Sustainable Landscapes Colorado Resources

A1 Organics
Each year, A1 Organics diverts over 425,000 tons of organic waste from Colorado landfills and transforms into premium composts, mulches, topsoils and other landscape materials.

Adam Woodruff
Garden & landscape design consultancy catering to a discerning clientele who value environments that are exceptional and engaging. Gorgeous photo gallery of garden ideas.

Alameda Wholesale Nursery
One of the oldest and largest wholesale nurseries in Colorado. They offer over a thousand varieties of the finest plant material and planting supplies to landscape contractors large and small. They have been serving the nursery industry for over 77 years, conveniently located just west of Santa Fe and Dartmouth on over 30 sprawling and beautiful acres.

American Meadows
Supplying gardeners with the best wildflower seeds, perennials, bulbs and how-to grow information since 1981. 100% Guaranteed.

Arabella Lennox-Boyd Landscape Design
Italian by birth, Arabella Lennox-Boyd is one of the leading landscape designers in the world. Gorgeous photo gallery of garden ideas.

Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado
Use this website to find a residential landscape contractor. SLC handles large commercial properties.

Austin Eischeid Garden Design
Independent garden design consultant. Austin specializes in designing dynamic naturalistic plantings using strong perennials and grasses with all season interest. Gorgeous photo gallery of garden ideas.

BBB Seed
Shop BBB Seed for Wildflower Seeds and Heirloom Vegetable Seeds, Native Grasses, Regional and Special-Use and Pollinator Wildflower Seed Mixes.

Blossom & Branch Flower Farm
Field-grown flowers in Lakewood, Colorado.

Blossom Garden Design
Private residential gardening service in Denver.

Botanical Interests
Non-GMO Project Verified Seeds. 600 varieties specially selected for home gardeners, including heirlooms, organics, and open pollinated flowers, vegetables, and herbs. Headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado.

Britton Flowers
Growing high-quality hardy perennials in Colorado Springs since 1979.

Chapungu Sculpture Park
Opened in 2007, Chapungu Sculpture Park at Centerra in Loveland, Colorado is a one-of-a-kind outdoor exhibit, displaying 82 monumental stone sculptures from Zimbabwean artisans traversing 26-acres of natural and landscaped gardens.

Chatfield Farms
Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms, managed in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is a 700-acre native plant refuge and working farm located along the banks of Deer Creek in southern Jefferson County.

City Floral - Native Plants for Sale
Established in 1911, City Floral Garden Center is the oldest remaining greenhouse in Denver. The Lammermann family founded a greenhouse for cut flower production. Mr. Lammermann would ride his bicycle down Colfax Avenue (then a dirt road) and deliver cut violets to the Brown Palace.

City of Denver
Perfect lawns are out, native grasses are in.

Colorado Hardy Plants
Specializing in flowering ornamentals and hardy native plants grown from cuttings or wild collected seed. All of their Colorado grown ornamental and native plants are guaranteed to have healthy, large, vigorous root systems, the most important factor in the success of any plant. Plants that thrive in the environment and weather conditions of the Rocky Mountains region.

Colorado House Bill 22-51
Incentivize water-wise landscapes and creates a state program to finance the voluntary replacement of irrigated turf. On or before July 1, 2023, the board shall develop state turf replacement program.

Colorado Materials
A family-owned & operated landscape supply company proudly serving Colorado since 1999. They maintain an extensive product line to assist developers, architects, landscape contractors and homeowners with custom projects.

Colorado Native Plant Society
Non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the knowledge, appreciation and conservation of native plants and habitats of Colorado through education, stewardship and advocacy.

Colorado Pathways to 30x30
There is an emerging, science-based international goal — the “Global Deal for Nature” — that humanity should strive to conserve half of the lands, waters and oceans of Earth by 2050 to address the climate and nature crises, slow the rate of extinction, and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. To deliver on this deal, we must accelerate the pace and scale of conservation by protecting at least 30 percent of the planet by 2030.

Colorado State University Extension suggested ground covers

Colorado State University Extension suggested trees & shrubs

Colorado's Turf Replacement Program
As directed by House Bill 22-1151, the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) has developed a statewide Turf Replacement Program to incentivize the voluntary replacement of nonessential irrigated turf on residential, commercial, institutional or industrial properties in Colorado with less water-intensive, more water-wise landscape.

Single family homeowners, HOAs, or other groups who do not regularly work with water resources or conservation and who do not have the capacity to support community-scale turf replacement are not eligible to apply. They may be able to obtain funding by working with an eligible entity who has received funding (e.g. water utility).

Please visit engagecwcb.org to learn more about turf replacement funding.

Conservation Gardens at Northern Water
Northern Water’s Conservation Campus and Gardens span several acres of the Berthoud headquarters campus to provide public education on various plants, turf and conservation techniques that can achieve water savings in landscapes. Overall, guests to the gardens will discover efficient irrigation methods and see hundreds of plant varieties that thrive in Colorado’s semiarid climate.  

Converting Lawn to Prairie Meadow

Cultivating Place
Conversations on natural history and the human impulse to garden. An award-winning gardening program and podcast on NPR.

Denver Botanic Gardens
Will entertain and delight while spreading the collective wisdom of the gardens through outreach, collaboration and education. Their conservation programs play a major role in saving species and protecting natural habitats for future generations. Mark your calendars for their Spring Plant Sale and their Fall Plant & Bulb Sale.

Denver Water
Xeriscape landscaping promotes water efficiency by using plants that are native and adaptable to Colorado's semi-arid climate. Denver Water coined the word in 1981 by combining "landscape" and the Greek word "xeros," which means dry. A well-designed Xeriscape can be a beautiful addition that can invite wildlife, provide year-round interest and save water. Learn about the seven principles the Xeriscape concept is based on and find plans for various types of yards and conditions below. 

Doug Tallamy
Doug Tallamy is a professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 97 research publications and has taught insect-related courses for 40 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His book Bringing Nature Home, published by Timber Press in 2007, was awarded the 2008 Silver Medal by the Garden Writers’ Association.

Epic Gardening
Kevin Espiritu's YouTube Channel that has one simple mission: Help people around the world learn how to grow fresh, healthy food, no matter where they live.

Finding Nectar Nursery
Denver Suburbs-based nursery providing flowering plants that are bee, butterfly, moth, bat and other pollinator-friendly. Not sure where to start with your garden? Let them help you with a kit, which is ready to plant this spring. Bringing all the pollinators to your back yard.

Fort Collins Wholesale Nursery
Since 1931, the goal of Fort Collins Wholesale Nursery has been to select and grow hardy trees, shrubs, perennials, and grasses that are acclimated to the unique growing conditions of the Rocky Mountain region.

Garden Masterclass
Brings together gardeners and designers with the very best and most innovative people in the gardening world.

Gardens on Spring Creek
The Gardens on Spring Creek is the community botanic garden of Fort Collins, Colorado. The 18-acre site opened in 2004 as part of an important partnership between the City of Fort Collins and the Friends of the Gardens on Spring Creek. The Gardens is City of Fort Collins Facility. Following a two-year, $6 million expansion project, The Gardens offers an expanded Visitor’s Center and gift shop, Butterfly House, Everitt Pavilion and Great Lawn, along with 5 acres of new gardens to explore.

Harlequin's Gardens
Family nursery and garden center in Boulder dedicated to natural and sustainable gardening for our region. Open March-Oct.

High Country Gardens
Mission: to improve the earth one garden at a time by offering unique plants that are drought resistant or native.

High Plains Environmental Center
Urban environmental park in Loveland with a wonderful native plant nursery. 

James Nursery
For over 100 years. James Nursery Company has been serving nurseries, garden centers and landscape contractors along the Colorado Front Range and throughout the Rocky Mountain Region with premium plants and superior customer service.

Kendrick Lake Park
This park boasts one of most recognized xeric gardens in the metro area and a large trail circling the beautiful reservoir.

Land By Design
Renowned landscape architecture firm based in Denver. They specialize in residential landscape architecture and construction.

Laurel Landscapes
Founded by environmentalists who realized one important truth after spending decades advocating for the planet: most of us have had powerful emotional experiences in nature. That’s why we love it — it’s the special hiking trip, watching wildlife out a window, or the first time we picked a ripe vegetable. If we have the opportunity to reconnect with those experiences in our own backyard, our lives will all be a little better, and we’ll be giving back to the Earth in fun, delicious, and accessible ways. Laurel Landscapes was founded in 2020 to create those opportunities for everyone right at home.

Lawn to Wild Flowers
Helps people create habitats for helpful insects by turning turf grass lawns into native wildflower plots.

Meadow Pro
Designs and installs beautiful, sustainable natural landscapes that go beyond traditional xeriscaping and conserve water while also supporting pollinators and birds. As a Colorado native plant landscaper, they know these plants are both gorgeous and perfectly adapted to handling Colorado conditions.

Mile-Hi Sprinkler
Residential sprinkler installation, repair & winterization in Denver, Colorado.

Monarch Gardens
A prairie-inspired design firm, specializing in lawn to meadow conversions as well as urban shade gardens. Employing 95% native plants, their designs are climate resilient, adaptable and provide numerous ecological benefits while artistically reflecting wilder landscapes.

National Audubon Society
Bring more birds to your home with Colorado native plants. Type in your zip code and get the list here.

Native Lawn Establishment in Colorado

Native Plant Species Pilot Program Act
Creates a new pilot program at the National Park Service to support the use of native plants and directs the Park Service to review existing data and study the cost-effectiveness of using native plants. Signed into law January 5, 2023.

National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Finder
Not sure what to plant? Type in your zip code and make a list of native plants.

Nick's Garden Center - Native Plants For Sale
Serving the Denver Metro region for over 30 years, Nick’s full service garden center has everything you need for your landscape.

Nowness: Great Gardens
YouTube channel featuring glorious gardens and their designers from around the world.

OneCanopy
Nursery and seedling tree program. Equipped to grow more than a million seedlings for reforestation efforts annually within their 34,000-square-foot greenhouse and surrounding property in Loveland, Colorado.

Oso Gardening
Denver residential gardening. Consultation, design, installation and maintenance.

Paonia Soil
Perfecting organic potting soil recipes since 1990. Headquarters in Paonia, Colorado. Call CPS Distributors in Denver area to order a Paonia Tote and get it delivered. $325.75 for The Bomb. $365.52 total includes delivery.

Phyto Studio
Evocative planting for high-visibility spaces. Gorgeous photo gallery of garden ideas.

Piet Oudolf
Dutch garden designer, plant nursery man and author. He is a leading figure of the "New Perennial" movement — his designs and plant compositions using bold drifts of herbaceous perennials and grasses.

Pine Lane Nursery-Native Plants for Sale
Family owned & operated, full service garden center located in the heart of Parker, Colorado. Pine Lane spans over nearly 10 acres and is filled with a wide variety of plant materials including fast growing trees, shrubs, ornamental grasses, perennials, annuals, vegetables, herbs and more. The nursery is locally famous for growing unique and colorful annual hanging baskets and patio pots every spring, ready every year just in time for Mother’s Day.

Plant Select
501(1)(c) nonprofit collaboration of Colorado State University, Denver Botanic Gardens, local growers, landscape professionals and garden centers. For smart, stunning, successful western gardens.

Plantorium
Family-owned and operated greenhouse and plant nursery in Fort Collins, Colorado since 1971.

Prairie Moon Nursery
Provides the largest native plant collection available for retail sales in the United States. 

Prairie Nursery
Excellent selection of potted native perennials, backed by their plant guarantee. Native wildflowers, ferns, shrubs, sedges and grasses. Pure Live Seed. Since 1972. Order the book, "The Gardener's Guide to Prairie Plants" from Prairie Nursery.

Prairie Up
Landscaping with native plants has encouraged gardeners from the Midwest and beyond to embark on a profound scientific, ecological, and emotional partnership with nature. Benjamin Vogt shares his expertise with prairie plants in a richly photographed guide aimed at gardeners and homeowners, making big ideas about design approachable and actionable. Step-by-step blueprints point readers to plant communities that not only support wildlife and please the eye but that rethink traditional planting and maintenance. Additionally, Vogt provides insider information on plant sourcing, garden tools, and working with city ordinances.

Red Soil Seeds
Maddie Maher, designing and installing native-plant gardens in Northern Colorado.

Resource Central
Garden In A Box offers professionally designed, waterwise garden kits tailor-made for Colorado yards. They make it easy to get that professional look by including plant-by-number maps, seasonal maintenance suggestions and watering recommendations to help your low-water garden thrive year after year. 

Rick Brune - The Prairie Garden
Denver Botanic Garden botanist Rick Brune shares his backyard prairie garden in Lakewood, Colorado.

Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening seed and food security in our region. Their mission is to assure a diverse and abundant supply of locally grown seeds for the Rocky Mountain West through networking, education and helping establish community-based models of seed stewardship. 

rooflite®
Optimized for fertility, workability and longevity. The medium of choice for rooftop farms for the production of vegetables and herbs, it combines the characteristics of a good farm soil with the performance of a modern green roof medium.

Roy Diblik
Roy is the co-owner of Northwind Perennial Farm. He's a garden designer, nurseryman and writer. His YouTube channel is a how-to for beginner gardeners.

Something Styled Floral & Planning
Contact Sarah for unique events, planning & flowers. Headquarters in Golden, Colorado.

SummerHome Garden
A wee bit of wilderness amid the new builds of urban Denver.

Tagawa Gardens- Native Plants for Sale
Family-owned business since 1982, Tagawa Gardens has been cultivating beauty, creating community and helping Colorado gardeners succeed through every season of the year. Wonderful selection of Colorado native plants. Email perennials@tagawagardens.com for your wish list availability.

Tree of Life Landscaping
A love of beauty, native Colorado plants, and good design inspired Mark and Emily Maeda to found Tree of Life Landscapes in 1998. Their design aesthetic draws upon the landscapes that they have seen around them as Colorado natives.

Victory Garden of Tomorrow
Wide-ranging art and design project proud to represent healthy propaganda—garden signs, posters and goods that express our desire for better food, better gardens, better communities and a better future. Designed and illustrated by Joe Wirtheim, this is original, collectible new work that's committed to civic innovation and social progress in the 21st Century.

WaterwiseYards
Your inspiration hub for Colorado landscaping.

Welby Gardens
Exclusive grower of Hardy Boy Plants. Wonderful selection of annuals, perennials, grasses and organic herbs & vegetables.

Wild Ones Front Range Chapter
Native Plants, Natural Landscapes promotes environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities.

Wilmore Outdoor Living Center - Native Plants for Sale
Xeriscape Plants for Drought-Tolerant Landscapes. Headquarters in Littleton, Colorado.

Winter Sowing in Milk Jugs
Ask your local coffee shop to save their empty milk jugs and start sowing native plant seeds.

Xeriscape Plant Guide
The Xeriscape Plant Guide is a full-color, comprehensive resource for more than 100 low-water-use plants that bring color, beauty and utility to your landscape. This is the must-have on plants for water-wise gardens.

Xeriscaping Your Yard
Living in an arid or semi-arid climate poses many challenges. Higher elevations and more rugged landscapes offer less water, dry climates and plant-scorching rays from the sun. This can make selecting plants for your garden quite the endeavor! There is a solution to all of this: xeriscaping.