Lawn Conversion Resources and Waterwise Landscaping
Ideal for HOAs and Developers (as well as Individual Homeowners!)
We’re committed to helping HOAs and developers in Colorado and the West create landscapes that enhance beauty and property value, conserve water and save money, while having a positive environmental impact.
If you’re interested in converting parts of your traditional lawns (or existing gardens) to waterwise landscaping, please scroll down to find resources to help guide you and your community.
Questions? Want to talk? If you’re an HOA or developer, please reach out to Ross Shrigley of Plant Select at (970) 481-3429.
Useful tips
- Can you lower your water bill with waterwise plants? (And how much?)
- How to identify awkward turf spaces, so you can save money
- Get big bang for your HOA bucks with western shrubs
- How Emerald Ash Borer will affect HOA landscape budgets
- 3 places in your landscape that are ideal for waterwise plants (where to start!)
- What is hydrozoning? And how it helps you and your plants
- Turn your annual flower beds into waterwise pollinator gardens (a case study)
- How to navigate differing perspectives on fall vs spring garden clean-up
- How your winter landscape maintenance practices can affect your plants
- Localscapes: How Utah is building buy-in for waterwise landscaping
Firewise landscaping
- Building fire resilience into your landscaping (waterwise landscapes can be firewise too)
- How to create fire resistant landscaping (best practices from Idaho Firewise)
Planning tools
Find:
- Free, waterwise landscape designs (featuring Plant Select plants)
- Western best practices for plant irrigation, soil preparation and plant size
- An introduction to DOG TUFF TM grass (video)
- Where to buy DOG-TUFF TM grass
- Waterwise landscape designers near you
Ways to save money during turf conversions
- Look for incentive programs. Many municipalities, water utilities and non-profits offer incentives to convert turf lawns into low-water plants, such as the Fort Collins Xeriscape Incentive Program for HOAs and commercial properties.
- Find grants. There are grants available for HOAs. For an example, see the grant program from Northern Water in Colorado.
- Use volunteers. One best practice is to invite your community members to participate in the planting process as volunteers. This helps reduce labor costs and boosts engagement.
Info on Plant Select plants
- Comprehensive spreadsheet of plants, including bloom time, plant requirements, maintenance needs, etc. (Excel document download)
- How much to water specific Plant Select plants
- List of the native origins of Plant Select plants
Become a Plant Select HOA Garden
We help guide our Plant Select HOA communities and share a select number of new plants each year. In return, you agree to share your community’s water usage and landscape maintenance costs before and after converting to low-water landscaping over a multi-year period, so we can quantify the savings.
Learn about becoming a Plant Select HOA Garden (PDF).
HOA investment projection
External news articles
- Putting Colorado Back in Our Landscapes (Colorado Builder magazine)
- Redefining the Western Landscape: Plant Select Turns 25 (Colorado Green magazine)
- 40 Years Ago, Xeriscaping Started Changing the Landscape of Denver (Westword)
- Waterwise Champions: Don and Lyn Ireland – Cherry Creek 3 HOA (Colorado Gardener magazine)
- Plant Select’s 1st HOA Award Winner: Cherry Creek 3 (CherryCreek3.com)
Contact us
If you’re an HOA or developer that wants to explore the value of waterwise landscaping, please reach out to Ross Shrigley of Plant Select at (970) 481-3429.
