The plants in this sortable list are suited for the climate of Colorado’s front range. They are perennial, xeric and prefer well-drained soil and full sun.
🦋 = attracts butterflies or moths, 🐝 = attracts bees, 🦌 = resistant or somewhat resistant to deer, 🐇 resistant or somewhat resistant to rabbits. Color squares indicate the color of blooms, berries or seasonal leaves.
| Ground cover, full sun (at least 6 hours of sun per day) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Photo | Scientific name | Common name | Native | Height | Spread | Blooms |
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Achillea ageratifolia | Greek yarrow | No | 24-36″ | 10-12” | June – August | 🦋 |
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Achillea tomentosa | woolly yarrow | No | 6-8” | 8-12″ | June – August | 🦋 |
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Anacyclus pyrethrum depressus | Mount Atlas daisy, pellitory, Spanish chamomile | No | 4-5” | 8-12” | April – May |
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Antennaria dioica | pussytoes, mountain everlasting, catsfoot, cudweed | No | 2-4” | 12-18” | May – June | 🦌 |
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Arabis caucasica | snowcap rockcress, garden arabis, mountain rock cress | No | 4-6” | 6-8” | April – May | 🦌 | 🐇 |
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Arenaria montana | mountain sandwort | No | 2-4” | 10-12” | May – June | 🦌 |
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Artemisia frigida | fringed sage, prairie sagewort, pasture sage | Yes | 9-16” | 12-16″ | August – September | 🦌 | 🐇 |
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Artemisia schmidtiana | silvermound sage | No | 10-12” | 12-23” | June | 🦋 | |||||||||||
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Artemisia stelleriana | silver brocade sage, hoary mugwort, dusty miller | No | 6-12” | 23-29” | Insignificant | 🦋 |
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Aurinia saxatilis | basket-of-gold, goldentuft alyssum, rock madwort | No | 6-12” | 12-18” | April – May | 🦋 |
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Callirhoe involucrata | purple poppy mallow, winecups | Yes | 10-12″ | 23-29″ | June – August | 🦋 | 🐝 |
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Calylophus serrulatus | sundrops, toothed evening primrose | Yes | 6-18″ | 6-18″ | June – September | 🦋 | 🐝 |
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Cerastium tomentosum | snow-in-summer, tomentose chickweed | No | 6-8” | 23-29″ | May – June | 🦌 | 🐇 |
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Coreopsis auriculata | dwarf coreopsis, lobed tickseed, mouse ear coreopsis | No | 6-10″ | 8-12″ | June-September | 🦋 |
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Delosperma spp. & hybrids | ice plant | No | 2-4″ | 12-23″ | May – August | 🦋 |
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Epilobium canum ssp. garrettii | orange carpet hummingbird trumpet | No | 4-6″ | 15-18″ | July – August |
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Erigeron compositus | cutleaf daisy, composite daisy, composite fleabane | Yes | 2-10″ | 8-12″ | June – August |
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Erigeron formosissimus | beautiful daisy, beautiful feabane | Yes | 6-20″ | 8-24″ | June – August |
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Eriogonum umbellatum | sulfur flower, sulfur buckwheat | Yes | 6-12″ | 12-36″ | May – July | 🦋 |
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Geum triflorum | old man’s whiskers, prairie smoke, purple avens | Yes | 6-18″ | 12″ | April – June | 🦋 |
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Glandularia bipinnatifida | prairie verbena, Dakota vervain | Yes | 10-12” | 38-50” | May – September | 🦋 |
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Glandularia canadensis | rose verbena, clump verbena, rose vervain | Yes | 6-18” | 12-24” | July – September | 🦋 | 🦌 | 🐇 |
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Oenothera speciosa | pinkladies, pink evening primrose, showy evening primrose | No | 9-12” | 12-18” | June – October | 🦌 | |||||||||||
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Penstemon pinifolius | pineleaf penstemon | No | 10-12” | 12-18” | June – September | 🦋 |
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Potentilla neumanniana | alpine cinquefoil, spring cinquefoil, spotted cinquefoil | No | 3-6” | 6-12” | May – August | 🦌 |
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Saponaria ocymoides | rock soapwort | No | 6-8” | 12-23″ | May – July | 🦌 |
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Sedum acre | goldmoss sedum | No | 2-3” | 12-23” | May – June | 🦋 |
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Sedum kamschaticum | kamschatka sedum | No | 4-6” | 12-18” | July – August | 🦋 |
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Sedum spurium | stonecrop | No | 4-6” | 12-18” | July – August | 🦌 | 🐇 |
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Sphaeralcea coccinea | scarlet globemallow, caliche globemallow | Yes | 12-16″ | 36″ | July – September |
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Stachys byzantina | lamb’s ear | No | 12-18” | 12-23” | June – July | 🦋 |
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Tanacetum densum spp. amani | partridge feather | No | 6-10″ | 15″ | May – June | 🦋 |
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Thymus praecox | creeping thyme | No | 2-4″ | 12-18″ | June – July | 🦋 |
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Veronica liwanensis | Turkish veronica, creeping veronica, speedwell | No | 1-2″ | 18-24″ | April-June | 🦋 | 🐝 | 🦌 | 🐇 |
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Zinnia grandiflora | Rocky Mountain zinnia, paper flower | Yes | 4-8″ | 4-8″ | August-October | 🦋 | 🐝 | 🦌 | 🐇 |
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