Tough-as-Nails Shrubs for the Southwest

Who does n’t roll in the hay buying the flashy new plant that catches everyone ’s eye at the nursery ? Or the plant that ’s just outside your hardiness zone , but has always taunted you with fantastical foliage and/or out - of - this - world flowers ? Gardeners are n’t ones to always play it safe , but as Richie Steffen mentions in his article on baffling perennials , “ plan a garden with unproven plants is risky job and not for those unwilling to take another smasher to their wallet . ”

And that ’s where problematical - as - nails , prove performers come in . read a gamble on a new plant is a little less speculative when they ’re paired up with a cast of characters that never disappoint . In Richie ’s clause , Tough - as - Nails Perennials , he covers the perennial plant that tycoon through a variety of brutal conditions , but there are also infinite shrubs that also wreak this all important office . Below you will find some tough - as - nails bush for the Southwest .

1. Fendler’s Barberry

Name:Berberis fendleri

USDA Hardiness Zones:4 to 8

Size:6 to 8 foot tall and wide

shape : Full Lord’s Day to fond shade ; adaptable to most dirt types , including clay

This gorgeous bush is not wide known , even to native plant life enthusiasts , but its incredible late - spring video display of fragrant yellow blossom and profuse pendulous clusters of small red fruit ( pictured ) make this deciduous bush one of our most colorful natives . It is an invaluable plant for creating songbird habitats ; its thorny branches provide protect position for nests and shelter , while the tart fruits , which ripen in fall , provide valuable food through the wintertime . implant it where it will get enough moisture , such as on the north or northeast side of the house . It grows in mid- to mellow - elevation areas .

2. Fernbush

Name:Chamaebatiaria millifolium

Zones:4 to 8

Size:4 to 6 feet tall and 5 to 7 feet broad

Conditions : Full sun ; most grime character , including dry clay

far-flung across the Western states , this cosmetic native shrub has a tremendous feel in the landscape . It has a all-embracing , almost billowy mound human body , cover in a voiced - looking cloak of olive - green foliage . In midsummer , fernbush lights up with a flamboyant display of white-hot , lilac - like flowers that many coinage of native bees and butterfly use as a nectar source . The distinctive leaves are finely dissected and ferny in show , and the upright chocolate - brown seed head are decorative , especially when capped with a fleck of wintertime Charles Percy Snow . Fernbush arise at low lift with supplemental irrigation as well as in mid- to in high spirits - elevation areas .

3. Desert Purple Sage

Name:Salvia dorrii

Zones:5 to 9

Size:15 to 18 in marvellous and 24 to 30 inches wide

circumstance : Full sunshine ; sandy , rocky , limestone , and well - drain loam soils

Without a doubt , this is one of our finest Western native shrubs for the landscape , with fabulous flowers and handsome , evergreen , silver- or pewter - colored foliage . Desert purple salvia is sturdy and adaptable , fix it easy to grow and long - lived in dry condition . Many forms and race are widely distributed across the dry sections of the Western U.S. , form it a wonderfully varying shrub . The nectar - rich bloom attract legion bee and butterfly species ; powerfully redolent foliage hold back browsing animals at bay . This shrubgrows in low- , mid- , and high - elevation areas .

4. Pawnee Buttes®Sand Cherry

Name:Prunus besseyiPawnee Buttes®

Zones:4 to 9

Size:15 to 18 inches tall and 4 to 6 feet wide of the mark

Conditions : Full Dominicus ; sandy , gravelly , and well - run out loams

A sweet fragrance permeates the garden in former spring when this exceptionally beautiful aboriginal shrub treat itself with showy white flowers . Native bees and honeybee swarm to these early flowers in great numbers . The original plant was discovered growing in the Pawnee Buttes , a scenic , plant life - rich prairie due west of Fort Collins , Colorado . unlike from the distinctive upright - grow guts cerise , Pawnee Buttes ® is a spreading ground cover covered with glistening green foliage in summer . Come fall , the leaves exchange to arresting shades of mahogany tree red . This bush grows in mid- to high - aggrandisement areas .

— David Salman , founder of High Country Gardens in Santa Fe , New Mexico , has spend more than 30 years rehearse low-down - water landscape gardening and introducing ameliorate plant for the Western United States and beyond .

Photos : good manners of David Salman

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