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7 of the Best Perennials for Fall Blooms in Denver

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After a long hot summer in Colorado, the fall season may seem like a time to forget about your yard or garden and start focusing your attention indoors. But fall is a great time for some low-water perennial plants to look their best and shine in your xeriscape garden. The following list of plants take center stage during the fall season, and keep your landscape looking great beyond the arrival of the autumnal equinox.

Anemone (various species and cultivars)

Anemones are a great plant for the shadier areas of your landscape. While not as drought tolerant as the other plants on this list, they grow very well with afternoon shade and a medium amount of water.

Anemone

 

Tall Sedums, various cultivars

The tall sedums are a classic addition to the fall blooming garden. With low to average water needs, they are perfect for most xeriscape gardens.

Sedum

 

Hummingbird Flower, Epilobium canum latifolum (aka Zauschneria canum latifolium)

This cousin of the popular groundcover plant Orange Carpet California Fuschia (also a good late bloomer) has similar dazzling orange trumpet shaped flowers that pollinators adore.

Hummingbird Flower

 

Furman’s Red Salvia, Salvia greggii (several species and cultivars available in the Salvia genus)

There are so many different and wonderful plants in the Salvia genus that are remarkable additions to your low-water landscape. Furman’s Red Salvia is one plant we have raved about many times, and it never fails to keep us captivated by its lovely and numerous red blooms that drape these plants from summer heat to fall frost. One note of caution on this plant would be the hardiness. It is rated as only hardy to zone 6, so be careful where you place it. A warmer micro-climate location in your landscape would be best.

Furman’s Red Salvia

 

Blanket flower, Gaillardia (various cultivars available)

While the blanket flowers bloom more profusely in the heat of the summer, they continue to bloom into fall, bringing their brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red into the shorter days of autumn.

Blanket Flower

 

Goldenrod, Solidago (various species)

Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’ is the plant pictured here. Who wouldn’t mind this kind of fireworks in their fall landscape? This North American native will grace your garden with many panicles of bright yellow flowers. While not as tolerant of drought as some other plants on this list, it is fairly adaptable to most conditions in Colorado. This plant has been unfairly blamed for hayfever and allergies in the past, but scientists now tell us that Goldenrod is not the cause of your fall allergies. It is likely caused by other plants such as ragweed.

Goldenrod

 

Plumbago, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

Plumbago is an indispensable groundcover. It does well in dry shade, and that is the type of conditions we typically place it in. However, we are finding it seems to be adaptable to sunnier locations as well. The blue-violet flowers that appear on this plant in late summer are eye-catching, as is the red-orange fall color of the foliage as autumn grows cooler.

Plumbago

 

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

 

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Photo of the Day: Zinnia Floral Diversity

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These photos show a sampling of the diversity of color and form that annual Zinnia flowers can exhibit.

 

I have recently become a fan of the old garden stand-by, the Zinnia. The garden Zinnia was a favorite annual of yesteryear, and seems to be experiencing a resurgence in popularity of late.

The Zinnia genus contains annuals, perennials and shrubs. All the Zinnia species are native to our hemisphere, in an area that stretches from the southwestern U.S. down to South America.

The most common annual Zinnia you can purchase as seed or as bedding plants is likely to be Zinnia elegans or Zinnia haageana.  Plant breeders have created many Zinnia cultivars over the years. Annual Zinnias are easy to grow from seed, and do very well in my growing conditions in Colorado.

One thing I’ve only noticed after I started growing them is the great variety of color and form that the flowers exhibit. There seems to be an endless supply of different colors, forms, and sizes that annual Zinnia flowers will exhibit.

The photos shown above are a small selection of the diversity of Zinnias you can grow in your garden. Some of these zinnias I grew from seed in my garden, and some of them are growing in the Denver Botanic Gardens. Most of the Zinnias pictured here are cultivars of Zinnia elegans. A couple of them might be cultivars of Zinnia haageana.

Bees and butterflies seem to love Zinnia flowers, too. The recent migration of Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) butterflies that passed through Denver, brought a plethora of butterflies feasting on my Zinnias. And in the evening, several bumble bees (genus Bombus) could be found sleeping on the underside of some of the zinny flowers in my yard, after they had spent a busy day buzzing from one Zinnia flower to another.

Zinnias are so easy to start from seed, that I recommend you try to grow some in your yard at the start of the next garden season.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

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Photo of the Day: Awesome Artichokes

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Many of the annual and vegetable plants at the Denver Botanic Gardens are at their peak right now, and looking amazing. This photo of an artichoke plant in bloom was captured in the garden’s Potager Garden area. Artichokes are typically known as a food crop, with several cultivars grown worldwide, but many horticulturalists like to grow it as an interesting ornamental plant. Their large leaves and spiky flowers add a wonderful sculptural form to the garden. It is my understanding that on a typical artichoke farm, the flower buds are harvested and sent to market well before they open. In these photos we see that the flowers have been allowed to open, providing a stunning display for garden visitors.

Artichokes look a lot like thistles. And it turns out, artichokes are indeed related to thistles, with both plants being members of the very large family of plants that botanists call the Asteraceae.

The historical record holds that artichoke cultivation as a food goes back as far as ancient Greek and Roman times. It is likely that the Greeks brought artichoke cultivation to Italy. Some historians posit that cultivation of artichokes was further developed and improved upon in medieval Muslim Spain. The name artichoke can be traced to the medieval Arabic term “ardi shawki“.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

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Photo of the Day: Hollyhock Mallow

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I had never heard of a Hollyhock Mallow, but I came upon this delightful plant while visiting a friend last month. This interesting horticultural specimen was blooming in my friend’s neighbor’s yard. The profusion of pink blooms caught my attention from the corner of my eye, and I instantly raced over to get a closer look. Initially the flowers brought to mind common hollyhocks, but the form of this plant and the leaves were not quite the same as true hollyhocks. It took a little bit of internet sleuthing to arrive at the conclusion of what the plant was. I am still trying to learn more about this plant to determine if it is a good addition to the list of perennial plants for low water gardens.

Hollyhock Mallow, aka Malva alcea, is native to parts of Europe and Central Asia. As the common name implies, it is related to common hollyhocks (Alcea rosea) that many a grandmother has grown from seeds. Malva alcea is an herbaceous perennial that grows about 4′ in height, by 2-3′ wide. It has moderate water needs, but reportedly is drought tolerant. Unfortunately, it can fall prey to Japanese beetles, foliar nematodes, leafhoppers and spider mites. I wonder if it is plagued by the same leaf problems that make common hollyhocks look so beleaguered towards the end of the growing season. In some regions of the U.S. it has escaped cultivation and become naturalized. I do not know if it is invasive in Colorado. I look forward to learning more about this plant, and possibly testing it out in my own garden beds.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

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Photo of the Day: Echinocereus Cactus at Kendrick Lake Gardens

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June is finally here, which gets me thinking about cactus flowers. I wanted to share these photos I took of a gorgeous flowering cactus that was growing in a park called Kendrick Lake Park, located in Lakewood, Colorado.

The xeriscape gardens at Kendrick Lake are quite impressive. June is a good time to visit for the chance to see the various cacti  that dot the gardens, blooming in their early summer glory. On an interesting botanical note, I recently learned from cactus expert Kelly Grummon’s website (coldhardycactus.com) that in order for these cacti to bloom, one of the criteria is a cold enough winter. “If a cactus doesn’t get enough cold weather, it will not flower normally in the spring”, he says.

At first I thought the cactus in these photos was Echinocereus ‘White Sands’. But upon further inspection of the flower color and the size and density of the spines, I am guessing it might possibly be some variety of Echinocereus reichenbachii. Whatever species of cactus it happens to be, it is stunning to see it when blooming.

I recommend visiting Kendrick Lake in June to enjoy the cactus blooms, as well as many other stunning flowering xeriscape plants on display.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

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