When Gwen Moore Kelaidis moved into her mountainside home recently, she decided to replace much of the grass in her yard with something attractive, low maintenance, drought tolerant and hardy enough to survive Colorado winters.

She built a lawn of cold-hardy succulents - hundreds of multicolored sempervivums (hens and chicks) and variegated yucca plants that make for an eye-pleasing and easy groundcover.

"They're carefree, without any insect pests, and shrug off high heat or extreme cold," Ms. Kelaidis said. "Some kinds of sedum and hens and chicks will go on forever. That's why they use them so much in commercial plantings."

Ms. Kelaidis, of Lakewood, Colo., specializes in rock garden design and maintenance, and is author of Hardy Succulents: Tough Plants for Every Climate (Storey Publishing).

"Succulents, especially the many hardy varieties, give you a longer season of interest (than many other perennials) because their foliage is so interesting," she said.

Succulents also are easy to divide and propagate. "Just cut a few from the mother plant and stick them in the ground," Ms. Kelaidis said. "Some grow thick enough that they exclude weeds."

Succulents, which include cacti, are the camels of the plant world, capable of storing large quantities of water in their substantial skins. Many are prized for their varying textures and remarkable colors. Some have hairy coatings to collect dew while others are waxy to prevent evaporation.

Still others thrive in partial shade, which helps them survive both searing summertime heat and long periods without rain. Most can thrive with little or no fertilizer, and cling readily to thin, sandy soils. Even gravel beds.

Some of the sedum, sempervivums and opuntias can withstand temperatures in the 90s or readings as low as 30 degrees below zero.

"It's not just the warmer portions of America that can grow these things," said Karl Gercens, conservatory horticulturist for Longwood Gardens at Kennett Square, Pa. "Some of the prickly pears can survive well into Canada. You can use water-wise plants in every state of the nation."

That is a good thing, because it appears climate change is exposing many popular plants to a continuing series of drought stresses, Mr. Gercens said.

"In many regions, every bit of the water you're putting on grass or flowers is the opposite of what the climate is calling for. We're living beyond our water means. People finally are realizing that and are turning to dry-climate plants."

Growing succulents in containers enables you to carry them indoors during periods of extreme cold. Just give them a week or so in outdoor shade in the spring before exposing them again to full sun.

Succulents are the ultimate container plants because they need about half the amount of water required for most other ornamental plants.

"Think of a pot as a small garden in a frame," Ms. Kelaidis wrote in Hardy Succulents. "You can create a miniature landscape by adding a rock or two. You can add a small conifer for height or interest. The pot frames the picture and isolates this small garden from the rest of the landscape."