Fall is a great time to get started on next summer’s garden and landscape. The days are cooler, but still warm enough to allow roots to become established ahead of winter.

Or maybe you’re thinking that next spring you should plant something in that one spot in your landscape to give it an extra shout of summer color and winter interest.

Image

In either case, start your landscape shopping list with Plant Select, a nonprofit collaboration of Colorado State University, Denver Botanic Gardens and professional horticulturists dedicated to promoting water-wise plants that thrive in the high plains and Rocky Mountain region. 

Plant Select’s website has information about water-wise plants, where to buy them, picking the right plant for the right place and free landscape designs.

Go to denverwater.org/Conserve to find water-saving tips and rebate information to help you get started.

As Denver becomes warmer and drier in the future, having a water-wise ColoradoScape — an interesting, sustainable landscape that fits naturally into our climate — will be an important part of our vibrant communities.

Image

Formal name: Ultra Violet Salvia.

About this purple wonder: This beauty, with its unusually iridescent purple flowers, originated in a northern Colorado garden, grows 18-24 inches in height and width, and blooms through the summer and fall.

Wildlife friends: It is a pollinator that attracts bees and butterflies, while deer and rabbits will leave it alone.

Visit plantselect.org to learn about the right plant for the right place in your landscape.

Hardiness: Perennial. Can survive winter temperatures down to minus 20.

Why we love it: Drought-tolerant. Loves sunshine. Needs little to no extra water once established. (And the glowing purple flowers!)

Find it: At your local garden center, look for the Plant Select logo to find this and other water-wise plants that fit naturally into Colorado’s climate.

Image