Meet our featured water-wise plants from Plant Select®, a nonprofit collaboration of Colorado State University, Denver Botanic Gardens and professional horticulturists dedicated to promoting plants that thrive in the high plains and Rocky Mountain region.
Formal name: Drew’s Folly Hardy Snapdragon (Antirrhinum sempervirens ‘P020S’).
Plant profile: This hardy perennial shows off its seashell-pink flowers in May-June. It’s a natural fit for rock gardens and needs very little maintenance.
Why we love it: Loves sunshine. Needs little to no additional water.
Wildlife friends: Loved by birds and hummingbirds, pollinating bees and insects, while deer will leave it alone.
Find it: Ask about the Plant Select options at your local garden center, and look for the Plant Select logo when choosing water-wise plants to create your own ColoradoScape that fits naturally into our climate.
Formal name: Eversilver creeping germander (Teucrium ‘Harlequin’s Silver’).
Plant profile: This groundcover has silvery foliage all year, with purple flowers in spring and fall.
Why we love it: Loves sunshine. Needs little to no additional water.
Find it: Look for the Plant Select logo at your local garden center.
Formal name: Undaunted ruby muhly (Muhlenbergia reverchonii ‘Pund01s’).
Plant profile: This long-lived, low-maintenance grass offers pink or reddish clouds of flowers in late summer and fall.
Why we love it: Loves sunshine and heat. Needs little additional water.
Find it: Look for the Plant Select logo at your local garden center.
Formal name: Desert beardtongue (Penstemon pseudospectabilis).
Plant profile: This queen of the desert is beautiful and tough, sporting wands of brilliant, deep pink flowers in late spring and early summer.
Wildlife friends: Loved by birds and hummingbirds, pollinating bees and insects, while deer will leave it alone.
Why we love it: Drought-tolerant. Loves sunny to partly sunny locations. Needs little to no extra water once established.
Find it: Ask about the Plant Select options at your local garden center and look for the Plant Select logo when choosing water-wise plants to create your own ColoradoScape that fits naturally into our climate.
Formal name: Kannah Creek buckwheat
Plant profile: Named for the West Slope creek that tumbles off the Grand Mesa, this hardy, adaptable plant waves masses of yellow-to-orange flowers in spring and summer. Green leaves turn vivid purple and red in winter.
Wildlife friends: Good for pollinating bees and insects, while deer will leave it alone.
Why we love it: Drought-tolerant. Loves sunny to partly sunny locations. Needs little to no extra water once established.
Find it: Ask about the Plant Select options at your local garden center, and look for the Plant Select logo when choosing water-wise plants to create your own ColoradoScape that fits naturally into our climate.
Formal name: Panchito manzanita (Arctostaphylos x coloradensis)
Plant profile: This hardworking, hardy shrub hails from the Uncompaghre Plateau in western Colorado. Rich green leaves showcase winter’s frost and snow, while spring brings pink flowers that become fall’s red berries.
Wildlife friends: Small birds and animals often shelter in its year-round leaves and branches, while deer will leave it alone.
Why we love it: Drought-tolerant. Loves a sunny to partly sunny location. Needs little to no extra water once established.
Find it: Ask about the Plant Select section at your local garden center, and look for the Plant Select logo when choosing water-wise plants to create your own ColoradoScape that fits naturally into our climate.
Formal name: Carol Mackie daphne (Daphne x burkwoodii Carol Mackie’).
Plant profile: In winter, you’ll know this shrub for its trim, aristocratic profile finished with whorls of nearly evergreen, cream-edge leaves. Then in spring, get ready for a heady display of fragrant, pale pink flowers (that often reappear in the fall).
Why we love it: Drought-tolerant. Loves a partly sunny location with some protection from the hot afternoon sun and high winds. Needs little to no extra water once established. Adaptable, quick-growing and interesting across the seasons!
Find it: Ask about the Plant Select section at your local garden center, and look for the Plant Select logo when choosing water-wise plants to create your own ColoradoScape that fits naturally into our climate.
Formal name: Winter Fire Sedum (Petrosedum rupestre ‘Rice Creek’).
About this year-round stunner: This groundcover brings its A-game in all seasons, offering green shoots in spring, yellow flowers in summer and brick-red foliage through the winter. It’s perfect for containers or to plant along pathways and around shrubs.
Wildlife friends: This pollinator will attract bees and butterflies, while deer and rabbits will leave it alone.
Hardiness: Perennial. Can survive winter temperatures down to minus 30.
Why we love it: Drought-tolerant. Loves sunshine. Needs little to no extra water once established. And we love watching it change throughout the year.
Find it: Ask about the Plant Select section at your local garden center, and look for the Plant Select logo when choosing water-wise plants to create your own ColoradoScape that fits naturally into our climate.
Formal name: Blonde Ambition grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis).
Plant profile: This fun-loving ornamental grass merrily waves its yellow seed heads, the part of the plant that contains its seeds, through much of the year. Capable of growing 36 inches high and wide, this beauty adds movement and interest to your landscape from July through winter.
Wildlife friends: Birds love its seed heads, while deer will leave it alone.
Why we love it: Drought-tolerant. Loves a sunny or partly sunny location. Needs little to no extra water once established. Plus, those can’t-miss seed heads!
Find it: Ask about the Plant Select section at your local garden center, and look for the Plant Select logo when choosing water-wise plants to create your own ColoradoScape that fits naturally into our climate.
Formal name: Meadow Blazing Star (Liatris ligulistylis).
Plant profile: This tough beauty, with its rosy-purple flowers, tolerates heat, humidity, drought and isn’t fussy about the soil it sinks its roots into. Flower stalks rise 18-36 inches in height and send out tufts of blooms through the summer and fall.
Wildlife friends: It is a pollinator that attracts hummingbirds, bees, butterflies and birds, while deer will leave it alone. Monarch butterflies come for the flowers’ nectar while goldfinches love the seeds.
Hardiness: Perennial. Can survive winter temperatures down to minus 30.
Why we love it: Drought-tolerant. Loves a sunny or partly sunny location. Needs little to no extra water once established. Plus, wildlife!
Find it: At your local garden center, look for the Plant Select logo to find this and other water-wise plants that fit naturally into Colorado’s climate.
Formal name: Ultra Violet Salvia.
About this purple wonder: This beauty, with its unusually iridescent purple flowers, originated in a northern Colorado garden, grows 18-24 inches in height and width, and blooms through the summer and fall.
Wildlife friends: It is a pollinator that attracts bees and butterflies, while deer and rabbits will leave it alone.
Hardiness: Perennial. Can survive winter temperatures down to minus 20.
Why we love it: Drought-tolerant. Loves sunshine. Needs little to no extra water once established. (And the glowing purple flowers!)
Find it: At your local garden center, look for the Plant Select logo to find this and other water-wise plants that fit naturally into Colorado’s climate.
Formal name: Bellina Pink Cornflower (Psephellus simplicicaulis).
About Bellina: This small-scale, 4-inch groundcover merrily waves bright pink pincushion flowers perched on 8-10-inch stems from late spring to midsummer. With frilly matte-green leaves (they’re silvery underneath!), Bellina spreads slowly, eventually to about 3 feet or more across. Likes sunny to partially sunny locations.
Wildlife friends: This pollinator attracts bees and butterflies.
Hardiness: Perennial. Can survive winter temperatures down to minus 20.
Why we love it: Drought tolerant. Needs little to no extra water once established. (And those flowers!)
Find it: At your local garden center, look for the Plant Select logo to find this and other water-wise plants that fit naturally into Colorado’s climate.
Formal name: Oenothera fremontii Shimmer
About Shimmer: The Shimmer evening primrose has narrow, grassy silver foliage dotted with cheerful, large, lemon-yellow flowers that bloom profusely in late spring, then again in the summer and fall, scenting the evening air with fragrance. Likes sunny to partially sunny locations.
Benefits: A pollinator that attracts bees, sphinx moths and butterflies.
Hardiness: Can survive winter temperatures down to minus 30.
Water needs: Drought tolerant. Needs little to no extra water once established.
Find it: At your local garden center, look for the Plant Select logo to find this and other water-wise plants that fit naturally into Colorado’s climate.