March 2026 E-Magazine
- Jane Shellenberger
- Feb 27
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 27
I moved to the house where I now live in the spring of 2001. There was a lot of tall, lush brome grass in the pasture that year and I learned from my neighbor how to irrigate, to use the few shares of water that came with the place and feed my horses. There was plenty of ditch water that year and I had someone cut and bale my own hay.
But the following year everything dried up. We couldn’t see any snow on the back range from the plains. Our ditch water didn’t come. Weeds emerged in the next few years when it finally did rain.
It took years of mowing (on the advice of local farmers) and pulling, and hiring kids to pull them in the pasture even though they thought I must be crazy, to keep them semi under control. I wouldn’t use herbicides. My neighbor did but he had to reapply again and again each year.
My friend Vicki lived around the corner and we bought a load of hay from a farmer in Kansas who then loaded up Colorado peaches to take home and sell. She knew some willing young Mexican ranch hands who unloaded and stacked all the bales for us and it became a festive early evening with beers and food afterwards.
It took a few years to recover from that super dry spell. The trees that were here when I moved in were some big old honey locusts and a few green ash that provided welcome shade, a couple of small ponderosa pines by the driveway, and a line of junipers on the north side with one small enough for my daughter’s big paint mare to stand over it & scratch her belly, swaying back and forth while the branches flailed around wildly. There was one rose bush out back and some lilacs along the ditch too.
I mention this because when I listen to the weather now, they say the last time it was this dry was back in 2002-2003. The trees are a lot taller now and there are more of them: a small mixed fruit orchard and others I’ve planted, plus shrubby western native oaks, Alan Taylor and Jerry Morris dwarf evergreens, clematis and Porcelain Berry vines, roses, perennials, cacti – all these wonderful plants that I’ve discovered over the years while publishing Colorado Gardener that have survived, and a number that haven’t. And, of course, a big vegetable garden! I’ve created a diverse habitat and there are lots of birds and other critters, though few predators anymore.
We’ve had evacuation notices on our street before, most recently when fire jumped highway 36 to Lyons a few years ago. Whenever the wind howls out here I’m nervous about my neighbor’s huge brush pile, half dead Russian Olives, my own now towering flammable junipers, and the dry grass all around us.
There are a lot of knowledgeable plant people in Colorado to help us learn about growing natives, xeric, Colorado-adapted, and firewise plants, and about conserving and using less water. And there are conferences and lots of free and paid classes & workshops coming up this spring so check our calendar. You can search on our Articles Page to find lots of helpful content. I hear there is a vision for a firewise botanical garden in Boulder (see firewisebotanical.org).
So plant lovers, let’s be extra careful and extra smart about gardening in this Year of the Fire Horse, but also from now on. We tend to forget in wetter years.
- Jane Shellenberger
Some Principles of Xeriscape
Xeriscape landscaping promotes water efficiency by using plants that are native and adaptable to Colorado's semi-arid climate. A well-designed Xeriscape can invite wildlife and pollinators, provide year-round interest, and save water.
• Soil Amendment
Most plants will benefit from the addition of organic material like compost though desert plants and plants native to lean soils may not need it. For these just loosening the soil before planting can sometimes be enough. Colorado has many different ecosystems so “Native” can mean many different growing conditions: semi arid gravelly plains, riparian areas, mountain slopes, etc. Know your plants’ needs.
By Keith Funk
Q: It’s been such a dry winter I’ve been watering my landscape about once a month. Should I water more often now?
A: Good for you taking the time and care to winter water your outdoor plants. We have just been through one of the driest winters on record and the snow pack we rely on is severely lacking. It’s time to take a serious look at what that means for our landscapes this spring and summer.
As we move into spring weather, the landscape starts to lose water more quickly. That means stepping up your watering regime responsibly. Adjusting your sprinkler clock as needed throughout the growing season. Don’t just set it and forget it. A great free tool to use is the Denver Water website for the previous week’s evapotranspiration rate (ET). Check out this link: www.denverwater.org
Another very good way to check soil moisture is with a trowel or moisture meter. Use the trowel to dig down 3-4” deep to check soil moisture. Repeat around the landscape in different exposures because the entire yard doesn’t dry out at the same rate. You will probably find out that certain zones could use some water while others are just fine and could be turned off until needed.
Watering by hand is very ineffective. Use a simple frog eye sprinkler at a fairly low volume. If you see mist rising above the sprinkler pattern, turn the volume down. Duration is determined by your soil type.
Start with 15 minutes and check to see if water is still soaking in, or running off. If it’s still soaking in, continue until runoff occurs. Once you notice runoff occurring, move the sprinkler to another location and repeat. Again, you’ll find you probably have different soil types in different parts of the yard which means runoff will occur sooner in heavy soils, and later in sandier soils. Adjust accordingly. And always mulch bare ground to reduce water loss. A 2-3” layer is plenty thick and has the added advantage of reducing weed growth.
Finally, planting drought tolerant, lower water use plants will go a long way to saving water, both in this upcoming season and years to come. Check out the Plant Select website, www.plantselect.org, for plants tested and recommended for our high plains desert climate, by CSU and the Denver Botanic Gardens. Keep in mind that newly planted plants will require regular watering and won’t be drought tolerant until they are well established which can take a year or more.
Gardening Events
Check our Colorado Gardener Calendar for our list of events including seed swaps, gardening classes, webinars, garden tours, plant sales, and conferences.Coming up:
CSU Extension Gardening Webinars
Mar 11: Get in the Zone: Do hardiness zones really matter?
Table Public House Gardening Workshops
Mar 12: Seeds & Seedlings Workshop • Denver
Western Landscape Symposium
Mar 28 • Pueblo
Do you have a Colorado Gardening class or event to submit to us? Fill out our form »
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