Greek Yarrow is a slow-growing, tidy, dense evergreen ground cover. This beauty is a reliable heavy-bloomer bearing bright white clusters of tiny flowers for many weeks in late spring. Attracts bees and butterflies.
Woolly Yarrow is a low growing evergreen ground cover forming loose clumps of charming, fuzzy grey-green leaves.Clusters of cheerful yellow blossoms pop up in late spring. Attracts bees and butterflies.
A natural hybrid from Bulgaria, this unusual and charming miniature yarrow produces clumps of small white flowers over carpets of attractive silvery leaves. Expanding gradually by root, this plant can form loose colonies.
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.
Multiple spikes of purple flowers in summer provide an excellent resource for pollinators. Bushy, vigorous, great foundation plant.
Threadleaf Giant Hyssop has numerous spikes of uniquely-colored orange-purple tubular flowers over fragrant, finely divided leaves. It blooms in the heat of mid-summer and persists into fall. Outstanding hummingbird plant and nectar source for bees. More info here.
True to its name, Nodding Onion produces lovely drooping clusters of pale white or purple flowers in mid-summer. Supports butterflies and native bees. Deer resistant. Foliage is evergreen. Firewise.
This edible onion is also a stunning landscape plant. Late flowers feed pollinators. Spreads gradually to make clumps. Firewise. .
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.
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.
Fringed Sage is a low growing sagebrush relative forming mats of frilly grey-green leaves, giving rise in summer to foot-high fringed seed-stalks. Trim off seed-stalks to maintain as an ornamental ground cover with good color year- round. Firewise. More information here.
Narrow Leaf Milkweed, native to Southern Idaho, is smaller and more drought-tolerant than the better-known Showy Milkweed. Mauve-pink flowers emerge in mid-summer. With extra water, bloom time is extended. Host plant for Monarch butterflies.
Butterfly Milkweed has thick umbels of bright orange flowers over narrow leaves. Central U.S. native supporting Monarch Butterfly larvae. More info here.
Despite its common name, the flowers of Sky Blue Aster are more lavender than blue. But this Aster puts on a brilliant show in fall, each plant covered with hundreds of beautiful blooms. Growing well in almost any soil, from dry sand to moist loam, it attracts butterflies and bees. Firewise.
Snow Flurry is a fall-blooming Aster that creates low-growing dense ground cover carpeted with tiny white flowers in September and October. A good strong grower and a totally new look and use for Asters! Makes an excellent container plant. Cut back in spring. Attracts native bees, honeybees and butterflies. Firewise.
Aromatic Aster is an exceptionally vigorous spreading groundcover. In late fall it bursts into bloom with myriad pink flowers, which provide nectar and pollen for a variety of bees and butterflies. Firewise.
A dense mound of foliage spreading gradually by root and exploding with purple blossoms in fall. Attracts bees and butterflies.
Chocolate Flower: Cheerful wispy yellow daisies keep coming all summer and actually smell like chocolate! Attracts butterflies, honey bees and beneficial insects.
Winecups or Purple Poppy Mallow has striking wine colored blooms on prostrate stems which wind along the ground in and around other plants. Tough and long blooming, it prefers well-drained soil. Pollinators: native bees.
Hartweg’s Sundrops produces masses of cheerful, clear yellow blossoms throughout the heat of the summer and into fall. The yellow blooms age into burnt orange creating a two-tone effect. Easy-and reliable. Needs well-drained soil. Attracts: butterflies and bees.
Cheerful and long-blooming, this mounding perennial lightens up the summer garden.
Carpathian Harebells is a more compact version of our native harebells, with larger flowers and a later bloom time. Charming! Firewise.
Fast growing upright deciduous shrubby perennial with silvery foliage and lush fall display of delicate blue flowers. Bees love it! Firewise.
Jupiter’s Beard produces masses of crimson flowers fading to pink from late spring right through the summer. Periodic deadheading will enhance the bloom even more. Attracts Swallowtails and Monarchs. Can seed out somewhat aggressively. Firewise.
Easy, reliable.
Snow-in-Summer is a lovely evergreen groundcover, attractive even in winter. The fine silvery foliage is covered with masses of white blooms in late spring. No pruning necessary, but faded flowers may be sheared. Firewise.
Valuable as a shade-tolerant groundcover, Plumbago will also grow in full sun. Glossy deep green leaves and lovely blue flowers with striking red calyces make this a most attractive spreading groundcover. The plant vanishes in winter, but comes back reliably each spring.
Mountain Mahogany is an attractive evergreen, large shrub to small tree with spreading open crown of thick, twisted branches and furrowed reddish brown bark This beautiful Owyhee County native will tolerate heavy pruning and is browsed into beautiful bonsai-like shapes in the wild. Firewise. More information here.
This beauty of the Idaho mountains can live in a garden, but may spread aggressively.
Desert Willow is a small tree with willow-like leaves and gorgeous iris-like flowers in mid-late summer. Attracts Hummingbirds! Tolerates clay. More information here.
Yellow Bee Plant is a smaller cousin of the purple Rocky Mountain Bee plant, Both of these annuals are extremely valuable as food sources for native bees and butterflies as well as honeybees. Very long-blooming and freely reseeding in the garden. Available spring only.
This outstanding native annual is a magnet for honey bees and native bees alike! Tall stalks end in multiple flowers that look as if they were designed by Dr. Seuss. Once it starts blooming in early to mid-summer, Rocky Mountain Bee Plant just keeps going until fall. More information here.
Prostrate evergreen groundcover, good substitute for native Bearberry or Kinnick-kinnick. White flowers in summer are followed by bright red berries persisting into winter. Firewise.
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.
Purple Prairie Clover produces lovely purple bottle-brushes on erect stems. Perfect specimen plant or as part of a meadow or prairie planting. Long-lived, with a deep taproot. Often found on eroded, depleted soils, including caliche. Supports bees and butterflies and fixes nitrogen.