Gardening at High Altitude in Colorado (7,500 ft above sea level)

Colorado State University has an excellent website for hardy, native, easy care, water-wise, disease-resistant plants. Look up CSU's Plant Select database and list of Plant Select local nuseries for hardened off plants and shrubs. High Country Gardens and Bluestone Perennials websites and catalogues also carry a large selection of grass seeds and garden plants.

Look for zone 3, poor soil compatible, xeric/water-wise and at least 5" deep pots. Plant only after the second week of June, to avoid frost, for perennial or flowers.  If you have roses, always spray them 3x/year with organic neem oil, as they're prone to fungal diseases. The Nearly Wild Rose Shrubs are a hardier variety.

Gradually harden off all plants and shrubs from the nurseries before planting them with mycorrhiza granules in the planting hole. This may take an entire month, so they can gradually adjust to the tough, high altitude, outdoor conditions.

They'll need to be moved back and forth from a sheltered outdoor spot back into an indoor garden room with bright sun, and kept watered if it gets cold, windy, evening or too hot for them. Keep them completely moist during this time.

Water new plants deeply, everyday for a whole week, using a diluted, organic root shock treatment liquid, along with the room temperature water.  Plan enough room around the plant for growing to its full-size. Don't overcrowd each plant.  Some plants don't like to be moved around, such as flowering, long-living peonies.

Remember to account for the plant sinking down, as it's watered. Add an extra three inches of soil amendment to bottom of each planting hole.

A good beginner gardener soil is: Miracle Gro, Moisture Control, for outdoor plants with a 12 month, time-released fertilizer. If on a tight budget, mix it 50/50 with organic mushroom compost. Always amend the soil, even for plants that do well in poor soil, such as rock garden/xeric ones. This will help the plant establish a stronger root system. Even with xeric or rock garden plants, they need to be babied and watered well the first two years.

Mulch heavily, at least three inches deep, and ideally, 3 inches away from the base of the plants. You can sometimes get free mulch from local tree companies also.

Here are some hardy choices for a high-altitude lawn and garden:

Artemisia, silver-mound (after digging out dandelion roots, plant these in their places and water them deeply for the first three months, 3x/week, at least 3 liters of water per plant). Remember not to mow them for a year, since they're in the lawn.

Nepeta, "Six Hills Giant," "Walker's Low," and "Blue Wonder" varieties (Six Hills Giant easily grows to the size of a small shrub with little care, within one year)

Lamb's Ear

Snow-in-summer

Salvia, "Sensation Deep Rose Improved," and "Marcus Dwarf Blue Sage"

Liatris Punctata, "Gayfeather"

Purple Prairie Clover

Gray-Headed Coneflower

Blue Glow Globe Thistle

Susanna Mitchell Maguerite Daisy

Berlandiera Lyrata, 'Mora County Mix' (Extra Cold Hardy Chocolate Flower)

Coronation Gold Yarrow

Dakota Sunshine Maximilian's Sunflower

Llano Indian Grass

Drummond's Pink Creeping Phlox

Mock Orange Shrubs

Nearly Wild Rose Shrubs

Lilacs, only for zone 3, which needs a gallon or two of organic bone meal added/worked into  the soil around it every year. Plant lilacs with daffodils, which also needs full sun, well-drained, poor soil, with organic bone meal.

From High Country Gardens website/catalogue:

Western Xeriscape Seed Mix for the dry, poor soil patches in the lawn

Native West Mix (wildflowers to overseed lawn for natural invasive weed control)

"Low Work and Water" Lawn Seed Mix, an excellent grass seed mix for low maintenance lawns suitable for children, dogs, deer and elk traffic.  Seed the lawn in early spring, mid-March. It will need a foot of well-aged, organic compost power-raked into the lawn, prior to seeding it. Put twice the amount of seed recommended so you can control for weeds organically. Also, it will grow well, if watered deeply everyday, for the first week, minus snowfall days.

Then, water deeply every other day for the second week. After that, water deeply 3x/week the next three months, so it can establish a strong root system. Don't mow it for five months after seeding the lawn. For the first five times mowing it, set the mower on the highest height, so it doesn't cut the grass too short. That will keep the grass from drying out/over-exposure to sun.