Bermuda would be a poor choice because it would have a very short growing season. Tall fescue doesn't really use much less water than KBG (at least not in comparison with the grasses I'll be discussing in a bit). If it can't grow deep roots, it can sometimes actually need more water than KBG. You've got several options. If your main goal is to plant grass that will stay green with almost no water, the two grasses that would probably use the least are buffalo grass and blue grama. These are often grown together in a lawn setting. They're both native and both will grow in Colorado. The problem is that they'd have a short growing season (especially in Zone 4). If you don't mind a lawn that will be tan from late September or Early October into mid to late May, these will use the least amount of water. Both can be bought as seeds, plugs or sod. Sod is the most expensive, but easiest and fastest to establish. Seed is the least expensive, but hardest and slowest to establish. Buffalo grass grown from seed also has pollen that causes problems for many people with allergies. If you'd rather have a lawn that is green at about the same times as the KBG lawn, you'll want a cool season grass. One grass that is getting a lot of use in lawns recently is crested wheatgrass. This is an import and can live with no additional water. In fact, watering it much would kill it. It has very fine leaves, but they're a bit too yellow for my taste. It deals with drought by going in and out of dormancy at the drop of a hat. Most varieties are bunch grasses, but a few newer varieties such as Roadcreast and Ephraim are weakly rhizomatous. Sheep fescue is native to the intermountan west, but the variety that is most often used in lawns (Covar) is based on a stand found in Turkey. It has extensive very fine roots, that don't go very deep into the soil, but spread laterally. It has very fine leaves and deals with drought with the extensive root system and also by reducing evapotransporation. It's low growing and can be left unmowed if you don't mind a slightly wild look. It's a bunch grass, but mowing will encourage tillering and it will spread somewhat if it is mowed. It will stay green with very little additional water (on a par with the buffalo grass and blue grama). Streambank and thickspike wheatgrass are native grasses. Some references list streambank as a form of thickspike wheatgrass and not a separate species. They have similar looks and growth types, but streambank wheatgrass is more suited to heavy/clay soil and thickspike wheatgrass does better with sandy soil. It's lighter green than KBG and has very fine leaves. It spreads rhizomatously so it will fill in bare spots. It grows slowly and should be mowed high (around 3.5-4 inches). It may only need to be mowed 2-4 times a year. It will live with no irrigation, but will go dormant during the summer and come out of dormancy once it rains. If you want to keep it green, it would need only slightly more water than the buffalo grass, blue grama or sheep fescue (maybe 1/2 inch every other week). It is pretty easy to get started from seed. Western wheatgrass is somewhat similar to streambank wheatgrass, but it has much deeper roots, so it goes dormant later. It is also slower to come out of dormancy because most of the roots are deeper (so the rains need to penetrate deeper before it will bounce back). It has wider leaves that are somewhat blue in color. It's harder to establish than streambank wheatgrass and seems to do better when dormant seeded. It has similar water needs to streambank wheatgrass, but would probably benefit from less frequent but deeper water. It grows a little more slowly than streambank wheatgrass. I've seen it described as aggressively rhizomatous. Very little fertilizer is required for any of these (maybe 1/2 to 1 lb N per 1000 sq ft per year) and the crested wheatgrass and sheep fescue will probably die if they are fertilized the way a traditional lawn is fertilized. Western wheatgrass will do best if fertilized a couple of times a year, but if it's planted in a mixture (with streambank wheatgrass, for example) it will do fine with the lower level. If you decide to go this route, do as I say, not as I did. Kill the existing lawn first. It's a little scary, but if you try overseeding into the existing lawn, it will take too long and will ultimately cost more. I overseeded my lawn with streambank and western wheatgrass in the front and sheep fescue in the back. I added some blue grama to the heckstrip because it gets so hot in the summer. It has taken several years to get to the point where the majority of the lawn has the native grasses and I've still got a lot of KBG and tall fescue (it will probably die out this year as I plan to water rarely). There's a sod farm in Salt Lake city that sells sod and seed and one of their products may meet your needs. I haven't bought from them because I prefer making my own mixes, but I may buy some of their sod if I end up with bare spaces at the end of the summer. I've bought seed from a number of suppliers (usually buying individual varieties and mixing myself). Round Butte Seed Mountain Valley Seed used to have good prices on streambank nad western wheatgrass, but I don't see them on the site anymore. Southwest Seed I used to have some other links, but I can't think of them at the moment. My dog loves to lie in the area that is mostly streambank wheatgrass.

Hang in there. They will update their events calendar by March. Our growing season, planting really doesn't begin until mid May. Blooming depends upon weather which can be irratic in CO. The first week of June may be a bit scance for tours, but there are many public gardens to visit even without formal programs going on. One of our GW members in Colorado Springs hosts a tour of her garden through a local chapter. And there are a number of others in the Denver area. I can't remember when they had the tours going on. The Botonic Gardens in Denver is a must while visiting. You can get a better take on plantings/growth habits/blooming in our area during June. And yes there is an NARGS in Colorado, the link is below. A google search for Colorado Garden Clubs will link you to dozens around the state. Here is a link that might be useful: NARGS

Hi Pixie, When you posted about Little House on the Prairie I looked some things up and was planning to post but just haven't found the time! I'm glad you explained why you wanted to do the plains! At least now it makes sense! After you posted I looked up DeSmet on google Earth--to get the "lay of the land," and I think your daughter would be really disappointed with the "plains" we have out here compared to the terrain you'll find in eastern SD. The link I posted to a pic of "our" plains up above really is pretty accurate--there is simply nothing out there! If you do DeSmet I doubt that she'll actually be looking at "the land" very much when you do it, and she'll have all the Little House things, which is what she actually thinks of when she's reading the books. (Love it when kids are reading books!) So rather than taking her for a hot, dry, flat drive, and destroying her mental image of Little House, I now very definitely think you should skip the plains and enjoy the extra time in the hills! A couple things about the fishing if you're gonna stick that in. Wherever you do it you'll need a Colorado fishing license, so be sure you plan ahead for that so you're not disappointed. And if you do decide to go to the Poma Ranch near Pagosa Springs, you'd really need to stay there two nites to have time for fishing. Checkin is at 3:00, so that wouldn't leave much time on the day you arrive, and checkout is at 10:00, so there wouldn't be time on the day you were leaving. The Weminuche River that runs thru the ranch flows very gently and it could easily be fished wading or from the bank. Check out their Fishing page at the link below, and there's more fishing info on their FAQs page, including that they rent "basic" and "kids" fishing gear at the ranch. I don't really know anything about fishing so I'm not sure what all that would include, but if you're seriously considering it and have any questions, call the ranch and ask for Karen! Also, since the river flows gently--and is shallow (a "river" out here is not the same as a "river" in the midwest or east!) your daughter might enjoy wading around in it (probably with a pair of cotton tennis shoes or at least flip flops since the bottom will be "rocky")! But she probably wouldn't stay in too long since water in the mountains is COLD--it's melted snow--and the ranch is at 8,000'! Also, if you're seriously considering staying there, PM me and I'd be glad to send you some more pictures of the inside (and outside) of the Hideaway cabin! I've stayed there three times now so I have pics of the outsides of the other cabins too. This is a favorite pic! I couldn't help but smile the first time I drove in there and saw the Welcome Home sign! I immediately knew I was gonna love the place! (The sign is on the back side of the "bathhouse" building that has the "waterfall showers!") And before I got to the welcome home sign (on the small building on the right) I ran into this roadblock on the drive in! (If it looks gloomy, that's because it was raining on and off on the drive from Pagosa to the ranch the first year I stayed there! Then, right after I got there, the sun came out just in time for sunset!) This was a view heading out of Pagosa toward the ranch that year! The ranch is in them thar hills! I also highly recommend the "Cozy House" at Dolores for the Cortez part of your trip, and would be glad to send you a bunch of pics of that place too to help you decide if you're interested. One more thing since Zinnia brought up Dinosaur Ridge! Just a little further down the road, in Morrison, is a place called Tiny Town! Perhaps in lieu of Little House your daughter would like to see some "little houses"---and other buildings! I don't have time to live link these pages, but here's a copy/paste link to their site, and if you google for images of Tiny Town you'll come up with lots of pics of the buildings with people standing by them so you can get the scale. I haven't been out to this place since the late 70's when it was a run down (tiny) ghost town all overgrown with weeds, but it's been all spiffied up and is back in business, and this could be a real fun Kid Thing! You could plan your whole last day to do Red Rocks, the dinosaurs, and Tiny Town, and then head to the airport for your last nite's lodging! http://tinytownrailroad.com/ Out of time for tonite! I can't wait to find out what all you finally decide to do! Skybird Here is a link that might be useful: Fishing on the V. A. Poma Ranch!

My advice would be to start small with just a few trees and learn from your mistakes. Figure out a way to cover them and protect them from spring frosts and maybe severe winter cold while young. I planted my first four fruit trees in Jan 2014 and two mostly died this winter. All of these were dave wilson trees planted bareroot. a Chinese apricot had all of its scaffolds die and the scion sent out new sprouts down low but I will take this tree out I think. And I had a St Julien plum that has died I think. (This is a rootstock that I let grow out when the peach scion failed to grow after heading). My Redhaven peach and Harcot apricot survived fine but they had lots of flower buds that all fell off. A Zelkova (shade tree) that was two feet tall that I planted bareroot in May 2013 made it through the first winter fine and grew to 7 feet but I think has mostly died after this last winter. My roses and quince died back more this year than any other. I am not sure what hurt the trees--we had a very warm fall followed by an abrupt cold snap to single digits I think in early November, or it might have been the very cold period below -10F in late December, which was the coldest I have experienced since moving to Colorado in 2009.i can look up the exact temps later. Apples do well here and trees in parks produce mostly blemish free crops most years with no sprays or other care. My neighbor had a huge crop of European plums last year. Carol Omeara of Boulder county extension has peach pruning videos on YouTube so I guess she thinks they are worth the trouble. I think Milehighgirl's main interest was things like peaches and she hoped that later blooming trees like pawpaw might be more reliable if she could get them started. I was sorry to hear that she was done with her multi year fruit tree project and I learned a lot from her posts here.