Native plants save water and can look great in your yard. Here鈥檚 your spring planting primer

In The NoCo

Native plants save water and can look great in your yard. Here鈥檚 your spring planting primer

By In The NoCo,

Published March 14, 2025 at 5:40 AM MDT

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A pink Indian Paintbrush grows on the a hillside on the side of a hill in front of a lake. — With spring approaching, the experts at Colorado State University Extension have some great advice for planting native species this year. "A lot of our native pollinator species, they actually rely on native plants for all of their food, and it's a lot more difficult for them to eat non native plants," said CSU horticulturalist Tommy Roth.

Spring is approaching, and the garden beckons. Which means it鈥檚 not too early to start making gardening and landscaping plans for the year.

And if you鈥檙e like a lot of homeowners in Colorado, you might be thinking about adding some native plants.

Experts say it鈥檚 a great way to save water. Native plants also support bees, birds and other pollinators. And native vegetation can require less pruning than more traditional plantings.

In this episode of In the NoCo, we've got great recommendations on and how to plant them, from our friends at the . Erin O鈥橳oole spoke with CSU Extension horticulturalist , who is especially passionate about landscaping with native plants.

Read more of the CSU Extension team's recommendations for planting native , , , and .

And lastly, do you have questions about gardening and landscaping as we head into planting season? Share them with us and we鈥檒l find answers with help from the experts at CSU Extension. Email us: noco@kunc.org.

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In The NoCo

皇冠网址'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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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鈥檚 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鈥檚 financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of 皇冠网址鈥檚 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 皇冠网址'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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