Pretty Smart Plants From Plant Select®

Blonde Ambition Blue Grama Grass PP# 22, 048 
(Bouteloua gracilis)

Zones 4-9

Thin Man Indian Grass PPAF
(Sorghastrum nutans)

Zones 4-9

Orange Carpet® Hummingbird Trumpet 
(Zauschneria garrettii)

Zones 5-9

Red Mountain® Flame cold hardy Iceplant
(Delosperma x PWWG025)

Zones 6-9

Gold on Blue® Prairie Zinnia 
(Zinnia grandiflora)

Zones 4-8

Wee One English Lavender 
(Lavandula angustifolia)

Zones 5-9

Granita® Raspberry Ice Plant (Delosperma hybrid) (2018)

I first saw this sumptuously colored Ice Plant in the garden of its discoverer, John Stireman of Salt Lake City. John has one of the finest and most diverse rock gardens in the western US. He is particularly enamored with the South African Ice Plants and has spent several decades growing and testing them in his USDA zone 5 rock garden.

As luck would have it, after many years of cross-pollination by bees, Delosperma Granita® Raspberry appeared as a volunteer seedling. And it's a winner! Durable and cold hardy, the flowers have a unique coloration that sets it apart from other Ice Plants and perennial plants. Use it as a water-wise ground cover, planted in well-drained where it gets full sun. Zones 6-10.

Verbena Valley Lavender® Plains Verbena (Verbena bipinnatifida) (2018)

This widespread native species is often considered a biennial. But this selection, found on the Great Plains of eastern Colorado is more perennial and robust. It's best to grow this perennial in "lean" (infertile) fast draining non-clay soils in full, blazing sun. It likes lots of heat and not too much water. After getting it established the first growing season, water deeply but infrequently in subsequent years. Zones 5-8.

"Tough love" is the best way to grow and enjoy this gorgeous plant. With this in mind, it should not be fertilized with granular or water-soluble chemical fertilizers. This will shorten the plant's lifespan and it will act as an annual. Instead, just top-dress with a little Yum Yum Mix around the plant in fall.

Snowmass® Blue Eyed Veronica (Veronica x PO185) (2018)

A wonder hybrid cultivar, this vigorous groundcover Speedwell is a great choice for the xeric (water-wise) garden. It has evergreen foliage and blooms in mid-spring with a flurry of white, blue-eyed flowers that cover the plant for up to a month.

Snowmass® is an outstanding companion plant for spring blooming bulbs (Crocus, daffodils, muscari and wildflower tulips). Plant it in full sun in most soils including clay (when grown on the dry side). Zones 3-10.