Flowers that Make Great Cut Flowers for a Colorado Perennial Garden
Flowers are the essential part of many plants’ life cycles. They are also crucial to the life cycle and nourishment of insects and birds. Many beneficial insects need the sweet nectar from a flower to sustain themselves. Ladybugs are a great example of this, if there aren’t enough aphids around for lunch they look for flower pollen and nectar. The more flowers, the more beneficial insects and bees can thrive.
Here is a great list of beneficial flowers that make great cuttings as well!
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- Coneflower – (Echinacea) – Great for beneficial insects, humming birds, seeds are eaten by birds. Drought tolerant, perennial.
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- Bee Balm – great for beneficial insects, but not drought tolerant
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- Liatris – native varieties, great for butterflies. Perennial, semi-drought tolerant.
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- Iris – lots of colors to choose from, drought tolerant perennial.
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- Peony – semi-drought tolerant & colorful perennial.
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- Yarrow – very drought tolerant perennial, many colors. Great for beneficial insects, compost activator, medicinal uses.
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- Shasta daisies – drought tolerant perennial
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- Blue Flax – native drought tolerant perennial.
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- Purple Prairie Clover – perennial drought tolerant native, nitrogen fixer.
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- Agastache – (hyssop) native drought tolerant perennial. Needs dry or good drainage.
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- Penstemon – native perennial, many varieties, drought tolerant. Needs dry or good drainage.
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- Daylillies – adaptable, drought tolerant, colorful.
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- Daffodils – spring bulbs, perennial drought tolerant.
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- Tulips – spring bulb, drought resistant
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- Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) – spring bulb, spreading, shade tolerant.
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- Mullein – bi-annual, bee food, medicinal, native.
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- Sunflower – annual, drought tolerant, birds and bees love them.
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- False indigo – perennial bush, nitrogen fixing, drought tolerant
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- Lilac – fragrant, large bush, very drought tolerant
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- Forsythia – perennial large bush, drought tolerant
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- Lavender – perennial small bush. great bee food, fragrant, medicinal, culinary
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- Russian Sage – drought tolerant perennial, bee food, medicinal
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- Roses – wild or cultivated, drought tolerant, fragrant, rose hips
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- Maximilian sunflower – clumping perennial sunflower
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- Apache Plume – native, drought tolerant small bush
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- Buffaloberry – native, nitrogen fixing, earliest bee food, medium bush, berries stick to stalks, edible.
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- Sea Buckthorn – edible, medical, large bush, nitrogen fixing, berries stick to stalks
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- Rabbit brush – native, small bush, late bee food.
