Have you always wanted to try your hand at gardening or xeriscape and didn’t know where to start? Greeley’s Garden in a Box program is an easy way to dip your toe in the water with ready-made planting guides and plant pairings to make the perfect water-wise home garden.
The Greeley Water Conservation Program offers easy-to-plant garden kits (they aren’t really in a box). Each kit comes with 15-30 perennial plants that are grown in Northern Colorado, so you know they will survive in your garden. These professionally designed kits include plant-by-number maps and plant care information.
Each year Greeley offers a $25 discount to Greeley water users to encourage planting water-wise gardens. We have offered a spring sale each year since 2012 and offer a fall sale for the last four years.
This year, fall gardens will go on sale June 28 for fall pick-up. Click here to see available gardens and to order.
Fall is a fantastic time to plant perennials because the air is cooler ( = less water) and the soil is still warm from the summer, so the plants can take root before winter. Fall is also a good time to plant because it helps you get a jump on the next season and plant wake-up in spring already established and ready to bloom.
With perennials, the adage is to say: year 1 they sleep, year 2, they creep and year 3, they leap. By planting in the fall you get two years out of the way in one.
The Garden in a Box program is hosted by Greeley Water Conservation, which pays the non-profit agency, Resource Central, to administer the program for us. You will select your gardens 
and order off of their website. In September, just in time for planting, you will pick up your plants and informational literature in Greeley at the water conservation xeriscape garden, 2503 Reservoir Road.
Each year the gardens have a theme. Here are this year’s choices.
- Naturally Native is an all-native garden for those who really want to reflect the natural Colorado landscape. This garden also works well for pollinators and other urban wildlife because it supports habitat for our native wildlife whether it is food, nectar or shelter.
- Colorado Oasis was inspired by the red soil of Colorado. Warm and cool blooms mingle with a couple of native grasses to give you the Colorado we all love.
- Painted Shade is a garden for those dry shady spots under trees or on the north side of your house or fence. This will take a little sun if you have moving shade or dappled shade.
- Mountain Medley is another part shade garden that is adaptable to sunny and shady gardens perfect for east sides of gardens but is adaptable.
- Rocky Mountain Retreat is designed for the full-sun garden that is also designed to be lower maintenance.
Remember, gardens go on sale June 28 and sell out quickly. So go online at Resource Central to figure out which one(s) you want now and mark your calendar. There are a limited number of $25 discounts for the fall sale. Join our email list on the right side of this page and we will email you garden updates.