Denver Water officially retired the word “xeriscaping” in 2024 and replaced it with “ColoradoScaping.” If you’ve been seeing that term in rebate program materials or Denver Post coverage, that’s why. The name change was intentional — Denver Water wanted to shed the image of gravel lots and cacti that the word xeriscape had accumulated over 40 years, and replace it with something that felt more specific to Colorado, more colorful, more approachable.
We get it. The rebrand makes sense as a communications move. But let’s be honest about what it is and what it isn’t.
Xeriscaping Was Never Supposed to Mean Desert
The word “xeriscape” was coined in 1981 — by Denver Water, ironically enough. A portmanteau of the Greek xeros (dry) and “landscape,” it was introduced as a framework for water-efficient landscaping suited to semi-arid climates. The original seven principles: planning and design, soil improvement, appropriate plant selection, practical turf areas, efficient irrigation, use of mulches, and appropriate maintenance. Nothing in there says gravel. Nothing says cactus.
The gravel-and-rock-only aesthetic that xeriscape became associated with in popular imagination was never the point — it was a shortcut. A developer or landscaper who wanted to claim water efficiency without investing in plant knowledge would just rip out grass and pour rock. No irrigation system, no plants, no design. Technically “low water.” Functionally a parking lot with weeds.
That’s the image Denver Water is running away from. But that image was always a distortion of the original concept, not the concept itself. Good xeriscaping in Colorado looks exactly like what Denver Water is now calling ColoradoScaping. It always did.
Xeriscaping Has Always Been Location-Dependent
Here’s the thing that gets lost in the naming debate: the entire premise of xeriscape design is that you use plants appropriate to the local climate, soil, and water availability. It was never one-size-fits-all. A well-designed xeriscape in Denver uses completely different plants than a well-designed one in Phoenix or Albuquerque or Portland. The principles are the same; the plant palette is entirely different.
In that sense, “ColoradoScaping” — as in, xeriscape practice specifically applied to Colorado’s climate, soils, and plant communities — isn’t a new concept. It’s just xeriscape with a geographic adjective attached. Denver practitioners have been doing exactly that for decades. The Front Range xeriscape tradition already had a distinct character: blue grama and buffalo grass over Bermuda, rabbitbrush over saguaro, decomposed granite over red rock gravel. That’s Colorado-specific practice, and it predates the rebrand.
What Denver Water has actually done is give a name to something that was already happening. That’s a legitimate communications move. Calling it a new discipline, though, is more creative.
Native grasses, seasonal perennials, and zero turf — this is what Coloradoscaping looks like in practice. It’s also what good xeriscaping in Denver always looked like.
The Non-Native Plant Problem Nobody Talks About
Here’s where we’re going to push back on something more substantive than naming conventions.
One of the key arguments for ColoradoScaping — and for the Waterwise Garden programs and plant lists that underpin it — is that it emphasizes native plants that support local pollinators, birds, and ecological health. That’s a good argument. The problem is that the plants recommended by these programs are often not actually native to Colorado. They’re drought-tolerant, yes. They handle Colorado’s climate reasonably well. But “adapted” and “native” are not the same thing, and the distinction matters if you actually care about the ecological pitch.
A few examples worth naming:
- Karl Foerster feather reed grass (Calamagrostis × acutiflora): Ubiquitous in Denver Water’s ColoradoScaping promotional imagery and recommended plant lists. It’s a hybrid cultivar developed in Germany from European grass species. Zero native range in Colorado or anywhere in North America. A fine ornamental grass — but native? No.
- Russian sage (Salvia yangii, formerly Perovskia): Native to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the western Himalayas. Widely drought-tolerant, beautiful silver-blue foliage. Perfectly adapted to Colorado’s climate. Not a Colorado native plant by any stretch.
- Catmint (Nepeta faassenii): Mediterranean and Caucasus origin. Another Waterwise program staple. Handles Denver’s summers well. Not native to the Front Range ecosystem.
- Ice plant (Delosperma species): Native to South Africa. Often featured in “Coloradoscaping” recommendations for hot, dry, full-sun slopes. Attractive, water-efficient. Not Colorado native.
- Lavender (Lavandula species): Mediterranean. Not native to North America at all, let alone Colorado.
None of this makes these plants bad choices for a low-water Denver yard. They perform. The issue is the ecological claim. If the pitch for ColoradoScaping is that it supports native pollinators and local biodiversity more than traditional lawns — which it does — the plants doing that heavy lifting should actually be native. A honeybee can work a catmint flower. But the native bees and specialist insects that evolved alongside Colorado’s native plant communities need those native plants specifically, and a yard of Russian sage and Karl Foerster doesn’t give them what they need.
What ColoradoScaping Gets Right
We’re not dismissing the rebrand or the program. Denver Water’s ColoradoScaping effort has done real work: the Quebec Street medians alone are saving 8.5 million gallons of water annually, and the $750 turf replacement subsidy has moved homeowners who wouldn’t have acted otherwise. The 1 million square feet converted in 2024 is meaningful. Anything that gets more Denver front yards off Kentucky bluegrass is a net positive for the watershed and the city.
The messaging shift — away from the desert aesthetic and toward a colorful, prairie-inspired Front Range look — has also helped more homeowners actually want to do this. That’s not trivial. The best landscape plan is the one that gets implemented.
And the core of what Denver Water means by ColoradoScaping — plants suited to Colorado’s specific climate, thoughtfully designed, ecologically beneficial — is exactly right. It’s also exactly what serious xeriscape practitioners in Denver have been doing for decades under the old name.
Good xeriscape practice in Denver was always Colorado-specific. The name ColoradoScaping is new. The approach isn’t.
Our Take: Coloradoscaping Is Xeriscaping Done Right
At Xeris Landscaping, we design and install what Denver Water is now calling ColoradoScaping. We’re not changing the name on our signs, but we’re also not dismissing the concept. What we do is exactly what the term describes: xeriscape design specific to Colorado’s climate, Colorado’s soils, Colorado’s plant communities, and the Front Range’s particular combination of high altitude, intense sun, cold winters, and semi-arid summers.
Our position is simple:
- Coloradoscaping is a subset of xeriscaping — a geographically specific application of principles that have always been sound
- The name change is a marketing fix for a perception problem, not a practice revolution
- The ecological argument holds only if the plants are actually native, not just drought-tolerant and well-adapted
- Colorado has a genuinely exceptional native plant palette — blue grama, blanket flower, Rocky Mountain columbine, serviceberry, rabbitbrush, sideoats grama, four-wing saltbush — and those should anchor any serious Colorado-specific design
- Calling it ColoradoScaping is fine. Doing it right means going deeper on plant provenance than the Waterwise plant lists require.
Trends and terminology come and go. The plants that actually belong here were here before the word xeriscaping existed, and they’ll outlast ColoradoScaping too. Design around those, and the label you put on it is secondary.
For a full plant list of Colorado natives that perform in Denver’s specific conditions, see our native plants for Denver xeriscape guide. For the design process that ties it together, see our xeriscape design guide.
Want a Colorado-Specific Xeriscape? Call It What You Want.
Xeris Landscaping designs and installs Front Range xeriscape — native plants, correct soils, drip irrigation, and designs that work with Colorado’s climate instead of fighting it. We can help you qualify for Denver Water rebates, whatever they’re calling the program this year.