Plant of the Month

Sunset Hyssop  

Agastache rupestris

Also known as licorice mint, this xeric perennial will add spectacular color and a pleasant fragrance to low water gardens. The tubular salmon-orange flowers with purple calyxes are what give this perennial it’s common name as it resembles the colors of a sunset. If you are a hummingbird lover, there is no better plant to lure them into your garden than Sunset Hyssop.

This plant prefers hot, sunny sites and requires very little water once established. It generally blooms from mid-summer to first frost. Avoid clay-heavy soils that tend to retain water. Cutting this plant back after initial blooms in mid-summer will promote additional blooms in the fall.

Plant of the Month

Low Grow Fescue

Festuca species

Low grow fescue is a great low-maintenance alternative to traditional bluegrass. This grass comes in a variety of mixes and has a soft, fine texture that is barefoot friendly. It thrives in full sun as well as shady areas where traditional turf struggles. Once established, this grass requires significantly less water than bluegrass. Low grow fescue can be mowed or can be left to its natural, wispy form to create a dramatic landscape feature.

Plant of The Month

Gold Variegated Iris
Iris pallida 'Variegata' Gold

With its green, gold and white variegated blade-like foliage, this iris will add color and interest throughout the growing season. Large, fragrant, soft blue-purple blooms in early summer. While this iris performs better in shade than other irises, it does best in full sun.  

Plant in large swathes for dramatic displays or as a colorful backdrop for lower growing perennials. Once, established, this iris has low water needs. 

Plant of the Month

Hummingbird Flower

Zauschneria garrettii

This colorful, low water groundcover is an amazing addition to any full sun garden. This plant produces a vivid display of bright orange-red trumpet shaped flowers in mid to late summer. True to it's name, this flower attracts hummingbirds and butterflies. Hummingbird flower looks great in rock gardens, sloped beds and cascading over rocks and walls. A bright and stunning attraction for any xeric garden.

Plant of the Month

Mock Bearberry Manzanita

Arctostaphylos x coloradensis

A terrific addition to any xeric garden or rock garden. This low growing spreader has shiny, oval evergreen leaves and pale pink blooms that emerge in spring followed by small red berries. Like other manzanitas, this variety has glossy, cinnamon red bark similar to a mahogany. A true Colorado broadleaf evergreen that will provide your garden with year-round interest. Once established, this plant needs very little water.

Plant of The Month

Plant of the Month

Hopflower Oregano

Origanum libanoticum

Superb ornamental herb with cascading habit and fragrant foliage.  Lavender bracts hang from slender stems in summer and early fall. The flowers are great for dried arrangements. Perfect perennial for containers, raised beds, or rock gardens. Oregano Hopflower is low water and thrives in full sun or light shade. It is tolerant of most soils but make sure it has good drainage.

Yellow Xeric Perennials

As our gardening season gets started maybe you’re considering reworking an area in your landscape to create more color. These days the nurseries are offering so many colorful and interesting perennials it’s hard to know where to start and which ones may be good choices for the Front Range. Here are a few of my favorite yellow blooming perennials, in no certain order. I’ve successfully included all of these in many landscapes and they have thrived in most instances. The one characteristic they all share, besides being yellow blooming, is that they all are low water plants that thrive in sunny conditions.

Prairie Cone Flower, Yellow; -  Ratibida columnifera. This is a long blooming perennial with an interesting shaped flower. The “cone” part of this flower is elongated; some people even describe the flower as a sombrero shape. The plant itself will grow to a size around 18” x 18”. This is a great choice for an area that wants to have a naturalized feel.

Columbine ‘Denver Gold’ - Auilegia ‘Denver Gold’. Denver gold is a 30” tall re-blooming columbine that can bloom into the summer. The blooms are a softer canary yellow. One challenge to be aware of is that this plant readily reseeds itself if seed heads are left to mature.  In general columbines reseed and cross breed easily and even though you start with yellow other shades and colors can spring up in your garden like this photo. Aquilegia species ‘Swallowtail’ and Aquilegia chrysantha are other yellow blooming columbines that are worth planting. I like planting columbines towards the rear of a perennial bed with thicker foliage plants in front of the bed.

Chocolate Flower  - Berlandiera lyrata. This is a long blooming small yellow flower that blooms from summer into fall. The flowers open during the day and in the morning release a fragrance that really reminds you of milk chocolate. The plants are a little wild and wiry looking, but the blooms are worth including, and they work well as small cut flowers.

Evening Primrose, Missouri – Oenothera macrocarpa.  A lower mounding plant with nice bright green foliage and waves of very large yellow blooms mixed in. This plant works well in larger plantings as well as a specimen. The soft yellow blooms are large enough to be visible at night; a great plant to include in a night time garden around an evening oriented patio.

These are just a few possibilities and many others are out there. Expect more lists of perennials with different colors in future posts. Maybe the orange and peach spectrum will be next.

Be in the garden and thrive.