Colorado now prohibits installing new non-functional turf on non-residential property — and, unusually, prohibits artificial turf in the same breath. Meanwhile the thing that actually kills most Denver plants isn’t summer drought at all. It’s a dry, snowless winter with nobody watering. Both facts separate landscapers who work here from those who apply generic advice. This page lists landscapers serving Denver.
What Denver landscapers handle
Xeriscape and water-wise design — mainstream practice here for decades rather than a recent trend.
Irrigation design, repair and, critically, winterisation — systems must be blown out before hard freeze.
Maintenance across a compressed season with genuine winter dormancy.
Tree care, including hail damage recovery and structural pruning against heavy wet spring snow.
Hardscape — patios, retaining walls, fire pits — built to survive freeze-thaw cycling.
Licensing: local rather than statewide
Colorado does not issue a state-level landscape contractor licence. Routine landscape installation, irrigation, sod, planting and hardscape are unregulated at the state trade level and governed instead by local building departments.
Denver requires local contractor registration, as do Boulder, Fort Collins and most Front Range cities. That local registration is what you should be verifying — ask for it and confirm with the city.
The one mandatory state credential is the Commercial Pesticide Applicator licence issued by the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) Pesticides Program. Any company applying pesticides commercially — including routine weed control on a lawn — must hold it. Ask for the number if anyone is spraying anything on your property.
Because state trade licensing doesn’t exist, verify general liability and workers’ compensation directly rather than accepting “licensed and insured” at face value.
What’s specific to Denver
SB 24-005 and what it actually bans. Colorado’s Senate Bill 24-005, signed March 15, 2024, prohibits the installation of non-functional turf, artificial turf, and invasive plant species on non-residential properties for new development and some redevelopment, on or after January 1, 2026.
Scope matters:
- It applies to commercial, institutional and industrial properties, and common-interest community property — meaning HOAs
- It also covers non-functional turf in street rights-of-way, parking lots, medians and transportation corridors
- It excludes residential properties, and does not apply to existing development or to new residential development
- Local governments were to enact or amend ordinances in line with it by January 1, 2026
Note the important distinction from Nevada’s approach: Colorado restricts installing new non-functional turf, rather than requiring removal of existing grass. If you own a home, nothing here forces you to tear out your lawn. If you sit on an HOA board planning new common-area landscaping, this governs what you may install — and the artificial turf prohibition surprises people, since synthetic grass is often assumed to be the water-wise answer.
Rebates — and they run out. Denver Water, through the nonprofit Resource Central, has offered residential customers a limited, first-come discount of up to $750 in 2026 toward replacing water-intensive grass with a water-wise ColoradoScape. Qualifying requires removing at least 200 square feet of turf and submitting a photo and a landscape plan. Artificial turf is not eligible.
Crucially, the 2026 turf-removal funds are fully allocated and Resource Central has stopped accepting new applications — the programme is popular and reopens for the next programme year. If you’re planning a conversion, apply early in the next cycle rather than assuming money will be there when your project is ready.
Winter watering is the local practice outsiders miss. Denver winters are dry, and long stretches pass with no snow cover and no precipitation. Trees, shrubs and newly planted material die of drought in February, not August — and the homeowner never connects the two because it happened in winter.
The local practice is to water established trees and shrubs during warm winter spells when air temperature is above about 40°F and the soil isn’t frozen, applying water mid-day so it soaks in before nightfall. Newly planted trees are most vulnerable. A landscaper who doesn’t mention winter watering when installing trees in autumn is setting up a loss.
Hail. The Front Range sits in one of the most hail-prone regions in the country. Large hail shreds broad-leafed plants, strips young trees and destroys shade structures. Practical responses: prefer tougher, smaller-leafed species in exposed positions, site vulnerable plantings where buildings offer some protection, and ask about material durability on anything built.
Altitude and intense sun. At roughly a mile up, UV intensity is significantly higher than at sea level. Plants stress faster, and south and west exposures are harsher than the temperature suggests.
Short season, late frosts. Denver sits around USDA zone 5b–6a. Late spring frosts routinely damage material that broke dormancy early, which is why locals are cautious about planting tender annuals before late May.
Alkaline clay soils. Front Range soils trend alkaline and often clay-heavy. Iron chlorosis is common in susceptible species — adapted plant selection beats endless treatment. Core aeration helps compacted clay genuinely.
Pricing expectations
Denver figures for 2026, from Denver Water, the City Forester and local landscaping companies:
- Denver Water’s 2026 turfgrass removal discount is up to $750 on at least 200 square feet removed — but it is fully booked. As of 28 March 2026 Resource Central is no longer accepting applications for the year
- Garden In A Box still offers $25 discounts, usable on up to four kits, with each garden covering 60–100 square feet
- Lawn removal, priced by method per square foot: solarization $0.25–$0.75; sheet mulching $0.50–$1.00; herbicide and till $0.50–$1.25; sod cutter $1.00–$1.75. Professionally, $1–$2 per square foot overall — about $1,000–$2,000 on a 1,000 sq ft front yard. A DIY sod cutter rental is $150–$300
- Hardscape installed per square foot: concrete patio $12–$22; walkways and paths $20–$35; paver patio $22–$40; retaining wall $35–$75 per face foot; steps $150–$400 each; a fire pit area $2,000–$6,000. A patio, walkway and small wall together typically land $10,000–$35,000
- Irrigation: a sprinkler or drip system $3,500–$8,000; by zone, a first zone $500–$1,000 and additional zones $400–$600 each; drip $1–$3 per square foot; a backflow preventer $100–$200
- Mowing (2025 pricing): by lawn size per visit — 1,000–2,500 sq ft $30–$40; 2,500–5,000 $40–$55; 5,000–10,000 $55–$75; over 10,000 or a corner lot $75–$120+. Weekly $35–$55, fortnightly $45–$65, one-off $60–$100+
Start with the bad news, because it changes what you should plan. Denver Water’s turf removal discount is real and generous at up to $750 — and the 2026 allocation is gone. Resource Central, the nonprofit that administers it, stopped accepting applications on 28 March 2026 because the programme was oversubscribed. If turf removal is your plan, the discount is a 2027 conversation, and applying early in the year is evidently the whole game. The $25 Garden In A Box discounts remain, and the removal figures above are what the work costs unsubsidised.
Watering is mandatory rather than advisory. Denver Water is in a Stage 1 drought: two days a week, on days set by street-address parity — even numbers Sunday and Thursday, odd numbers Wednesday and Saturday, multifamily and commercial Tuesday and Friday — and only before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m. Single-family penalties escalate from a warning to $250, then $500, then $1,000.
Two Denver specifics that save money or trouble. Tree permits are free — the City Forester requires one before any removal, planting or injection, and before attaching anything to a tree, but charges nothing for it, though allow up to five business days for review. And irrigation backflow testing has a season: May to September. A tester who tells you it must happen in March is telling you something Denver Water does not. Ignore the notices and there is a $250 penalty after three unanswered letters, with no refund.
On hardscape, the reason Denver prices sit above many markets is underneath the surface. Colorado’s freeze-thaw cycling means base preparation carries more of the cost here than the paver does, and it is where a cheap patio quote saves its money and where it fails. Note that retaining walls are quoted per square foot of face, so height costs more than length.
These are ranges local landscaping companies publish for this metro rather than survey data, so treat them as a bracket to check a quote against, not a price list.
Two contract items: that any turf-removal budget assumes no Denver Water discount this year, since the 2026 allocation is fully booked, and the base preparation depth on any hardscape, given Colorado freeze-thaw, and that backflow testing is booked in the May–September season.
Neighborhoods served
Landscapers listed here work across Denver, including Washington Park, Cherry Creek, the Highlands, Park Hill, Congress Park, Baker, Platt Park, Sloan’s Lake, Berkeley, Central Park and Sunnyside.
Most also serve surrounding communities — Aurora, Lakewood, Englewood, Glendale, Wheat Ridge, Arvada, Littleton, Centennial and Golden.
How this directory helps
Every landscaper here is listed with business name, address and phone so you can verify them yourself.
Because Colorado has no state trade licence, the questions matter more. Ask for Denver contractor registration, and for the CDA pesticide applicator licence if anyone will spray. And ask what they’d tell you about watering in January — anyone who answers properly understands what actually kills plants here.