By Norma Adair and Allie Molinda, Colorado Master Gardeners

One of the tricky things about growing a perennial garden can be getting color to last. Many perennials bloom for only a few weeks. Then they pack up shop until next year. Luckily, there are long-blooming perennials that break that trend. Among them are three plants that offer long-lasting color while also being popular with pollinators. In addition, all they thrive in low-water gardens.

Little Trudy® Catmint (Nepeta ‘Psfike’)

For colorful blooms that go on… and on… and on, Little Trudy is your gal. This catmint produces lavender flowers on silver-green foliage from April to fall. Some catmints can get unruly, swallowing up garden paths and sidewalks as they grow. But Little Trudy is a compact, low-growing catmint that plays nice in the garden. It’s an easy-going plant that thrives in a range of conditions.

Do you know the Colorado State flower, grass and insect? Meet the Colorado columbine, blue grama grass and the Colorado hairstreak butterfly! These are but a few of the symbols of our state and are the most likely to be found in a garden.

The Colorado Columbine, (Aquilegia caerulea,) was adopted as the official state flower on April 4, 1899, protecting it from needless waste or destruction. Digging or uprooting the flower on public lands is prohibited and the gathering of buds, blossoms and stems is limited to 25 in one day. It requires partial shade with moist, well-drained soil. This beautiful species, native to the Rocky Mountains, flowers May thru June.

In recent years there has been a wide range of soil improvement additives or inoculants making their way to garden center shelves. Some of these products advertise that they will help get the most out of our gardens through the addition of beneficial microbes.

Among the popular products are those that contain mycorrhizae (pronounced mai-kuh-rai-zay), a fungus that develops in the soil from spores that attach themselves to the roots of plants. Healthy soils contain great amounts of mycorrhizal spores in the organic matter near the soil surface, germinating in soil that contains adequate water and oxygen. Spores can also be found in abundance in forests under leaf litter and fallen trees and populating tree roots.

Xeriscaping is one means of accomplishing that. Derived from the Greek xeros meaning dry, xeriscape means literally “dry landscape.” Receiving an average of approximately 15 inches of precipitation per year, the front range is definitely a dry landscape. By applying the principles of xeriscape, homeowners can make their landscape abundantly beautiful while more heat tolerant and less water dependent.

Does that brown patch defy all your attempts at correction? Green with envy about your neighbor’s picture-perfect lawn? We get it. Lawns have been an integral part of the landscape for hundreds of years. In Colorado, small practical turf areas still make sense for use by kids, families and pets. Properly managed, small lawns can be an appropriate component of an overall water-wise landscape plan. They can be beautiful, even with less water. The key is to understand how to manage turf appropriately. Did you know that most lawn problems are caused by poor management practices? Over- or under-watering, over- or under-fertilizing, lack of bi-yearly aeration, and if needed, attention to winter watering all make a difference in a lawn’s resilience to specific pests and disease.

Click here to see Dr. Tony Koski’s recent blogpost about lawn diseases and how to correct them. Dr. Koski is the Extension turf specialist. Follow this link to a CSU Fact Sheet for best practices on annual lawn care.

Need additional help? Contact the Arapahoe County Extension office at 303-730-1920 to schedule a lawn/landscape check with an Extension professional. They are there to help you be smart about managing your lawn.