Plant Selectâ: Plants with the Right Stuff

By Sally Cogdill

Gardeners who are tired of trips to the garden center to buy replacements for plants that haven’t survived in Colorado's challenging growing conditions may be making fewer of these trips with the aid of Plant Selectâ.
 
            Too often plants that require mild winters, cool summers, ample rainfall, a humid environment or loamy, acid soil end up in gardens here.  Doomed from the start, these misfits die an early death.             

Begun in 1997, Plant Selectâ is a plant evaluation and introduction program whose mission is to seek out and distribute the best plants for gardens in the Rocky Mountain region.   At numerous test gardens throughout the area, plants chosen as candidates for the program are grown, observed and evaluated.  A propagation committee meets regularly to discuss the pros and cons of the plants and determines if propagation is feasible.  Ones showing the most promise in these trials undergo additional study and observation, and then five to seven plants that measure up best to the program’s criteria are selected for introduction each year.  These plants are sold with the Plant Selectâ label, often in special displays at garden centers.

            Some of the plants introduced by Plant Selectâ are natives.  Other selections are non-native plants that have grown successfully in the region for many years.  Also included are plants from places around the globe that have climates similar to Colorado’s.   For example, some of the plants are introductions from mountainous regions such as the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa and the Alps.

            The Plant Selectâ introductions can meet a variety of landscaping needs.  Most numerous are colorful perennials and flowering shrubs, but you will also find small trees, stunning ornamental grasses, practical groundcovers and eye-catching annuals.   Incorporating these new or underused plants can provide a distinctive look to the garden.  They offer innovative gardeners an opportunity to get away from cookie-cutter landscapes and enable them to create a uniquely Coloradan garden style.

            Fittingly, the majority are Xeriscapeä plants.  Drought cycles are commonplace in this semi-arid region; therefore, plants that are well suited to the environment are adapted to dry conditions and can survive when rainfall is limited.  When installing a new landscape or renovating an established one, consider creating a dry zone where some of these plants can be featured.   Keep in mind, however, that Xeriscapeä plants that receive too much water are likely to die.  Avoid planting them in heavily watered areas.

Denver Botanic Gardens and Colorado State University together with landscape and nursery professionals throughout the Rocky Mountain region administer this highly acclaimed cooperative program.  Thanks to their expertise and the Plant Selectâ program’s design, plants that are uniquely adapted to Colorado’s gardens have become more readily available.  If they are planted and maintained properly these plants should thrive.  They are plants with the right stuff.
 

            Visit the Plant Selectâ website at http://www.plantselect.org/ for a complete list of Plant Selectâ introductions.  This site provides detailed information about each plant’s sun, moisture and soil needs, its period of bloom and hardiness.  You will also find color photographs of the plants.  

Some Plant Selectâ Selections That Are Xeriscapeä Plants

 Groundcovers:

• Crystal Riverä Veronica (Veronica ‘Reavis’ Crystal Riverä)

• \Orange Carpetâ California Fuchsia (Zauschneria garrettii Orange Carpetâ)

• Starburstä Ice Plant (Delosperma floribundum Starburstä)

•  Turkish Veronica (Veronica liwanensis)
  

 Perennials:

•  Cashmere Sage (Phlomis cashmeriana)

• Cherry Skullcap (Scutellaria suffrutescens)

• Chocolate Flower (Berlandiera lyrata)

• Colorado Goldä Hardy Gazania (Gazania linearis Colorado Goldä)

• Coronadoä Hyssop (Agastache aurantiaca Coronadoä)

• Hopflower Oregano (Origanum libanoticum)

• Pikes Peak Purpleä Penstemon (Penstemon x mexicali Pikes Peak Purpleä)

• Prairie Jewelä Penstemon (Penstemon grandiflorus Prairie Jewelä)

• Red Rocksä Penstemon (Penstemon x mexicali Red Rocksä)

• Sea Foam Artemisia (Artemisia versicolor ‘Sea Foam’)

• Silver Bladeä Evening Primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa ssp. incana Silver Bladeä)

• Silver Sage (Salvia argentea)

• Sonoran Sunsetä Hyssop (Agastache cana ‘Sinning’ Sonoran Sunsetä)

• Spanish Peaksä Foxglove (Digitalis thapsi Spanish Peaksä

• Sunset Hyssop (Agastache rupestris)

•  Sunset Foxglove (Digitalis obscura)

•  Winecups (Callirhoe involucrata)  
  

 Annuals (Perennials grown as annuals in Colorado):

• Silver Dollar Plant (Plectranthus argentatus)

•  Tanagerä Gazania (Gazania krebsiana Tanagerä)  
  

 Shrubs:

• Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa)

•  Bluestem Joint Fir (Ephedra equisetina)

• Blue Velvetä Honeysuckle (Lonicera korolkowii ‘Floribunda’ Blue Velvetä)

• Cheyenneä Mock Orange (Philadelphus lewisii Cheyenneä)

• Pawnee Buttesä Sand Cherry (Prunus besseyi Pawnee Buttesä)

• Siberian Spirea (Sibiraea laevigata)

• Silver Fountain Butterfly Bush (Buddleia alternifolia ‘Argentea’)

• Smith Buckthorn (Rhamnus smithii)

• Spanish Goldä Broom (Cytisus purgans Spanish Goldä)

• Waxflower (Jamesia americana)