Sound the Trumpets for "Plant Select 2013!"

     "Plant Select" is one of my favorite plant programs ever, and it's headquarters are right out our front door, at the CSU campus in Fort Collins.  That means you can count on these plants to be Colorado tough.  The eight tried-and-true gems on the 2013 Plant Select list are certainly no exception. 

     Details of all of the 2013 plants and dozens more can be found at Plant Select's excellent website:  www.plantselect.org    The site comes complete with suggested designs that can incorporate the Plant Select winners and many other drought-tolerant plants for a water wise landscape.  Once the plants are "established," (one to two growing seasons), many of them will thrive on moderate- to low- to no-supplemental water.  

"Turquoise Tails Blue Sedum"

     This wonderful blue-green sedum will offer up creamy yellow flowers in mid-summer.

photo courtesy Lauren Springer Ogden



    

photo courtesy Harriett MacMillan

"Narbonne Blue Flax"

     The flowers on this Mediterranean form of blue flax just keep coming, all summer long.







photo courtesy Mike Kintzen

"Tennessee Purple Coneflower"

     This lovely coneflower was once endangered in the wild, but has made a great comeback, and is now a Plant Select winner!  










"Curly Leaf Sea Kale"




photo courtesy Pat Hayward

      Big, distinctive waxy blue leaves last all summer long.  Clusters of white flowers will help you celebrate the beginning of the garden season.



         






Chieftain  Manzanita                                                       

     One of Plant Select's toughest players....
     and a terrific evergreen groundcover.     

photo courtesy Gary Epstein

And for the first time:  "Plant Select Petites"

"Oxslip Primrose"

     An oh-so-tiny primrose that is so much tougher than it looks!  (See www.plantselect.org for picture.)

photo courtesy Kirk Fieseler

"Sandia Coralbells"

     These diminutive pink flowers top out at just eight inches tall, but they're a magnet for hummingbirds and bees in May and June.


 
 




 "Scott's Sugarbowls," "Scott's Clematis

photos courtesy Kirk Fieseler
 

     As if the mounding, lacy blue-green foliage isn't enough, the delicate purple flowers are sure to win your heart!