Native plants and meadows
A seed catalog for Front Range yards
Six Colorado natives we plant in beds and meadow mixes, and how we turn a thirsty strip of lawn into a meadow that looks after itself.
The catalog
Six plants, drawn from life
Water needs are for plants in their second year and beyond. Every new planting gets regular water through its first summer while roots settle in.
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No. 01
Blue grama
Bouteloua gracilis
- Water
- Low
- Sun
- Full sun
- Height
- 8 to 14 in
- Blooms
- July to September
Colorado’s state grass. Soft enough to walk on, mowable as a lawn, and lovely left long with its eyebrow seed heads.
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No. 02
Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
- Water
- Low
- Sun
- Full to part sun
- Height
- 1 to 2 ft
- Blooms
- June to September
Flat white flower heads that small native bees visit all summer. Spreads gently to fill gaps in a meadow.
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No. 03
Narrow leaf coneflower
Echinacea angustifolia
- Water
- Low to moderate
- Sun
- Full sun
- Height
- 1 to 2 ft
- Blooms
- June to August
The native plains coneflower, with pale drooping petals. Leave the seed heads standing for finches in winter.
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No. 04
Rocky Mountain penstemon
Penstemon strictus
- Water
- Low
- Sun
- Full sun
- Height
- 1.5 to 2.5 ft
- Blooms
- May to July
Tall spikes of blue violet flowers early in the season, loved by hummingbirds. Happiest in lean, well drained soil.
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No. 05
Blanket flower
Gaillardia aristata
- Water
- Low
- Sun
- Full sun
- Height
- 1 to 2 ft
- Blooms
- June to September
Red and gold daisies that bloom through the hottest weeks. A dependable first flower for a new meadow.
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No. 06
Little bluestem
Schizachyrium scoparium
- Water
- Low to moderate
- Sun
- Full sun
- Height
- 2 to 3 ft
- Blooms
- Seed heads in fall
A clumping prairie grass, blue green in summer and copper through winter. Holds a meadow together.
Lawn to meadow
Trading turf for a meadow
A meadow is not an unmown lawn. It’s a planned mix of native bunch grasses and wildflowers, sown into prepared soil and cared for until it can hold its own against weeds.
Most clients start with a few hundred square feet, often the sunniest strip or a slope that’s hard to mow, and add more once they see the first summer of flowers.
- Lawn to meadow conversion from $4.50 per sq ftTurf removal, soil preparation, native seed mix and plugs along the edges.
- Meadow care visits $55 a visitMonthly weeding and one high mow in the first summer, then a single cut each late winter.
- Native plant beds from $12 per sq ftDesigned beds with plants, mulch and drip line for the first two summers.
Four stages, from lawn to meadow
Mark and smother
In early fall we mark the new edge and cover the turf with cardboard and compost to smother it without chemicals.
Prepare and sow
From late fall into winter we loosen the soil and sow the seed mix. Snow and freeze cycles press the seed in for us.
The first summer
Mostly roots and leaves. Monthly care visits pull weeds and mow high once or twice so weeds can’t set seed.
The second summer
Flowers fill in and grasses knit together. From here it needs one cut each late winter and very little water.