Colorado landscaping marketing built around drought rules, HOA boards and a five-month season

If your crews work inside Denver Water's service area, the drought rules decide what you can sell this fall. A new lawn needs water, and right now a homeowner there cannot legally give it any.

Denver Water declared a Stage 1 drought that runs from March 25, 2026 through April 30, 2027, or until further notice. The utility points to record-low snowpack and record heat in what is usually the snowiest month. Since October 1, lawn watering and all spray irrigation are banned until its board acts again. Trees, shrubs and gardens may still get water from a hand hose with a shut-off nozzle, or from drip.

New lawns get no exception. The watering rules page says permits to water new seed or sod are not available after September 30 until further notice. The charges are steep. Under Denver Water's charges, a single-family home pays $500 for a first violation and $1,000 for the next, then faces a shutoff. Denver Water starts a commercial site at $1,000. An irrigation-only meter, the kind many common areas run on, pays Denver Water $2,000 and loses service on the first one.

What that means for your ads this winter:

• Pause fall sod and seed offers for Denver Water addresses. A customer who buys one is set up for a charge, and the dead lawn ends up in your reviews.
• Sell tree and shrub care instead. Deep watering by drip or hand hose is still allowed, so a winter tree watering route is an honest offer.
• Book spring design now. The utility expects recovery to take more than one winter and spring. A drip or low-water plan drawn in January is ready when installs can start.
• Ask for the water provider on your form. Aurora, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Boulder run their own utilities. We read each one's current rules before an ad mentions them.

For a homeowner in an HOA, the board's approval can be the step that stalls a low-water yard. Colorado law takes the flat no away, which gives your sales page a true and useful line.

An association may not ban xeriscape or drought-tolerant landscaping on a lot the owner is responsible for. The board may still set design rules. Under Colorado's HOA landscaping law, those rules must allow an option with at least 80% drought-tolerant plantings. They also may not ban artificial turf in the backyard. The front yard is different, so a board can still keep artificial turf off the street side.

How we would use it:

• A page for owners in HOAs that walks through the board submittal: the drawing, the plant list and the drought-tolerant option the board has to allow. Offer to prepare the packet as part of the design fee.
• Words that hold up. The FTC's environmental marketing guides tell sellers not to make broad "eco-friendly" claims they cannot back. Say what the yard does instead: drip on every bed, no spray heads, plants chosen for a dry Front Range summer.
• Aurora's free program as a referral. Aurora Water's GreatScapes replaces front yards of 1,800 square feet or less at no cost, for owner-occupants who meet its income rules. On an Aurora page, name it as the city's offer and never as your discount.

Frost sets the landscaping year here. Most planting and lawn work fits between the last spring freeze in early May and the first fall freeze in early October, and the four big markets differ by days that matter at each end.

NOAA's 1991 to 2020 climate normals give the median dates:

• Denver. Last spring freeze May 5, first fall freeze October 9, and a 156-day growing season at the airport station. Aurora sits beside it on the plains, so we plan the two together.
• Colorado Springs. May 3 and October 8 at the airport station.
• Fort Collins. May 2 and October 7 at the city station.
• Boulder. May 6 and October 5, a 151-day season, at the city station. It is the shortest of the four.

On our reading, spring cleanup and sprinkler start-up ads belong in March, so calendars fill before the early May planting window. Fall work squeezes into September, since all four cities expect a freeze in the first ten days of October. The July booking post covers selling fall work early.

Mountain second homes are a separate business. Dillon, in Summit County, gets a 41-day median growing season between freezes, per NOAA's Dillon normals. A Front Range crew that also serves the mountains needs its own season and its own page.