With watering restrictions across Colorado, many gardeners are feeling a mix of uncertainty, confusion, and eagerness to do the right thing as we’re in the midst of one of the driest seasons on record. If you’re wondering whether it still makes sense to plant a drought-tolerant garden this year, you aren’t alone, and the short answer is yes. This season may feel uncertain, but it’s also a meaningful opportunity to rethink how our landscapes work in Colorado’s climate. It’s not too late to plan a more resilient yard with the Garden In A Box® program, our professionally designed, Colorado-adapted xeric garden kits.

Quick answer: You can plant a drought-tolerant garden this summer under most Front Range watering restrictions. Perennial gardens, trees, and hand-watering are typically treated differently than lawn irrigation, and a well-established Colorado native garden uses far less water than turf. Water new perennials before 10AM or after 6PM, follow your local provider’s rules, and choose plants suited to Front Range conditions.

Can I still plant a garden in a drought? How much water will it need? How can I water my yard efficiently and responsibly this summer? Questions like these are peppering our inboxes and conversations in our neighborhoods. We’re here to share some clear guidance around those exact questions.

Please note: Watering restrictions vary across the state and will be changing throughout this spring and summer. Always follow your local water provider or municipality’s watering restrictions for all outdoor water use above other guidance, including ours. Check their website for current rules and updates.

Can I still plant a garden this year?

Yes, with a few smart considerations. Even with current restrictions, many water providers are treating gardens, trees, and perennials differently than lawns. While restrictions primarily focus on reducing lawn irrigation and halting new sod installs, perennial gardens are generally still allowed to be watered before 10AM or after 6PM.

While they may require a bit more attention during their first season, waterwise gardens like Garden In A Box® are designed to use less water as they mature year to year, making them a sound investment for the predictably dry years ahead. According to Resource Central’s peer-reviewed 2024 Garden In A Box® Impact Analysis, participants use approximately 8 gallons per square foot per year compared to about 19 gallons for cool-season turf, more than 50% less water per square foot. Our spring 2026 season was also the strongest in the program’s 23-year history, a sign that Colorado homeowners are acting on drought now rather than waiting it out.

New garden kits are coming in spring of 2027. Join the interest list to be the first to know when our new gardens are announced.

Planting waterwise gardens coupled with reducing the amount of irrigated lawn in your yard, with resources like our Lawn Replacement program, is a way to maximize water savings for the future of your yard.

How much water does a new perennial garden actually need to get established?

We encourage you to aim for about 1/2 to 1 gallon of water a week for each perennial plant during their initial growing season. The specific amount your plants require will depend on your unique site conditions, including soil type, wind exposure, precipitation, and how much sun the area receives. The initial establishment phase following planting is about 4 to 8 weeks and requires regular waterings every 2 to 4 days to ensure strong, steady root growth. Prioritizing deep but infrequent watering helps create drought-resilient plants by encouraging them to develop deep roots rather than shallow ones.

After the initial 4 to 8 week phase, a simple year-by-year establishment framework helps most gardeners keep watering on track. In Year 1, water at least twice per week, deep and infrequent, once the initial establishment phase wraps up. In Year 2, cut watering frequency roughly in half. By Year 3, cut in half again, or stop entirely for the most xeric varieties as they reach maturity.

One nuance worth naming: “xeric” and “Colorado native” are related but not identical. A plant native to a Colorado riparian corridor needs more water than one selected for a dry, exposed Front Range slope. Garden In A Box® plants are curated specifically for Colorado conditions, so you can feel confident they’re well suited to your yard. For plant-level watering notes, our detailed Garden In A Box® Plant and Care guides go deeper, offering watering recommendations for peak and off-peak seasons from Year 1 through Year 3.

What is the best way to water my gardens right now?

Often, many of the restrictions around outdoor watering have exemptions for both hand-watering and drip irrigation. This time of year, hand-watering is your most practical option, as it’s generally not recommended to turn on a sprinkler system until mid to late May due to the chance of overnight freezing. A few rules most Front Range providers share include the following:

• Water before 10AM or after 6PM when evaporation is lowest.
• Hand-watering and drip irrigation are generally exempt from odd/even day restrictions.
• Check your provider’s website for current exemptions, as rules shift through the season.

Whether watering by hand or drip system, sticking to those morning or evening windows keeps water use efficient. Once your irrigation system is on for the season, the Garden In A Box® team recommends drip irrigation as the most efficient and convenient method for irrigating low-water perennial beds. This may mean retrofitting an in-ground system to add a drip zone, or setting up a drip system off a hose bib with a timer. Hand-watering works too, though it’s less convenient over a full growing season.

Converting a turf sprinkler zone to drip is the step most homeowners skip when they add a waterwise garden, and it’s where conservation gains are often lost. Our Slow the Flow team can help. Sign up for a free sprinkler evaluation to get a professional look at your system before you flip it on for the season.

Of course, always follow your local water provider’s watering rules and refer to their website for up-to-date rules and exemptions.

What Does a Drought-Tolerant Garden Actually Look Like?

For many homeowners, the biggest hesitation isn’t the water savings, it’s the picture in their head. “Xeric” can sound like bare dirt, gravel, and a lonely cactus. That’s not what a Colorado native garden or well-designed xeric garden looks like in practice.

A pollinator-friendly garden built for Front Range conditions is layered and colorful. It blooms from early spring all the way through late fall, with a rotating cast of coneflowers, penstemons, salvias, yarrow, and ornamental grasses filling in as the season shifts. Hummingbirds work the tubular flowers, native bees move between blooms, and butterflies rest on the flatter landing pads. One Longmont participant described their finished garden this way: “it’s like we’ve brought a meadow and nature right here to the neighborhood.” That’s closer to reality than the rock-yard image most people picture.

Garden In A Box® was built in 2003 for exactly this reason: most homeowners want to make the shift but don’t know how to design or select plants that will actually thrive in semi-arid conditions. These garden kits are designed by professional landscape designers specifically for Colorado conditions. Every kit includes 4-inch starter plants, Plant by Number maps that show exactly where each plant goes, and a Plant and Care Guide with watering schedules and seasonal maintenance notes. Plus, you don’t need gardening experience! If you can follow a numbered map, you can install a waterwise garden.

A good drought-tolerant garden delivers things that turf never will. It provides continuous seasonal color from early spring through late fall, habitat for pollinators, songbirds, and beneficial insects, and deep root systems that improve soil structure and reduce erosion. Once established, it requires lower maintenance with no weekly mowing and no fertilizer routine, and it produces real water savings that show up on your utility bill.

The takeaway most first-time xeric gardeners land on is that the finished garden looks better than the grass it replaced, and the neighbors tend to notice.

How Much Water Can a Waterwise Garden Save?

The numbers behind waterwise gardening are tested and proven. Garden In A Box® participants save an average of 5,000 gallons of water per year. On a per-square-foot basis, participants use approximately 8 gallons per square foot annually compared to about 19 gallons for cool-season turf. Both figures come from Resource Central’s peer-reviewed Garden In A Box® Impact Analysis, which examined water usage records from participants in Boulder, Denver, Lafayette, Longmont, and Westminster between 2017 and 2022.

Zoom out and the use gets even clearer. Approximately 50 to 55% of single-family home water use in Colorado is outdoor, and most of that goes to turf grass. That means replacing some portion of thirsty lawn with drought resistant landscaping is the single biggest step a Colorado homeowner can take to reduce a water bill and a conservation footprint.

A waterwise garden works because of a few factors. Xeric and Colorado-adapted plants are used to our semi-arid climate, so they need less supplemental water once established. Deep roots pull moisture from lower soil layers that the short roots of turf grass can’t reach. Mulch reduces evaporation. And drip irrigation delivers water at the root instead of into the air.

Resource Central® has been doing this work in Colorado since 1976. Over that time we have helped more than 1,000,000 Coloradans save water, and Charity Navigator has awarded us a Four-Star rating. The Garden In A Box® program has distributed more than 73,000 kits since 2003, and 99% of participants recommend it. Those numbers matter because they mean the water-savings figures on this page aren’t projections; they’re what actually happens in real yards across the Front Range.

Does My Water Provider Help Cover the Cost?

One of the most useful things to know before you buy a kit: your water bill may already be helping fund your solution. Resource Central® partners with more than 70 water providers and municipalities across Colorado to bring Garden In A Box® to their customers at a reduced price. In many service areas, customers receive a $25 discount per kit through their water provider.

Checking Your Eligibility

To check whether a discount applies where you live, visit the Garden In A Box® program page and look up your address or provider to confirm the details before ordering, learn how the program works, walk through pickup dates, what’s included, and what to expect on planting day.

Resource Central® Programs

A few things to keep in mind as you check eligibility:

• Discounts vary by provider and by season, so the amount and availability can shift.
• If your provider isn’t a current partner, kits are still available at the standard price.
• Popular kits and pickup locations sell out quickly!

If your address is covered, the discount applies at checkout once you have confirmed your service area. It’s a small step that can lower the cost of getting started.

Frequently Asked Questions About Drought-Tolerant Gardening in Colorado

Can I plant a drought-tolerant garden during watering restrictions?

Yes. Most Colorado water providers treat perennial gardens, trees, and shrubs differently from lawns during restrictions, and hand-watering and drip irrigation are generally exempt from odd/even day rules. You’ll typically need to water before 10AM or after 6PM. Check your local provider’s current rules before you plant, and follow their guidance above any general advice.

What are the best low water garden plants for Colorado?

Reliable low water garden plants for the Front Range include penstemon, blanketflower (Gaillardia), coneflower (Echinacea), salvia, yarrow, catmint, and ornamental grasses like blue grama and little bluestem. Many of these are Colorado natives, and all are proven performers in xeric and pollinator-friendly gardens. See our list of top drought-tolerant plants for Colorado for more tips.

How is a xeric garden different from xeriscaping?

Xeriscaping is the broader design approach, a set of principles covering planning, soil, plant selection, irrigation, mulch, turf zoning, and maintenance. A xeric garden is one output of that approach: a specific planted area of drought-adapted perennials, grasses, and shrubs. You can install a xeric garden without redoing your whole yard, which is where a curated kit like Garden In A Box® tends to make the most sense.

Do I need to convert my sprinkler system when I install a waterwise garden?

Not immediately, but eventually yes if the area was previously turf. Overhead spray on a xeric bed wastes water compared to drip irrigation. The most water-efficient path is to cap the spray heads and add a drip zone, either off the existing valve or off a hose bib with a timer.

When can I stop watering my perennial garden?

For most Front Range gardens, supplemental watering can taper significantly after Year 3. Year 1 requires regular deep watering to build roots, Year 2 roughly half that, and by Year 3 many xeric varieties need little to no supplemental water in a typical season. Newly planted areas, hot exposures, and drought years may still need occasional deep waterings. Follow the Plant and Care Guide that comes with your kit.

Is Garden In A Box right for my yard if I have an HOA?

Often yes. Garden In A Box® kits are designed as intentional, curated perennial beds, which tend to align with HOA landscape standards more easily than an unstructured meadow or a bare-dirt xeriscape. If your HOA restricts turf removal, start by adding a bed to an existing planting strip rather than replacing lawn all at once, and share the plant list with your board in advance. For homeowners ready to remove turf, how to remove your lawn walks through the process step by step.

Waterwise gardening isn’t just a response to drought.

It’s a long-term approach to building more resilient and adaptable urban landscapes suited to the conditions we know will continue. While new gardens do require thoughtful watering during their first season, they’re designed to need less water over time, especially when compared to traditional Kentucky bluegrass lawns. Pairing low-water gardens with reducing lawn area, and practicing efficient irrigation methods, are some of the most meaningful ways to set your yard up for future water savings.

If you have been considering making the shift, this is still a good time to start. Homeowners who want a professionally designed Colorado native garden or drought-tolerant garden with a Plant by Number map can begin with the Garden In A Box® program. If you would like to learn more before you commit, our free Waterwise Yard Seminars walk through plant selection, soil prep, and irrigation in an accessible, no-pressure format. For homeowners ready to take out a larger section of turf, the Lawn Replacement program handles the heavy lifting with professional crews.

Conservation doesn’t have to be complicated. A single bed, one summer, is enough to start.