How to make your garden bloom

The West's best flowers for borders, beds, bouquets, and containers

23 knock-out native plants

Incorporating plants native to your climate means less water, less maintenance, and more wildlife. Here are our top picks around the West

Rocky Mountain columbine
D.A. Horchner / Design Workshop

Rocky Mountain columbine

(Aquilegia caerulea)

Native to: Rockies

Lacy foliage and beautifully poised flowers in exquisite pastels, deeper shades, and white give columbines a fairylike, woodland-glen quality. Grows to 1 1/2–3 ft. high, 2 ft. wide. Blue and white flowers are erect, 2 in. or more across, with straight or spreading spurs to 2 in. long. Plants are not fussy about soil as long as it is well drained.

More: All about Rocky Mountain columbine


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