In The NoCo

Want to plant water-efficient landscaping but worried your HOA won’t like it? State law is on your side

By In The NoCo,

Published April 23, 2025 at 5:35 AM MDT

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A mix of plants, including orange and purple flowers sit on a wood chipped ground. — "So many people want to move to Colorado because of the natural beauty," says Deryn Davidson with Colorado State University Extension. "But why do we want to just go into the mountains or the national parks, or go into our open spaces to enjoy that beauty, when we can actually have that same beautiful plant palette and landscape in our yards?"

A growing number of home gardeners are turning to drought-tolerant plantings – think native plants like yucca, milkweed, or yarrow.

For years, many homeowners’ associations in Colorado didn’t make it easy to install xeric landscaping or water-saving tools like rain barrels.

But homeowners, state law is on your side.

In recent years, Colorado legislators passed a handful of laws that make it easier for homeowners to incorporate water-efficient landscaping without running afoul of their HOA bylaws.

Deryn Davidson is the statewide sustainable landscape specialist with Colorado State University Extension. She consulted with legislators as some of these policies were being crafted over the past decade.

Deryn spoke with Erin O’Toole about what the laws cover and why they were needed.

Read some of CSU Extension’s recommendations for native perennials, shrubs, grasses, and trees. And you can read more about rain barrels here.

Deryn Davidson, a woman in a black shirt, wearing brown tortoise-shell glasses and turquoise beaded earrings, smiles in a photograph for Colorado State University Extension. — Deryn Davidson, statewide sustainable landscape specialist with CSU Extension

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In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of KUNC’s new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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Brad Turner

Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS Newshour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University’s NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family’s financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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