Plant Characteristics
Most plants that fail here do not fail because somebody watered them wrong. They fail because they were never suited to the site — alkaline soil, a late May frost, deer pressure, a west wind, or a thousand feet of elevation between where the plant was grown and where it was planted.
These are the characteristics we sort by when we put together a planting plan. They are the traits that decide whether a plant is still there in five years, and they carry more weight on the Western Slope than they do in most of the country because the margin for error is narrower.
Choose a category to see how we use it.
Soil, water, sun, cold and salt. On the Western Slope this is the category that decides whether a plant lives, and alkaline tolerance is the one most often…
Form, and how a plant occupies space as it matures — upright, spreading, clumping, climbing or flat to the ground. Habit at maturity sets the spacing, not the…
When a plant earns its place — spring bloom, fall color, or structure and berries through winter. A planting built entirely around May looks empty for the…
What a plant attracts and what leaves it alone. Deer and rabbit pressure is real through most of this valley, and browse is the fastest way to lose a new…
Plants chosen for a job rather than a look: holding a slope, screening a view, filling a container, or feeding pollinators.
Growth rate, longevity, disease and pest resistance, and how much pruning a plant will ask for. The difference between a planting that looks better in year…
Flowers, foliage, fragrance and fruit. What a plant contributes to look at, and the traits most people start from when they picture a finished planting.
Native, hybrid or introduced. Origin is useful shorthand for how a plant is likely to handle local conditions, though it is not a guarantee in either direction.