This is a competition.
Plants will be judged for ten years on three traits:
-Longevity
-Rebloom
-Sex appeal
(to everyday people
and not botanists or nerds like me.)
This means these three winning plants will be ideal for
No-water Landscapes;
places where they can't hide in an ugly season.
1. Gaillardia 'Amber Wheels'
The problem with allllll the other gaillardia is that they are barely perennial, living 1-4 years at best, but often just a couple. This one, selected from the wild in Colorado by DBG's Larry Vickerman, is FULLY PERENNIAL, and what's more: rhizomatous. Yes, folks, it can spread. Not wildly; nice and slow. It's available online from a few mailorders. Why isn't it in your local nursery? Because you need to tell them about it and buy more of it. I'm so sick of not being able to buy it easily that I'm growing my own.
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2. Amsonia jonesii , Desert Bluestar.
A once-bloomer for a few weeks in spring, but he's blue, which is not common in available xeric plants. He varies- the above plant is pale; and white happens. What he really scored for is being indefatigable, wiltless, nice dark green leaf all summer, which is much needed when it's 100F (38C) outside. The other high score is longevity; I was pretty impressed seeing plants in friends' Denver Gardens that are exactly as old as I am until I found a massive wild plant last summer that is about a century old. He is in PlantSelect but I never see him in any nursery except Chelsea's. That's messed up. We need to pester High Country Gardens and get the word out. It's slow from seed, so the few nurseries that do it usually go with cuttings. Here he is growing in nature in this weird red crap that even the cactus don't seem to like:
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3. Melampodium leucanthum. Blackfoot Daisy.
So, real talk here. I wondered if folks would give it a new common name in the way Sorghastrum isn't "indian grass" anymore- but I was making an assumption. This guy's name is because the seeds look like little black horse's feet. Checks out. Small lots of seed is also available online.
He scores middleville for longevity, but my rubric is merciless. He gets points back because he reseeds gently, and then he takes his win because he reblooms and reblooms, stays short and unthreatening, and does it all without irrigation. But this jerk has a problem- he's not commonly available. Time to knock on some doors.
He's short- there he is at the heels of... anything else.
Just look at him shamelessly dancing around this unwatered front yard off Littlepark Rd in Grand Junction. When I planted him in 2016 I put a dripper on him because he comes from the front range. Well that drip wasn't ever turned on and he reminded me that he is also from the desert, baby, and he gracefully replaced anything that died out over the last seven years.
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Honorable Mentions go to:
Prarie Zinnia, because she's got marketing and recognition before and heavens know I've sung her praises for too long.
Santa Fe Plox was very close in the running because it reblooms, it's not available enough, and seems to live a very long time. He gets a little crispy without water on the hotter side of the rockies, but he never dies. Note: this plant wasn't voted down because Kenton doesn't generally like pink. This one is definitely garish enough to appeal to him.
Please support Nurseries with the balls to sell good plants which perform in the landscape and feed insects and other great things but don't look snappy in retail containers, which is the driving force behind all the crap sold as "perennials" at big box stores. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for... spring.
