When I first started exploring drought-tolerant landscaping, I was surprised to discover that the easiest approach to xeriscaping your Colorado yard isn't ripping out your lawn entirely — it's replacing it with a drought-tolerant native grass mix. You can still have a green, lush-looking lawn; it just won't need nearly as much water.

Believe it or not, this is my native grass lawn. Once established, I watered it just once per week all summer — including through several 100°F+ heat waves. It stays green during the heat of summer and goes naturally dormant (light brown) during the cooler seasons, which is completely normal and healthy for these grasses.

*My native grass lawn in the foreground (spring of 2025).*

After getting a lot of questions about how I did it, I put together this guide based on my own experience. Note: This guide is specific to the Colorado Front Range (Denver metro, Boulder, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs) but may apply to other dry prairie climates.

Ideal Timeline at a Glance

Before diving into the steps, here's the big-picture timing:

Summer: Stop watering your existing lawn and let it die off
Fall: Rake up dead grass
Winter: Let the grass go dormant
Spring (May): Rake again and re-seed with native mix
Year 1–2: Water more heavily, weed regularly, re-seed bare spots each spring
Year 2+: Fully established — minimal watering and maintenance

Step-by-Step Process

1 - Stop watering your existing lawn.

If you have a standard fescue lawn, the easiest way to kill it is to simply stop watering it for the entire growing season. Also stop using any lawn chemicals at this stage — fertilizers and weed suppressants will kill native grasses too.

*My original fescue lawn in mid-summer. No watering, no chemicals.*

2 - Rake up the dead grass as it dies.

As your existing lawn dies off, rake up the dead material and compost or dispose of it. This starts opening up bare patches in the soil, which creates space for native grass seeds to take root.

3 - Re-seed in the spring (May is ideal).

In the spring, do one more thorough rake to remove as much remaining dead grass as possible, then re-seed with a native lawn grass mix. These mixes typically include buffalo grass and blue grama at minimum, both of which are well-suited to Colorado's climate and soil.

Here are the grass mixes I use:

Short Grass Prairie Seed Mix from Western Native Seed
- Grows in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico
- Fit for elevation range 3,000' - 5,500'
- Needs 10-16 inches precipitation with little winter snow cover and summer rain

Xeriscape Lawn Mix from Western Native Seed
- Fit for elevations up to 7,000'
- Needs 12-20 inches precipitation from summer rain

For re-seeding small lawn patches, I will do this by hand, but for re-seeding the entire lawn area, I use a seed spreader like this.

4 - Water to establish the new grass.

Watering is critical during establishment — but only for the first couple of seasons. Follow this schedule:

Weeks 1–2: Water daily to ensure germination
Remainder of Season 1 and all of Season 2: Water 3x per week for at least 20 minutes per session to encourage deep root development

After this establishment period, you shouldn't need to water this heavily again.

*Watering after spring reseeding. The lawn is mid-transition here, not fully converted yet.*

5 - Repeat each spring until the transition is complete.

As you water less each year, any surviving original lawn will continue dying back. Each spring, rake up dead material and re-seed bare patches. It typically takes about two years to fully replace the original lawn with native grasses.

*My front yard after three full seasons, completely transitioned to native grass (Summer 2025).*

Annual Maintenance

Once established, this lawn is low-effort. Here's what ongoing care looks like:

Mowing: Mow no more than every two weeks during the warm season. These are clumping grasses that actually benefit from being left a bit longer — it encourages denser growth.
Aeration: Aerate each spring right before re-seeding to improve germination rates.
Watering: Once fully established, one 20–30 minute watering per week is all you need through the warm season.
Re-seeding: Re-seed any thin or bare patches each spring to keep the lawn filling in.
No lawn chemicals: Do not use fertilizers or weed suppressants. These grasses are native and adapted to your soil — they don't need them, and the chemicals will harm the grass.
Weeding: Stay on top of weeding during the first couple of years. While the native grass is still filling in, bare patches are more vulnerable to weed pressure. Once the lawn densifies, this becomes much less of an issue.

*Winter weeds filling gaps during the establishment phase. Gets much better once the lawn densifies.*

A Few Things Worth Knowing

Re-seeding on bare soil: I've tried seeding this mix directly onto bare soil (without the dying-lawn base) and had about 50% success. The existing dead grass clumps actually seem to help with moisture retention and germination — so the gradual kill-and-reseed method works better than starting from scratch.
Dogs: A common concern is whether these grasses hold up to dogs. I haven't personally tested this, but I've heard that dog-specific turf grass blends (such as Dog Tuff) have similar drought and heat tolerance. Worth researching if that's a factor for you.
Thinking about going further? Native grass lawns are just one piece of xeriscaping or converting a lawn to drought-tolerant Colorado native plants. I'm also converting my front yard beds to Colorado native plants and high-desert perennials. Check out my Garden Design services if you want help planning your own transformation.

How to Replace Your Lawn with Native Grass: Colorado Front Range Xeriscaping Guide