Ever wanted a yard that attracts all sorts of animals? Ever wanted to do less yardwork? Ever wanted to conserve water? Xeriscaping is a yes, yes, and YES.

Xeriscaping is essentially replacing your grass with low/no water native plants (xeri means “dry”) and other ground cover (like mulch, rocks, or pavers). My xeric journey started in 2022. The south half of our front yard gets full sun and there is a bit of a slope to it (so the water was at least partially running off), hence the grass was not doing great. A friend near Wash Park had xeriscaped their front yard in 2021 and I thought it was amazing, so beautiful and full of life. As such, in 2022 we removed all the grass in the south half of the front yard and replaced it with around 25 xeric plants, mulch, and river rock.

In 2023, I did the north tree lawn (between the sidewalk and street), and then just this Spring, I replaced the last section. While the baby plants need extra hand watering for the first month or so, after that there is no watering necessary (barring a drought). Also, no mowing… and no pesticides. As for cost, sod removal can be the most expensive part (usually $1 – 2 per sq foot), but Denver Water is offering up to $750 to help with that cost.

While I didn’t hear about the program early enough to take advantage, hopefully many of you can, as I’d love to see more xeric lawns in Lowry. While you don’t need HOA approval for the tree lawn, you do for the rest of the front yard.

You can also find more information here.

This article written by Ross Kelman, Lowry resident.