What Do Our Master Gardeners Grow? Part 2

 

From Master Gardener Pam:

Plants I'll always plant:  Perennials, low water, deer and rabbit resistant, attract pollinators and hummingbirds. Butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa,) Hyssop (hyssopus officinalis,) Caryoperis, Lavender cotton (santolina chamaecyparissus,) Kannah Creek buckwheat (eriognum umbellatum v. aureum,) Penstemon, Sedum, Yarrow (achillea,) Lavender, Tickseed (coreopsis,) Salvia, Rudebeckia, Pincushion flower, Blue fescue (Festuca glauca,) Dwarf fragrant sumac (rhus aromatic,) Lemon lace elderberry (sambucus racemosa,) Hostas, Sweet woodruff (gallum ororatum,) Roses – I usually look for zone 4 or Canadian.  Morden Sunrise and Dainty Bess from Hi Country Roses are favorites.

Plants I'm itching to try:  Salvia ‘maraschino’, Lead plant (amorpha canescens),  Englemann’s daisy (englemannia peristenia)

Forget about it:  Oregano,  New Mexican privet 

From Master Gardener Bonny:

Plants I'll always plant:  Anaheim peppers

Plants I'm itching to try:  Sulphur flower (Eriogonum dimbellatum)  --  a native perennial

Forget about it:  Hostas—too easily damaged by hail, and they need lots of water in our climate, but put Brunnera in their place!

From Master Gardener Matt:

Plants I'll always plant:  Blueberries

Plants I'm itching to try:  Hickory (Shagbark)

Forget about it:  Artichokes

From Master Gardener Celia:

Plants I'll always plant:  Established plants.  I don't plant too many new plants.  These are perennials or plants that easily self-sow. Almost all of the following are easy to grow. Lavender, bees like it, smells good and it's fairly xeric. Pine-leaf penstemon, long-lived and hummingbirds like it. Zauschneria,  long-lived, hummingbirds like it. Cleome serrulata, native, bees like it, xeric. Wild fennel, bee magnet, particularly native bees, good for swallowtail caterpillars. Prickly poppy, native, bee magnet, xeric. Monarda,  native, bees and hummingbirds like it. Yarrow, native, grows in sun or shade, xeric. Columbines. Rose campion, grows in sun or shade. Flax, native, pretty blue flowers, xeric. Mentzelia decapetala, native, gorgeous white fragrant flowers that open at twilight, hummingbird moths and bees like it, xeric. Veronica, great ground cover with blue flowers in spring. Ice plant, colorful ground cover in sun, xeric, colorful ground cover in sun.  Hymenoxys acaulis, native, small yellow daisy that blooms throughout the season. Calyophus serrulata, native, reliable sundrop daisy that blooms for a long time. Mexican sunflower, gorgeous orange-red blooms, can grow from seed. Wweet autumn clematis, blooms in September, small white flowers with wonderful scent. Heuchera, can grow with almost no sun, pretty pink flowers. Golden currant, native, great scent, bees like it. Lead plant, native, the dwarf variety (amorpha nana) and amorpha fruticose, beautiful flowers, bees like it. Grape holly, native, minimal sun and water.  Lamium, pretty shade plant. Prairie clover, native, pretty, xeric. Verbena, low and tall, native, reseeds, pretty purple flowers. Grasses:  blue grama (native) buffalo grass (native, honeybees like it), sideoats grama (native, pretty red flowers), switchgrass (native, pretty flowers), Indian grass (native, pretty flowers).  All full sun and  xeric, but Indian grass and switch grass can take more water.

Plants I'm itching to try:  None.

Forget about it:  4 o clock, chocolate flower, blanket flower, rabbitbrush, milkweed. Last year the pink smartweed polygonum turned out to be a Japanese beetle magnet.  It is a volunteer plant that grows near our irrigation ditch.  I left it (while continually picking beetles), as it seemed to decrease beetles on my plum tree.

From Master Gardener Nancy:

Plants I'll always plant:  Vegetables; Penstemon; Sedums

Plants I'm itching to try:  Scarce Colorado natives such as Eustoma russellianum (tulip gentian); Other natives such as Liatris spicata and Liatris punctata, Clematis virginiana; multiple varieties of penstemon so some are blooming spring to fall

Forget about it:  Plants that have a lot of prickles or thorns; Invasive plants that spread underground; Plants that are rabbits’ favorite snack; Plants that will not do well in the Front Range environment