Is artificial turf xeriscape? Not in Fort Collins code, and why the definition matters

01What does Fort Collins’ code say xeriscape is?

A landscape “sustainable in Colorado’s semiarid climate,” built on seven principles: a plan, soil improvement, efficient watering, plants grouped by their light and water needs, mulch to keep plant roots cool, limits on thirsty lawn and plantings, and upkeep. Then the definition says what falls outside it: “Xeriscape landscaping shall not include artificial turf or plants” (Fort Collins City Code Sec. 12-120).

That sentence matters because of Sec. 12-122, on the books since 2003, which bars anyone from enforcing a restrictive covenant that prohibits or limits xeriscape landscaping, or that requires part of a lot to be planted in turf grass (Sec. 12-122). For a Fort Collins homeowner in an HOA, it works out like this:

• A planted xeriscape is covered. A covenant that stops you from replacing the lawn with water-wise plants, or holds you to keeping some of it, can’t be enforced under the city code.
• Artificial turf is not. It isn’t xeriscape under the city’s definition, so this protection never reaches it. For turf, the protection is state law, which covers the backyard of a detached home.
• A townhome gets the same city protection for plants. For turf, state law lets the HOA of an attached home keep it to rear yards.

02How do Windsor and other Northern Colorado codes define xeriscape?

Windsor reaches the same place by a different route. Its landscape code defines xeriscape as “a landscape designed for reduced water use,” then defines landscape so that it “does not include improving property with artificial trees, shrubs, turf or other artificial plants” (Windsor Municipal Code Ch. 15, Art. III, Appendix A). The Town’s Tree and Landscape Standards, dated August 24, 2006 and still posted on its website, said it outright: “Xeriscape landscaping principles do not include or allow artificial turf or plants” (Windsor Tree and Landscape Standards). Those standards are older than the landscape article now in the municipal code (Ord. 2020-1620, amended by Ord. 2025-1730), which keeps both definitions but not that sentence. Read the 2006 document as the Town’s history, not its current rule.

For a detached house in Windsor, the definition touches one line: houses and duplexes are exempt from the landscape article, except for the tree lawn rule and a requirement that at least 25% of each front yard be landscaped. Because the code’s “landscape” leaves out artificial turf, turf is unlikely to count toward that 25%. It depends on how the Town applies it to your lot: ask Windsor Planning.

03When a code or HOA says “turf,” does it mean artificial turf?

Usually not. In these documents turf on its own means a mowed lawn of living grass, and artificial turf gets its own name:

• Windsor defines turf as “continuous plant coverage” of grasses that, “when regularly mowed, form a dense growth of leaf blades and roots,” and defines artificial turf in a separate entry.
• Dacono lists “practical turf areas” among its xeriscape principles, and the same section defines turf as hybridized grasses that are regularly mowed (Dacono Municipal Code Sec. 16-652).
• Greeley’s code says “Artificial turf shall not be considered lawn or turf-grass.”
• Colorado’s statutes call artificial turf “nonvegetative turf grass.”

So an HOA rule that caps “turf” at a share of the yard, or asks you to replace “turf” with xeriscape, is most likely talking about lawn. The Timber Ridge handbook in Severance, for one, sends “removing turf and installing xeriscape” to its review committee (Timber Ridge HOA Handbook). Ask the committee in writing which kind a rule means before you draw a plan around it.

04Does Colorado law count artificial turf as xeriscape?

No: it names them separately. The HOA statute lists “xeriscape, nonvegetative turf grass, or drought-tolerant vegetative landscapes” as distinct kinds of ground cover, and the covenant statute makes unenforceable an HOA or special-district rule that “prohibits or limits xeriscape,” requires planted areas to be partly or wholly turf grass, or bans artificial turf in a residential backyard (attached homes aside), each as its own item (C.R.S. 38-33.3-106.5 and 37-60-126(11)(a.5), from SB23-178). For a detached home, the HOA’s guidelines must also allow an option of at least 80% drought-tolerant plantings and may not unreasonably require hardscape on more than 20% of the landscaping area. Not legal advice.

Back in Northern Colorado, that leaves a Fort Collins homeowner with protections that run side by side: the city’s and the state’s for a planted xeriscape, and the state’s alone for backyard turf. The state’s protections apply in every Northern Colorado town. The rights, the review packet and a request letter are in HOA approval for artificial turf.

05Why don’t these definitions count turf when it saves water?

Because each one is written around plants. Fort Collins’ principles group plants by their water needs and use mulch to keep plant roots cool; Windsor’s xeriscape can include plants that “transpire less than others”; Greeley’s is low-water plants in place of thirsty ones. Artificial turf needs no irrigation, and CSU Extension grants that it “can be a legitimate solution for high traffic sites.” But its PlantTalk script also notes that “it is not a living, transpiring plant,” so it doesn’t give the cooling effect of a living lawn (CSU PlantTalk 1537).

What a lawn’s water is worth once it’s gone is in water savings from artificial turf; the wider trade-offs are in is artificial turf bad for the environment.

06What should I do when my HOA says “xeriscape only”?

Start from the fact that HOA and metro-district documents in Northern Colorado use the word in opposite ways:

• Heron Lakes, Berthoud: “Xeriscape is allowed within Heron Lakes, including non-irrigated artificial turf,” while the required plantings still apply (Heron Lakes rules).
• Buffalo Creek, Wellington: under its Xeriscaping guideline, revised in 2019, “Artificial turf or plants are prohibited” (Buffalo Creek guidelines).
• The Ridge, Johnstown: each large lot needs at least 50% living coverage within three years, and living coverage does not include artificial turf (The Ridge Design Guidelines).

Then work through it:

1. Get the wording. Ask for the declaration, the rules and the design guidelines, and find where xeriscape and turf are defined. If the documents never define xeriscape, ask the committee what it means by the word.
2. Check older wording against state law. Guidelines written years ago can still say turf is prohibited. For the backyard of a detached home, state law makes a rule banning artificial turf unenforceable whatever heading it sits under; the front yard falls outside that protection. Not legal advice.
3. Ask two questions in writing: does artificial turf count as xeriscape under these guidelines, and does it count toward any required plant or living-coverage share? The answers can differ, as Heron Lakes shows.
4. Split the yard. Turf where people and dogs use the ground, usually the back; planted beds where the documents want xeriscape, usually the front. Where to draw that line is in artificial turf vs xeriscape, mixing turf, rock and plant beds and front yard turf ideas.
5. Submit through the review committee with a layout that labels turf and planted areas separately; HOA approval for artificial turf lists what goes in the packet.

Ask an installer whether they have worked under your HOA’s guidelines, and how the drawing will show what counts as xeriscape. A good answer names the section of the guidelines and marks turf, planted beds and rock as separate areas, each with its square footage. For the turf itself, see artificial turf installation.