With winter in full swing, I’m amazed at the hardiness of some of our low-water plants. Anyone who lives in a northern or high-altitude zone who’s planning to add or replace some plants this spring with low-water alternatives should feel plenty comfortable with the number and variety of choices. Planting perennials saves you money – and water. Xeric perennials only need a boost of water the first year or so, and then can often make it with no irrigation. Here are a few of my favorites by category:
Ground Cover
The iceplant (Delosperma) is a sun-loving groundcover that spreads rapidly and rewards gardeners with bright pinkish-purple (D. cooperi) or yellow (D. congestum or D. nubigenum) flowers. We thought it would be too cold here in zone 6B, but our purple iceplant thrives on the northeast side of our home. It’s a stunner, especially in rock gardens, where it can cascade slightly over rocks or borders. It’s also an easy groundcover to transplant. Other low-water cold-hardy groundcovers are several sedums, such as Dragon’s blood (Sedum spurium), and low-growing sages (Artemesia filifolia or A. frigida).
Flowering Perennial
Red hot pokers (Kniphofia uvaria) are workhorses in low-water, cold-hardy gardens. Also called torch lily, the plans resemble a lily in its foliage. But the tall, torch-shaped blooms with red and yellow tubular flowers can last for weeks. Hummingbirds visit the flowers, and birds often visit spent blooms. Meanwhile, the plants form clumps in the ground that spread. Many gardeners use them as fence borders, and they’re one of the easiest cold-hardy perennials to care for in a low-water garden. Other low-water, cold-hardy flowering perennials are Dusty Miller and Gayfeather, to name a few.
Deciduous Shrub
The Utah serviceberry (Amelachier utahensis), also called a shadberry, is a low-water shrub that drops its leaves in winter but only after turning several gorgeous colors and producing berries for birds and other wildlife. It is closely related to the Western serviceberry (A. alnefolia). It’s native to low-mountain or high-desert areas of Utah, New Mexico and along most of the Rocky Mountain region. We purchased a stock of bare-root serviceberries that we’re raising in a protected area near the river so they need less water while getting established. Other low-water deciduous shrubs cold-hardy in high deserts or intermountain regions are the Leadplant, Fernbush and Sumacs.
Evergreen Shrub
Mahogany (Cercocarpus) uses very little water and has an interesting, desert-like look in the landscape. The evergreen shrub can adapt to temperature extremes up to 100 degrees F, and is cold hardy to 20 degrees below or more, depending on the type. Curl-leaf mountain mahogany (C. ledifolius) can get large if left untrimmed, but the little-leaf variety only grows to about 8 feet tall. Both do best in full sun and with little water. Other cold-hardy evergreen shrubs that work well at high altitude are Damianita and Cotoneaster.
Tree
The alligator juniper (Juniperis deppeana) is one of few junipers that I really love. That’s because I’m allergic to juniper pollen, as are many people who must live around the plants in areas where the air is plenty dry. Junipers thrive in poor soil and low water conditions and they’re long-lasting evergreen trees and shrubs. The alligator juniper is named for its reptilian-like trunk, making it more interesting in the landscape. Many also have multiple trunks. Alligator junipers do well in elevations between 4,500 and 8,000 feet. Lots of other low-water trees fare well in cold climates, including the Netleaf Hackberry, Mexican Elder and Gray Oak.
