15 Top Native Plants of the Mountain West

Try these tough, low-maintenance plants for a beautiful, easy garden.

Kelly D. Norris

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Pasqueflower

Purple Prairie Clover

Prickly Pear

Yucca

Idaho Fescue

Liatris

Indian Paintbrush

Poppy Mallow

Butterfly Weed

Goldenrod

Red Hyssop

Little Bluestem

Compass Plant

Pale Purple Coneflower

Green-Flowered Hedgehog Cactus

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Pasqueflower

One of the first flowers to wake up in the spring, pasqueflower bears lovely silvery foliage and cheery purple blooms. It has an extended season of interest thanks to its graceful seed heads that remain showy through early summer. Allow it to reseed and it will establish a small -- non-aggressive -- colony in your garden.

Name: Pulsatilla patens

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 1 foot tall

Zones: 4-9

Purple Prairie Clover

Even though we rarely see it in gardens, we love this tough plant. It bears loads of neon-purple flowers through the summer. Look for a selection called 'Stephanie'; this standout has a more compact habit and more intense color than the species.

Name: Dalea purpurea

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: 18-36 inches tall

Zones: 3-8

Prickly Pear

Hardy, drought-tolerant prickly pear cactus rewards you in late spring with its striking pink or yellow flowers. After it's done blooming, enjoy the gray-green pads.

Name: Opuntia polyacantha

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained to dry soil

Size:To 15 inches tall

Zones: 3-9

Yucca

One of the few evergreen perennials for the North, yucca offers beautiful blue-green foliage and striking architectural texture. Fragrant white flowers appear in summer and add to the plant's appearance. Bonus: It does well in light shade and is rabbit resistant, too!

Name: Yucca glauca

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 5 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

Idaho Fescue

Idaho fescue is the perfect grass for adding cool color to your landscape. While not as famous as its common cousin (blue fescue) the Idaho type has larger, longer leaf blades, giving it a more graceful effect. For the best color, look for a new selection named 'Siskiyou Blue'.

Name: Festuca idahoensis

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size:To 18 inches tall

Zones: 5-9

Liatris

Add vertical drama to your garden in mid- to late summer with liatris. It's a favorite of migrating monarch butterflies, and a durable perennial to boot. Liatris is an extra-tough plant that tolerates a wide range of soil conditions. For a stellar combination, plant it with butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa).

Name: Liatris pycnostachya

Growing Conditions: Full sun, damp to dry soils

Size: To 4 feet tall

Zones: 3-9

Indian Paintbrush

Attract hummingbirds to your garden with this drought-tolerant perennial's brilliant vermillion flowers. We also love the Indian paintbrush's long bloom season -- flowers appear from late spring until frost. Pair it with blue ornamental grasses such as blue grama or blue fescue for a stunning combination.

Name: Castilleja integra

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 3 feet tall

Zones: 4-7

Poppy Mallow

This incredible groundcover bears bright wine-red flowers all summer long. Poppy mallow is long lived, drought tolerant, and pest free. It's perfect for the front of the border or scrambling over a rock wall.

Name: Callirhoe involucrata

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained to dry soil

Size: To 8 inches tall

Zones: 4-8

Butterfly Weed

Try this prairie plant and we bet it will soar to the top of your favorite-plants list. Butterfly weed's electric-orange flowers are a butterfly magnet. And it may even attract monarch butterfly caterpillars that will happily munch on the foliage.

Note: This long-lived plant can take a few years to get established -- so be patient with it.

Name: Asclepias tuberosa

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 4 feet tall

Zones: 4-10

Goldenrod

Native goldenrod is a perfect perennial for fall gardens. Many fine species come from the Great Plains and a number of named selections are derived from them. Try 'Fireworks' for its excellent architecture, 'Laurin' for its compact habit, and 'Crown of Rays' for its multitude of flowers in early fall.

Name: Solidago selections

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 4 feet tall, depending on variety

Zones: 4-8

Red Hyssop

Anise-scented and easy-growing, red hyssop adds texture and a splash of silver to your garden. For extra variety, look for selections with red, apricot, salmon, or magenta blooms. You're not the only one who will love this summer-blooming perennial; it's sure to attract hummingbirds and butterflies, too. (But happily, not deer or rabbits! They avoid it because of its aromatic foliage.)

Name: Agastache rupestris

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size:To 4 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

Little Bluestem

One of our all-time favorite grasses, we love little bluestem's bronze-kissed, blue-gray foliage through spring and summer. Then in fall, the blades turn a gorgeous shade of purple-bronze and continue to look good all winter.

Name: Schizachyrium scoparium

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 3 feet tall

Zones: 3-9

Compass Plant

Try compass plant for a dramatic presence in the summer garden. Yellow, sunflower-shaped blooms sit atop towering, 9-foot stems. This incredibly drought-tolerant plant has earned its moniker because the plant aligns itself north to south to conserve water on hot summer days.

Name: Silphium laciniatum

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 9 feet tall

Zones: 3-8

Pale Purple Coneflower

There are a boatload of coneflower varieties on the market, but one great, underused variety is pale purple coneflower. This top-notch plant bears pink flowers in mid-summer. The bloom color is enhanced by the dark, raspberry-red cones at the center of each bloom.

Note: Like many coneflowers, it will self-seed and produce a nice colony in your landscape.

Name: Echinacea pallida

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To 40 inches tall

Zones: 3-10

Green-Flowered Hedgehog Cactus

This plant has earned its fun moniker: It grows in tight, spiny green globes. Enjoy this plant's dramatic texture in rock gardens and other well-drained spots. Hedgehog cactus offers extra appeal in early spring when it unveils its iridescent green flowers.

Name: Echinocereus viridiflorus

Growing Conditions: Full sun, dry soils

Size: To 9 inches tall

Zones: 4-10

15 Top Native Plants of the Mountain West

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