P.S., would prefer, if the plant does flower, that the color NOT be yellow.

ooh thank you, I'll locate one of those asap!

I, too, love the lush cottage look. We are nowhere near desert conditions, but we frequently have blazing hot summers with minimal (or no) rain for months. This has caused me to try and get the look I crave without the water I can’t provide. :) I’m zone 6, so I can’t speak for the hardiness of most of these, but I’m fairly sure that some, at least, are solid zone 4 hardy. Penstemon are a favorite, as well as dianthus, salvias, spireas, nepeta, Lavender, lamb’s ears (stachys byzantina), lilies, irises, clematis buried deep with deep mulch, Allium, Veronica, golden oregano, silver mound artemisia.

Some that have been successful for me with a little bit of extra care included boxwood, peonies, oakleaf hydrangea, certain sedges, creeping phlox, and certain rose varieties that love the heat.

also, many of these will flourish in partial shade. If you have shady spots, Solomons seal is my top recommendation for a lush look in dry shade. I have the variegated version, and it never even winces at drought. Certain hostas do well, also, but only in total shade. With low water and hot sun they burn easily if exposed.

OH wow!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to make this list for me!

Here is a link from Fine Gardening Magazine to a garden of waterwise plants in CO. It includes a photo and a plant list with hardiness zones.

https://www.finegardening.com/article/a-water-wise-garden-that-works-plant-ids

I second the recommendation of Lauren Springer Ogden’s book for info on lush looking, waterwise gardens. I often can’t grow the plants she uses because my area is too wet, but there are some beauties.

I was also going to say that it might be worthwhile, and also a heck of a lot of fun, to go on some local garden tours. I find them to be a wealth of ideas and useful information, not to mention just plain gorgeous! My favorite one is the Enchanted Gardens of Northwest Denver. However, for some reason, it looks like they may not be having it this year. I know there are plenty of others though if you are interested and let me know approximately where you live, I am sure I can find some others near you. Oh have you been to the Betty Ford garden in Vail? That might be interesting!

That's a great idea. I know they have a yearly garden tour here in Missoula in late June/early July I think.

Thanks NHBabs! I did just receive one of her books today in fact! And I'll check out the link...thank you again.

NHBabs! Wow wow wow! That link is fantastic!!!! THANK YOU!

You are welcome. The link came from this thread.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/lawn-replaced-by-flowering-plants-dsvw-vd~5625938#n=10

Take note of the warnings about the space now being a garden and requiring the knowledge and type of care that a garden requires. The advantage of a lawn is that it takes relatively little care, and if you aren’t overly fussy about lawn appearance, it takes little time and virtually no skill to maintain. A garden needs a plan for what plants go where along with weeding and deadheading and and dividing along with prep work some time turning the dormant season. So if you haven’t had large gardens before, add them a bit at a time. My garden gets at least twice as much time as my lawn.

In planning, you want at least some plants with winter interest, either conifers or broadleafed evergreens like Mahonia (don’t know if any native Mahonia are evergreen in your zone) or evergreen perennials and groundcovers or shrubs and trees with colorful bark or berries or nicely shaped branches. In my garden, most of these types of plants are actually more fall and spring interest plants because everything is buried under snow in winter, but they definitely extend the season of interest in the garden. And some of the taller shrubs and trees are lovely with snow.

Great advice. Very helpful. Because its winter here for about 6 months out of the year.

I'm in Montana.

Does anyone know if its possible for me to archive the threads I've started on Houzz?

I don't know of a way to archive. Are you hoping to save the thread or find it later? If you are hoping to find it later, you can use the search tool in Houzz. I might suggest putting in a special keyword in the thread somewhere that would be easily searchable later.

If you are hoping to save the thread for later, you could create a "favorite" or "bookmark" in your browser to this specific thread or you can right-click on this page in a blank space and click save as and that will allow you to save the entire page as an HTML file.

Hope that helps!

Up at the top of the thread, right under your initial post is a little heart icon with the word save. I haven’t used it but it might save it to your My Houzz page. Or you can use any of popmomma’s suggestions. I typically set up a folder on my computer with bookmarks to pages I want to find again. Or you can go to your page, and then to activity up at the top and then on the activity page, choose from the list over in the left margin Posts You Started. If you haven’t started a lot of them, this should let you find all your posts relatively easily.

Thank you both!!

Great suggestions, NHBabs! I didn't even know about those options! :-)