Common name:Gaura
Botanical name:Gaura lindheimeri

Gaura is a lovely addition to a perennial border, with its fine green foliage and delicate white to pink flowers. The plant has an open vase shape, and grows about 36 inches tall and 24 to 36 inches wide. Leaves are fine, green, and sometimes spotted with maroon. Flowers are arrayed on long stems and are reminiscent of butterflies; the blooms open from the bottom of the stems towards the top, over a long season of bloom (early summer to fall). Its airy quality creates movement in the garden. Combines well with other perennials and ornamental grasses. A number of named cultivars are now available, some with more distinctively pink flowers or variegated foliage.

Common name:Fernbush
Botanical name:Chamaebatiaria millefolium

Fernbush is a wonderful Utah native, well suited to urban life. It has an upright, rounded form, growing about 3 to 5 feet tall. Bright green foliage emerges in the spring, and as the name suggests, has a fern-like appearance. foliage has a lemony-pine scent when bruised. Mid-summer sees clusters of white flowers appearing at the ends of branches. Bark is red and shreddy. Though not typically evergreen in our region, it holds its foliage late into the autumn. Use in the shrub or foundation border, as an informal hedge, or near the veggie garden as a pollinator-attractor.

Common name:Creeping Mahonia
Botanical name:Mahonia repens

The creeping Mahonia is a low-growing shrub with a creeping habit, making it well suited as an understory groundcover. It grows about 12 to 15 inches tall and spreads 3 to 4 feet, though, due to its stoloniferous ways, will slowly spread wider. It has spiny, holly-like foliage that emerges red and matures to a dull green; though evergreen, leaves take on a bronzy-purple fall hue. Yellow, fragrant flowers bloom April and May, and are followed by berries that ripen purple in the fall and persist all winter. Exceptional four-season beauty. There are some planted at the Greater Avenues Water Conservation Garden.

Common name:Blue Spire Russian Sage
Botanical name:Perovskia 'Blue Spire'

'Blue Spire' is a selection of perovskia that grows about 3 to 4 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide (though it will grow larger if over-watered). New wood is white and fuzzy; leaves are a soft green to grey-green and finely cut, giving it an airy appearance. Flower spires of fuzzy, lavender blue flowers begin in June and continue through the summer months. Useful in the perennial or shrub border, with ornamental grasses, and as a cut flower.

Common name:Blue Fescue
Botanical name:Festuca ovina glauca

This group of ornamental grasses generally grow less than a foot tall and have fine, green to blue-green, evergreen leaves that are very thin and hair-like. Flowers appear in the summer and have an airy and open appearance. Prefers full sun but will tolerate afternoon shade if not over-watered. It needs well draining soil and is drought tolerant once it's established. An evergreen, it may need tidying up in the spring; trim out dead foliage and seed heads.

Common name:Dwarf Globe Blue Spruce
Botanical name:Picea pungens 'Globosa'

Globe-shaped evergreen shrub is is flat-topped, densely branched, and dwarf, making it a nice evergreen for small spaces or in a mixed border. Bright blue needles hold their color all year ut are brighter in summer. Full sun to light shade. Slow grower to 3 to 5 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet wide.