Clematis ‘Ville de Lyon’
We have a large selection of drought-tolerant and water-wise Shrubs AND Vines.
These Native shrubs will need no watering after their first year (except in drought):
Yucca: glauca-local, stiff evergreen, sharp blades; Y. baccata-arching evergreen, dramatic blades, striking in winter
Rabbitbrush: tall blue & tall green 4’-6’; dwarf-2’-3’; yellow flowers late summer for pollinators, shear after flowering
Apache Plume: single, white flowers with pinkish seed plumes, 4’-6’ arching habit; spreading slowly, easy
Sumacs: Rocky Mt. 3’-6’’ more upright; Three Leaf 4’-5’spreading; both have red berries, red fall color
Sage: Artemisia Big Sage 6’-9’; Sand Sage 3’-5’; Artemisia cana 2’-4’; all with silver aromatic leaves
Mt. Mahogany: Curlleaf 12’-18’ evergreen; True Leaf 6’-9’ deciduous; Little Leaf 5’ evergreen; all for sun
Fernbush: 5’x5’ clusters of white flowers for pollinators and beneficial insects, can bloom twice
Lead Plant: 3’-4’ open form, spikes of purple flowers for pollinators, nitrogen fixing
Snowberry: 4’-5’ dense, spreading; tiny early flowers, showy white berries in fall; OK in very dry shade, part shade
Rock Spirea-Holodiscus: 3’-6’ white flowers in panicles dry to pink; reddish fall color
Chilopsis linearis-Desert Willow: 10-15’ tall, multi-trunked, orchid-like pink-purple flowers, xeric, beautiful
Quercus gambelii-Gambel Oak: 15-25’ often multi-trunked small tree, tolerates alkaline and dry soils
Quercus undulata-Wavy-leaf Oak: 15-25’ small tree, natural hybrid with variable leaf size and color, xeric
New Mexican Privet (Forestiera): 9’-12’ multistem tree, good screen, females have blue berries for the birds
Buffaloberry: 8’-12’ tree, silver leaves, tiny flowers for pollinators, females can have red edible berries
These Native shrubs are also water-wise. Water once a week to establish, and later once a week to once a month, depending on exposure, soil and community:
Serviceberry- Amelanchier alnifolia: 6’-12’, white flowers for pollinators, edible fruit for birds and people, red fall color
Boulder Raspberry: 4’-5’ arching shrub, white rose-like flowers, likes growing next to a big rock, fruit for birds
Western Sandcherry: 4’-6’, white fragrant flowers for pollinators, berries for birds, soft red fall color
Pawnee Buttes selection has the same flowers and fruit, but is only 1’-2’ high and 6’ wide and Boulder Creeping is more prostrate
Cheyenne Mockorange: 6’, white, very sweetly fragrant flowers; very hardy and tough; sun/ part shade
Native Currants-Gwen’s Buffalo & Crandall Clove: very fragrant yellow flowers for pollinators; dependable delicious larger berries for people and birds, attractive red/orange fall color 4’x4’; for your edible landscape; sun/pt. shade
Native Elderberry: clusters of white flowers, clusters of red berries for the birds 5’-10’; part shade
Creeping Mahonia: 6”-16”, evergreen, yellow flowers for pollinators, blue berries for birds; part shade
Mountain Ninebark-Physocarpus monogynus: 3’-4’ compact shrub, clusters of small flowers, orange-red fall color
Jamesii americana-Waxflower: 4’-6’ shrub; fragrant, waxy flowers white to blush pink, part-shade, some watering
Non-native but Colorado adapted and drought-tolerant shrubs. Water once a week the first year, and once a week or once a month from then on depending on location, soil and drought conditions:
Lilac, Cotoneaster (most), Nanking Cherry, Prunus tenella, Sumac, Smokebush, Blue Mist Spirea, Genista lydia, Philadelphus-Mikl’s Pick, Silver Butterfly Bush, Harison’s Yellow Rose, Siberian Pea Shrub
Vines:
Honeysuckle, Trumpet Vine, Wisteria, Clematis, Euonymus, Ivy, Ampelopsis and MORE
A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule. Michael Pollan