this and bring the added benefits of being water friendly and low maintenance. You can still have a traditional grass lawn, but by limiting its size to an area you’ll actually use and enjoy, you’ll be cutting maintenance and water usage down drastically.
Plant selections native to the region blend with surroundings pleasantly, and are better suited
Juniper, which is available in many varieties ranging from creeping groundcovers to tall trees, is one option that is perfect for Colorado-style landscaping. It’s excellent as a groundcover or as a hedge and comes in many shades of green from golden to blue.
Switchgrass is a native prairie grass that also grows well here in Kansas and Missouri. In Colorado, these grasses can reach heights of up 6′ tall in some places. They add texture and layers to a yard and a sense of movement with every whisper of wind.
Colorado Blue Spruce is an obvious choice if you have room for a larger evergreen tree. Its dense foliage is excellent for screening and privacy but be warned; these trees can reach massive proportions, from 60-90′ tall, and 30-45′ wide.
When it comes to flowering plants, Columbine is a favorite Colorado native flower. It prefers rocky soil and dryer locations, like its native home in the mountains. Coneflower is another common flower in Colorado that we can grow here in the KC Metro area. Sedums and Black-eyed Susans are another popular choice. Sedums perform particularly well in rock gardens.
