Regional Picks: Uncommon & Unfussy Plants – Mountain West

Raspberry Delight®hybrid bush sage

Name:Salvia‘Raspberry Delight’

USDA Hardiness Zones:5 to 10

Size:3 feet improbable and wide

condition : Full sun to partial shade ; ordinary to dry , well - drained soil

Raspberry Delight ® intercrossed bush salvia has been a stellar performer for me for the past eight years . Few perennial bloom so long and so profusely . Flowers begin in May and can last into early November . hummingbird love this flora as much as I do , and it requires little attending . Simply give it an occasional deep soakage during the arise season and cut back dead stem in early spring .

‘Snow Flurry’ heath aster

Name:Symphyotrichum ericoides‘Snow Flurry’

Zones:5 to 8

Size:1 understructure grandiloquent and 3 feet wide of the mark

Conditions : Full sun to partial shade ; ordinary to dry soil

‘ Snow Flurry ’ heath aster is an especially ruffianly plant life . It has consistently performed in my garden through some of the hottest , driest summers on record in Denver , fly high on only one or two waterings a calendar month . take shape a textural cumulation in outflow and summertime , it heralds autumn by erupt in a froth of white flowers that engulfs the mound for two to three weeks . My only complaint is that I wish it had a longer efflorescence season . Unlike other aster , I ’ve yet to see this variety self - sow , and it only asks for a yearly haircut in early spring to make elbow room for new growth .

Silver spike grass

Name:Stipa calamagrostis

Zones:5 to 10

Conditions : Full sun ; well - drain dirt

A ok alternative to the overused ‘ Karl Foerster ’ feather reed grass ( Calamagrostis×acutiflora‘Karl Foerster ’ , Zones 5–9 ) , silver spike grass offer a longsighted time of year of interest than most ornamental grasses . start out in June , this cool - season grass start up to blossom with billowy greenish spikes that age to tan as temperature rebel . It stays attractive well into March — unless , of course , it ’s crushed by heavy crocked snow . I have yet to observe any self - sowing on this grass , and it ’s one of the few ornamental locoweed that has actually perform well at the 8,000 - foot elevation of my parent ’s garden .

Silver snapdragon

Name:Antirrhinum sempervirens

Zones:7 to 10

Size:1 fundament marvelous and 2 feet wide

The most common snapdragon varieties tend to be annuals or , at best , short - lived perennials . Silver snapdragon , on the other bridge player , is a longer - lived mounding relative , blooming in the main in saltation and other summer , then again in fall as the weather cools off . Although most references say that this plant life is only hardy to Zone 7 , it has do reliably well for the past four years in Zone 5 at the Denver Botanic Gardens and in my home garden . I determine it ’s particularly utilitarian in bright , dry nicety . It only needs a bit of cleanup in spring to slay the stems that wintertime has kill off .

Mike Kintgenis a senior horticulturist at the Denver Botanic Gardens .

Get our latest crown , how - to article , and instructional videos station to your inbox .

sign you up …

Regional Picks: Uncommon & Unfussy Plants - Southwest

Regional Picks: Uncommon & Unfussy Plants - Southern Plains

Regional Picks: Uncommon & Unfussy Plants - Northeast

Regional Picks: Uncommon & Unfussy Plants - Midwest

bring together o.k. Gardening for a free lock live webinar feature Dr. Janna Beckerman , a renowned flora diagnostician as well as professor emerita at Purdue University and the ornamentals technical handler …

When I spotted a particular sand dollar cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few month ago , I knew I was in trouble . With a delicious color pattern …

When we only prioritize plant we want over plants our landscape indigence , each time of year is meet with a never - terminate list of chores : pruning , pinching , lacrimation , treating , amending , and fertilizing , with …

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be careful when you inscribe the backyard of garden designer Jeff Epping — not because you ’re potential to trip on something , but because you might be dive - bomb by a distich …