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Harlequins Gardens

Harlequins Gardens

Boulder's specialist in well-adapted plants

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Home | Plants | Solstice Cheer from the Garden

Solstice Cheer from the Garden

December 15, 2020

Attractive Evergreens for Colorado Gardens

At the time of the Winter Solstice, we can be grateful for the evergreens in our Colorado gardens. Not every region of the temperate northern hemisphere can grow so many different beautiful plants with year-round presence.

There are so many evergreen (and eversilver, everblue, red and purple) hardy perennials, groundcovers, shrubs, herbs, and trees (and not just conifers!) we can grow here. They go above and beyond in their service as ornamental plants in all four seasons.

One of the factors that allows us this large palette is our semi-arid climate, cold but not extremely cold, with plenty of sunshine to melt snow quickly. Many of the plants that remain attractive here through winter are native to our western/southwestern region, like hardy Manzanita, Mahonia, Agave, Yucca, Artemisia, Mountain Mahogany, Cliff Rose, Monardella, Mojave Sage, Buckwheat, and Pussytoes. And many come from similar steppe and high desert regions on other continents, especially Central and Western Asia, high-altitude South Africa and Patagonia, as well as the Middle East and Mediterranean regions (think aromatic herbs – lavender, thyme, rue, sage, germander, santolina, oregano).

Here are a few winter photos and a long, but quite incomplete, list of tough plants that look great right through the winter!

Agave parryi & Yucca pallida

Acantholimon, various species (Prickly Thrift)

Aethionema grandiflora (Lebanon Stonecress)

Agave parryi, A. havardiana, A. neomexicana (Century Plant)

Alyssoides graeca (Greek Bladderpod)

Alyssum oxycarpum, A. pateri

Arctostaphylos patula ‘Panchito’, A. coloradoensis ‘Chieftain’, A. uva-ursi

Agave in snow

Aurinia saxatilis (Basket of Gold)

 

Bergenia cordifolia (Heartleaf Bergenia)

Buxus x Julia Jane, B. koreana microphylla

 

Cerastium tomentosum and C. candidissimum (Snow in Summer, Greek Snow in Summer)

Cercocarpus ledifolius (pictured above, left), C. intricatus (Curl-leaf and Little-leaf Mountain Mahogany)

Cowania mexicana (syn. Purshia stansburiana) Cliff rose

Bergenia cordifolia

Cupressus arizonica (Arizona Cypress)

Cyclamen hederifolium, C. purpurascens

 

Dianthus petraeus noeanus, D. gratianapolitanus, and others

Delosperma nubigenum (Yellow Hardy Iceplant)

Delosperma Table Mountain / John Proffit

Digitalis stewartia (Stewart’s Foxglove)

 

Eriogonum ”Kannah Creek’

Ephedra minima (Creeping Joint Fir), americana, viridis, equisitina, etc.

Eriogonum umbellatum aureum ‘Kannah Creek’ (Kannah Creek Buckwheat)

Euonymus fortunei Coloratus (Purple Leaf Wintercreeper)

 

Genista lydia (Dwarf Broom)

Geranium x ‘Tchelda’

Glaucium acutidentatum

 

Helianthemum (Sun Rose)

Geranium ‘Tschelda’

Helleborus foetidus, H. x orientalis, etc.

 

Iberis ‘Little Gem’

Iberis sempervirens (Evergreen Candytuft)

 

Juniperus

 

Lavandula lanata (Wooly Lavender)
Lavandula x ‘Lisa Marie’

Linum lewisii, L. narbonense, L., perenne (Blue Flax)

Hellebores foetidus (Bear Claw Hellebore)

 

Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon Grapeholly)

Marrubium rotundifolium (Silver Heels Horehound)

Monardella macrantha ‘Marion Sampson’

 

Paxistima canbyi (Mountain Lover)

Penstemon fruticosa, P. davidsonii, P. glaber, P. richardsonii, P. pinifolius, P. linarioides, P. caespitosa, P. rostriflorus, etc.

Physaria bellii (Bell’s Twinpod)

Pines

 

Mahonia – Oregon Grape Holly

Quercus turbinella (Turbinella oak, Shrub Live Oak)

 

Salvia pachphylla (Mojave Sage)

Santolina chamaecyparissus

Sedum spurium ‘Dragon’s Blood’

Seseli gummiferum (Moon Carrot)

Dwarf Alberta Spruce

Stachys byzantina (Lamb’s Ears)

 

Teucrium ‘Harlequin’s Silver’ Draping over wall

Tanacetum densum ‘Amani’ (Partridge Feather)

Teucrium sp. ‘Harlequin’s Silver’
Teucrium rotundifolium, T. chamaedys, T. cossonii

 

Veronica liwanensis (Turkish Veronica), V. oltensis (Thyme-leaf Veronica), V. Crystal River, and others

Vinca minor, V. major

 

Yucca, many species

Categories: Plants, Native Plants, Blog, OLD-Blog

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We do not ship plants!

Our plants are for sale ONLY at our Boulder location. We DO NOT ship plants or any other products.  Come visit us!

Hours by Season

SUMMER HOURS
Tuesday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

 

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Contact Us

303-939-9403 (Retail)
staff@harlequinsgardens.com

4795 North 26th St
Boulder, CO 80301

Sign-up for E-Newsletters!

Sign-up for our weekly e-newsletters to receive empowering gardening tips, ecological insights, and to keep up on happenings at Harlequin’s Gardens — such as flash sales and “just in” plants. We never share customer’s addresses!

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Our Hours

Seasonally, MARCH to OCTOBER.
MARCH HOURS:
Thursday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

APRIL-OCTOBER HOURS:
Tuesday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

JANUARY - FEBRUARY HOURS
Thursday-Saturday, 10AM-4PM

Mondays, CLOSED

The plants we grow are organically grown. All the plants we sell are free of bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides.