Which landscape plants can tolerate snow, heat, drought, wind, hail and unusual temperature extremes? After all, that’s what growing conditions are like in a normal Colorado Springs year. It can seem like the only truly bulletproof plants are yucca and artificial turf.
Despite our unpredictable weather, many tough, attractive, water-wise landscape plants thrive in the Pikes Peak Region. Here are four tips for finding resilient plants for your yard.
Featuring over 400 different plants, this website is a great resource for learning about different trees, shrubs and flowers you can consider planting in your own yard. You can filter the plants with a variety of selection criteria, browse photos taken throughout the year, and see what they look like in local landscapes. You can also create a favorites list that you can share with others or take shopping.
At our 2-acre main demonstration garden located at 2855 Mesa Rd., you’ll find over twenty gardens with a variety of themes to inspire your own landscape projects. There’s also a second garden at 3920 Dublin Blvd in front of the Cottonwood Creek Recreation Center. At these two gardens, we showcase hundreds of beautiful plants, display attractive plant combinations and provide ideas you can implement in your own yard. Both gardens are free to visit and are open during daylight hours.
If you want a shortlist of proven performers, lawn alternatives or the most drought-tolerant selections, you’ll find this resource helpful. You’ll learn the top plant recommendations from our landscape experts that have proven success across Colorado Springs.
Shop at local nurseries and plant sales
These retailers are more likely to have Colorado-grown plants for sale. Unlike plants grown on the west coast, Colorado-grown plants are already adapted to our low-humidity air and bright sunshine. These qualities help them survive transplanting better than plants recently shipped to our state.
By learning about the top-performing plants in Colorado Springs, your spring plant purchases will prove to be wise investments. Although our weather can knock them back occasionally, the tough beauties featured in our plant database, demonstration gardens, webinars and local nurseries will bring you joy for years to come.
