Mountain Laurel

‘Marian Sampson’ hummingbird coyote mint

You may have noticed that the Rocky Mountain region—especially if you moved here from either coast or the South—is notably lacking in broadleaf evergreens. That is because these evergreens are more prone to burn from both winter sun and wind—as well as to suffer winter water loss—than deciduous woody plants or needled evergreens. As a result, gardeners in our region must select and site such woody plants more thoughtfully than gardeners in other regions. Of course, what we call “Rocky Mountain” is really more like two regions: one that reliably retains winter snow cover, and one that does not. The three broadleaf evergreen natives described here, however, do well in a variety of gardens and exposures.

Good things in life take time. Most of us recognize the truth in this statement, especially when it comes to our gardens. Not only are the best designs often those refined with incremental changes over years, but the juiciest, most umami-rich tomatoes are often those that develop slowly in the garden. The same is true for one of the quirkiest edible crops I grow, which takes a full nine months from planting to harvest: garlic (Allium sativum). It’s worth the wait, even if just to see how it grows. Growing garlic in the Rocky Mountains isn’t much different from growing it in other places, but certain varieties do better here. Learn more below.

There is no perfect garden plant, unless one is talking about plastic. All chlorophyll-loaded garden accents have both good and bad visual and cultural attributes. Understanding the weaknesses of your garden’s plant material presents an opportunity for you to use one plant to complement another while hiding visual weak points.

Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.

Wondering How to Grow Ceanothus Joyce Coulter? We’ve got you covered. Read on to learn how to grow and take care of the Creeping Mountain Lilac so you can enjoy its beauty in your garden or landscape.

As Digital Content Editor Christine Alexander explains, pollinators play a vital role in our ecosystem and we should all be doing our part to support their populations:

The Rowan or Mountain Ash, Sorbus aucuparia is a member of the same family as the rose and is part of the large Sorbus genus (50+ distinctive species).  They are highly variable with several regional sub species. The trees can be quite singular in appearance when shaped by wind on high moors and mountains.

Would you like an easy-to-grow perennial that flowers from July to August and is a magnet for many pollinating wasps, skippers, bees, and moths? Then consider mountain mint for your garden.

I spoke about some notable natives with my friend Andy Brand of Broken Arrow Nursery, with whom I often hosting half-day workshops in my Hudson Valley, New York, garden, when we focus on upping the beneficial wildlife quotient in your own backyard with better plants and better practices. Andy has been one of the experts I’ve pestered for ideas as I’ve been doing that in my own garden in recent years to good effect.Andy is manager of Connecticut-based Broken Arrow, and he’s a serious amateur naturalist, and founder of the Connecticut state butterfly association. (That’s a photo by Andy of a red-banded hairstreak on a Clethra blossom, top of page.) Learn where many familia

I’ve been turning to Marc Wolf of Mountain Top Arboretum for suggestions, and now we want to share some of our ideas with you for garden-sized native woody plants to enhance the diversity of your landscape.Marc is director of Mountain Top in the Catskill Mountains of New York, 178-acre public garden that’s open every day of the year, and where managing native plant communities is the focus. He has a particular appreciation for small native trees that we too often overlook, and we

Cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) is a versatile, robust and attractive ornamental hedging plant that’s well-suited to creating privacy screens and windbreaks, and can tolerate a wide range of growing conditions.