News Release
June 11, 2007

Landscaping Tips: Favorite perennials for Wyoming gardens

By Karen Panter, Extension horticulture specialist, UW CES

Our home in Laramie three years ago was selected as one of the featured sites for the Laramie Garden Club’s inaugural garden tour. As a service to our visitors, we listed the plants in the gardens around our home. Counting everything green, from annuals to trees, the list included more than 130 species and cultivars! Some of our favorites follow.

Are you looking for hardy, shade-loving plants? Several that have fared well for us include a number of hosta species. Throughout much of Wyoming, select varieties hardy to at least the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) cold-hardiness zone 4. Pick zone 3 plants to be on the safe side in the cooler, higher-altitude areas, while a couple of the warmer locations are suitable for zone 5 plants.

For your particular area, see the USDA hardiness zone map at www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/hzm-nm1.html.

A favorite perennial of ours is Bergenia cordifolia. “Pigsqueak,” as it is commonly called, retains its purple/red color throughout the winter and displays bright pink flowers in early June.

Some ground covers that thrive in shade to part shade are Vinca minor (flowering periwinkle), Galium odoratum (sweet woodruff) and Lamium maculatum ‘White Nancy’ (nettle).

For those hard-to-deal-with, hot, sunny, dry spots, we like Achillea x ‘Moonshine’ yarrow, which doesn’t seem to drop seeds everywhere. We also like the wide variety of Artemisia (sage) species and varieties available – but beware! Some have very aggressive root systems, and some drop seeds where they’re not wanted. Many are native to Wyoming. Check with a local nursery for details.

Hemerocallis (day lily)? Absolutely! One day lily we’ve had great success with is a dwarf gold called ‘Stella d’Oro.’ We also planted another dwarf day lily called ‘Raspberry Pixie.’

No garden in Wyoming is complete without Perovskia atriplicifolia or Russian sage. This plant blooms in late summer with loads of bright blue flowers that bees love.

Do you need a vine for a sunny wall? Try a honeysuckle called Lonicera x heckrotti ‘Goldflame.’ Hummingbirds love the trumpet-shaped orange/gold flowers that open in June. If you like blue, nature’s rarest color, plant some penstemon (one of the blue varieties) or Veronica teucrium (speedwell).

For more ideas on gardening in Wyoming, see the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service Web site at www.uwyo.edu/CES/PUBS/Turf/Turf_Pubs_Main.html.

Among the bulletins are B-1139, WyoScape: Landscaping for the Wyoming Climate; B-1143, Landscaping: Water-Wise Wyoming Gardens; and B-1152, Landscaping: Herbaceous Perennials for Wyoming.



Contact: Robert Waggener, Editor
Phone: (307) 766-3571
E-mail: robertw@uwyo.edu

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