From the Winter 2025 print newsletter (PDF):
Although spring is still months away, Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity is already preparing to landscape our new homes – and staff at Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) are vital partners in this process.
Lisa Pace, water conservation lead at CSU, has worked with our construction team to develop waterwise landscaping solutions for our homeowners. These yards feature rocks and stonework, as well as drought-resistant flowers, trees, and grass.
“We wanted to decrease bills,” says Pace. “We wanted to minimize the stress of a landscape on a homeowner by choosing these plants and lawn alternatives that use less water and require less maintenance.”
Future homeowners are given a list of flowers, bushes, and trees from which they can choose for their landscaping. Pace says her outlook is, “How can we support Pikes Peak Habitat, and how do we make their landscapes more resilient, would be the word I would use?”
When she first became involved with the affiliate in 2023, “at that point, they were just going with Kentucky bluegrass sod, and the plant list was decent,” she recalls, “but let’s slim it down and get you things that will really thrive on limited water.”
Pace connected with Eric Wells, Pikes Peak Habitat director of construction services, when she requested a letter of support from potential partners for a Landscape Transformation for Future Construction grant. And the collaboration was born.
“This is the first time that I’ve experienced a utility company going out into the public and volunteering, as well as actively working and encouraging folks to reduce their usage and therefore their energy bills and water bills,” says Wells. “It’s impressive!”
When CSU received the grant, they were able to work with Pikes Peak Habitat to begin implementing the waterwise options.
“Eric was jumping to get these landscapes installed, so that happened really fast!” says Pace.
CSU staff devoted several volunteer days on our construction site to installing sod, planting trees and flowers, and providing watering tips to homeowners. In fact, they were honored as Pikes Peak Habitat’s 2024 Construction Volunteer Group of the Year!
“During all of this, we also had stumbled upon a new sod that we’re just starting to try in the Colorado Springs area, which is Tahoma 31,” explains Pace. “Just based on the elevation and location [of the construction site], I thought that this would be a pretty perfect scenario to try out that sod, and it’s such a better solution.”
She explains that the Tahoma 31 bluegrass requires watering only once a week and doesn’t need to be mowed. Because it can be installed as sod rather than planted as seeds, it requires minimal water from the outset.
In addition, Pace says CSU provided options for “larger trees and more robust plants, which was pretty awesome.”
In 2023, CSU volunteer crews completed full landscaping on three homes and replaced sod for an additional three. In 2024, they landscaped six.
Pace says she has gotten positive feedback from the Pikes Peak Habitat homeowners whose yards feature the new options. One told Pace that “her toddler loved the grass, because the grass is kind of squishy. It’s very foamy-feeling because of the way it grows, almost like moss – you step on it, and it’s very bouncy!”
Another homeowner “just had great things to say,” continues Pace. “She loved the plants, and she loved the experience. I worked with her – she was out there that day on the landscape, and she had a lot of questions, and she’s done a great job maintaining her plants!”
She adds, “I think they’re happy because the plants flower and fill in the space well, and they’re not cacti and rock. It seems like people were really happy with the selections and also just the quality, the large trees, and having a sod option for very low water.”
While water conservation and low maintenance were factors in the planning, both Pace and Wells were also motivated by a desire to keep homeowners’ utility bills low — supporting Pikes Peak Habitat’s mission to build homes that aren’t affordable just to purchase, but also to maintain.
Wells comments, “Seeing how active CSU is in the community, as well as how much they really want this transition away from emitting greenhouse gases— they really are working for that, and they also understand how precious water is as a resource for us here in Colorado.”
Pace estimates that watering costs for the new landscaping features should cost no more than $10 per month – equivalent to two Starbucks coffees. “We’re really trying to keep the cost of living down for customers who need it the most,” she says.
And she emphasizes that these plants, grass, and trees are hardy. “If you couldn’t water or if you could only water once a month, they will live, and they will make it through until you can water it a couple more times,” she says. “Knowing that this landscape is going to do a better job with neglect, and knowing that it can still survive, it feels really good to have found a landscape solution to fit that situation.”
Wells calls the partnership between CSU and Pikes Peak Habitat a “fantastic collaboration.” He says, “It was surprising how easy it was to work with them and how open and welcoming and eager they were to partner with organizations in the community.”
He adds, “They’ve transformed our landscapes, what we do with our homeowners.”
Pace says, “Building smart communities that have minimal water use and still have a beautiful environment, that’s what we need to concentrate on. Working with Pikes Peak Habitat allowed us to get some real-world examples in the ground immediately.”
She concludes, “Being able to watch these landscapes mature year after year is a great asset for our community, too. This concept is the way we meet our growing population and water limitations of the future.”
