Persian Stonecress forms handsome tight mounds of unusual deep blue-green foliage which is completely evergreen. The plant is covered with cheerful pink blossoms in late spring to early summer.Can seed out fairly aggressively.
Mountain Alyssum is one of the earliest of the spring bloomers. Bright right yellow flowers over attractive, low gray-green mats of small oval leaves. Nice for rock gardens, front of borders. Pollinators: bees and butterflies. Can seed out.
Serviceberry is a multi-stemmed small tree with lovely white blossoms in the early spring, followed by dark purple, tasty fruit. Good for birds and people alike! Pollinators: butterflies, bees. Firewise. More information here.
Littleleaf or Rosy Pussytoes is a very low growing, tight groundcoverwith pinkish “pussytoe” blossoms in late spring. Spreads nicely around garden rocks and thrives in dry sunny areas with poor, well-drained soil. Retains grey-green leaves all winter.
Amazingly tight, hard mats of silver-green triangular foliage are sprinkled with tiny white flowers in late spring. A fine and rarely available alpine from Spain. Exquisite rock garden plant, evergreen.
King’s Sandwort: Long, evergreen, grass-like leaves support a delicate spray of tiny white flowers in spring. Ideal for a rock garden or edging a pathway.
Mountain Sandwort is a classy little alpine or rock garden plant. It forms a low evergreen cushion of dark green leaves, bearing loads of large white flowers during the spring and early summer. Great for edging paths, between flagstones, in walls or rock gardens. Evergreen.
Thrift has pink globe flowers over mounds of grassy leaves. Deadhead for prolonged bloom. Evergreen foliage. Firewise.
Taller and longer-blooming than its cousin, Thrift, this “False Thrift” is a colorful focal point in any garden. Evergreen foliage.
Alpine Aster is an early-blooming aster with unusually large and showy purple/blue flowers. Neat and tidy in the garden after its glorious springtime show.
Deciduous upright shrub or small tree usually with thorns, dense, good bird habitat, white flowers in spring, intense red color in fall. 10-15′ tall.
Cutleaf Daisy is a vigorous, long-blooming native Fleabane with dissected leaves and bundles of charming white flowers. Excellent for rock gardens or exposed slopes with good drainage.
Beautiful Fleabane is a low-growing, early-blooming native daisy. Forms ever-widening patches over the years. Cheerful purple flowers attract pollinators.
Tidy mounds of delicate lavender flowers with yellow centers. Choice rock garden or edging plant.
Arrow Leaf Buckwheat has big oval, pointed leaves basal leaves with leafless stems of cream to yellow pom-poms overhead. Thrives in hot, dry and poor soils. Unusually large buckwheat. More information here.
Whorled Buckwheat has leathery leaves which form a basal mat sending up brilliant white, cream color pom-poms in early summer. Likes well-drained soil. Boise foothills native. Pollinators: butterflies, bees.
Sticky Purple Geranium makes a lovely addition to informal meadow-like landscapes. Native to higher elevations in Idaho and across the mountain west, it thrives in moist to dry settings. Blooming in mid-spring, it attracts a variety of native pollinators and honeybees. Firewise.
Creeping Baby’s Breath is a delicate spreading ground cover, creeping around other plantings and falling down walls. Covered with a burst of pink or white blooms, late spring. Easy and rewarding.
Lewis Flax, a vigorous native that produces masses of cheerful little blue flowers from late spring through mid-summer. Each flower lasts only a day, drops to the ground and is replaced by more the next morning. Charming. Pollinators: bees.
Showy spikes of purple-blue flowers in mid-spring. Flowers are huge and attractive to bees. Firewise.
This early blooming penstemon sends up multiple stalks, each with numerous whorls of small tubular flowers. Widespread native. Firewise.
Blue Mist Penstemon or Front Range Penstemon is a dwarf penstemon, native to the plains and foothills of the Eastern Rockies, often growing in large colonies. In late spring, dainty spikes of lavender-blue flowers rise over evergreen rosettes Likes dry, well- drained soil and is well adapted to garden conditions. Firewise.
Intricately branched wiry shrublet forming somewhat prickly mound-like cushions. Completely covered with soft pink flowers in late spring.
Wax Currant is a dense native shrub well adapted to shade or part shade locations. Small pinkish white blossoms in spring. Good bird habitat. Firewise.
Dwarf Culinary Sage grows into a shrub covered with a dense mound of edible leaves. Covered with showy lavender-blue flowers in early summer, it becomes a magnet for honeybees. Unlike ordinary culinary sage, this dwarf form is completely evergreen, creating a beautiful gray-green mound in the winter garden. Tolerates clay and shade. Firewise.
This cheerful little native wildflower produces dainty blue/purple flowers on grassy foliage. It prefers rich, moist soil in spring but tolerates summer dryness. Will gradually spread, creating a little ‘meadow’.
Wooly Veronica is a vigorous xeric ground-cover. Woolly evergreen foliage creates a handsome, dense gray-green carpet, covered in early spring with blue bell-like flowers. Does best in part shade, works well crawling under shrubs.