Plants For Alpine Fell-Fields

Artemisia tridentata, Great Basin Sage Brush, growing in the Santa Margarita nursery garden.  - grid24_12
Artemisia tridentata Great Basin Sage Brush

An evergray shrub. 4 feet tall and wide. Native to dry areas of the western US. Needs full sun. It is very drought tolerant, needs good drainage. Its seeds are edible. Chewed leaves said to aid digest... Learn more.

Balsamorhiza sagittata Arrowleaf balsamroot - grid24_12
Balsamorhiza sagittata Arrowleaf balsamroot

syn Buphthalmum sagittata, Espeletia s., E. helianthoides, Balsamorhiza h.. Arrowleaf balsamroot grows from the Southern Sierra Nevada mountains up in British Columbia and across to Colorado. A large ... Learn more.

Carex spectabilis Showy Sedge - grid24_12
Carex spectabilis Showy Sedge

Showy Sedge occurs in the wet soil of meadows or rocky slopes where snow banks linger from 5800-12,000 ft. The plant is one to two feet tall. Showy Sedge likes full sun and part sun, and seasonal fl... Learn more.

Carex vernacula

Occurs at 10,000' on east side of Sierra. Associated with Antennaria alpina (Keeler-Wolf) in poorly drained mountain bogs....Carex gymnoclada, Salix anglorum, Potentilla drummondii, Dodecatheon alpinu... Learn more.

Delphinium polycladon Mountain Marsh Larkspur

Delphinium polycladon; Mountain Marsh Larkspur grows from about 7000-11,000 ft. the middle Sierras.A good candiate for an English Garden or moist perenniual garden. Learn more.

Deschampsia caespitosa,  Tufted Hairgrass with seed heads - grid24_12
Deschampsia caespitosa Tufted Hairgrass

Tufted Hairgrass is a perennial bunchgrass from mountain meadows. It grows very poorly in interior areas with hot summers and looks like hell here at all times. If you live in a mountain meadow at 600... Learn more.

Draba oligosperma Yellow Flowered Moss

Matted perennial, 1 foot high, 3 feet across, Sierra Nev., 11-13,000 ft., this small perennial is doing fine at our 1800 ft. location, should be tried for miniature rock gardens, needs good drainage, ... Learn more.

A cute little Chihuahua of a plant. As small as it is, 20 mm, notice there's a fly working the flower.The whole plant is about one inch across. - grid24_12
Erigeron uncialis

Lone Fleabane is a dinky little flowering perennial that grows on limestone in eastern California and Southeastern Nevada. Even though it commonly grows at 10,000 ft., it seems to do fine with regula... Learn more.

Eriogonum lobbii Granite Buckwheat

A small perennial with white pink flower clusters on flat gray leaves. Native on rocky outcrops in the higher elevations of No. Calif.. Assoc. plants include Lewisia cotyledon and Zauschneria lat. cal... Learn more.

Eriogonum kennedyi austromontanum in and about Big Bear. - grid24_12
Eriogonum kennedyi Kennedy's buckwheat

Kennedy's Buckwheat is a flat little perennial with white flowers that grows on mountain slopes from San Bernardino up onto the east slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains, north into Mono County and... Learn more.

Heuchera hirsutissima Idyllwild Rock Flower or Shaggyhair alumroot - grid24_12
Heuchera hirsutissima Idyllwild Rock Flower

Heuchera hirsutissima, Idyllwild Rock Flower is a flat little perennial that grows at higher elevations but is welcome in most California gardens. It grows 1-2 foot across with 1 inch dark green le... Learn more.

Heuchera rubescens var. glandulosa, Jack o the Rocks, grows in rocky areas,  has red stems and white to pink flowers, which make a good contrast. - grid24_12
Heuchera rubescens var. glandulosa Jack o the rocks

Alumroot. A perennial with small, grape-like leaves, only 3" high, shade to part shade, garden conditions, good with small ferns in shady rock gardens. Heuchera rubescens is a tough plant. It's hardy... Learn more.

Leptodactylon pungens hwy 18 just north of cactus spring big bear - grid24_12
Leptodactylon pungens Granite Gilia

Granite Gilia is a rock garden plant that lives in the rocky areas of many a western mountain tops. Needs good drainage, and a spot in the rocks. This could be a crack that you can dig into in a rock,... Learn more.

An old picture of lupinus breweri - grid24_12
Lupinus breweri

A small, usually matted(by snow) perennial Lupine of moderate elevations of Mtn. Pinos to Oregon. Brewer's Lupine is named after William Brewer who was part of the Calif. State Geological Survey party... Learn more.

Mimulus tilingii, Creeping Monkey, grows mostly in the mountains of California.  I think Jepson had a sense of humor when he tagged this form of Tillingii with Mimulus tilingii var. corallinus when he found it in Horse corral meadow. - grid24_12
Mimulus tilingii Creeping Monkey

A creeping perennial with 1 inch yellow flowers that make a 1 ft carpet of yellow at high elevations throughout most of the western states. It does o.k. here but needs constant moisture. Good near str... Learn more.

Oxytropis sericea White locoweed

Silky locoweed is a nitrogen fixing perennial that grows from the Yukon down into New Mexico, east to Oklahoma and west to the White Mountains of California. The silky white foliage and indigo blue fl... Learn more.

Penstemon caesius - grid24_12
Penstemon caesius Purple mountain bugler

Purple mountain bugler grows in rocky mountain areas of Southern California. In red fir and yellow pine forest openings at 6700 to 11,200 feet. The soil has a great deal of limestone in it but loo... Learn more.

Penstemon davidsonii. Davidson's Penstemon  - grid24_12
Penstemon davidsonii Blue Color Mat

A little flat perennial that prefers to be under snowcover in winter. It needs good drainage and full sun in its element. 1-1 1/2" blue flowers in late spring. It does not like to dry out in summer an... Learn more.

Penstemon heterodoxus, Sierra Penstemon, is a standout in the rock garden, placed in front of  taller yellow flowers such as Solidago species.  - grid24_12
Penstemon heterodoxus Sierra Penstemon

A perennial that is 2\" tall with purple flowers in clusters covering the plant bring the total height of the plant to 6\" with a width of 1\'. Native to the Sierras 8000-12000\' and White Mountains. ... Learn more.

 Penstemon procerus littleflower penstemon - grid24_12
Penstemon procerus Small penstemon

Small Penstemon is native in the higher elevations of California throughout much of the rest of the US and Southern Canada. Useful in a small moist rock garden. Use with Eriogonium umbellatum, a boul... Learn more.

Penstemon purpusii is really cute, but was a pain for us. - grid24_12
Penstemon purpusii Snow mountain Penstemon

A flat perennial that grows to 1' across. It has gray foliage and purple flowers. It wants full sun where the summer temperatures are less than 80, more shade as the climate gets hotter. It grows in f... Learn more.

 Polemonium pulcherrimum, Western Sky Pilot flower - grid24_12
Polemonium pulcherrimum Western Sky Pilot

This is a little 3-6" perennial that has 1" white or blue flowers arising slightly above the foliage. It has done fine in the nursery for years. It never has gotten very big, but it has flowered for 3... Learn more.

Potentilla fructicosa - grid24_12
Potentilla fructicosa

(Syn. Pentaphylloides f., Dasiophora f., Potentilla fruticosa var. parvifolia, Potentilla floribunda, Fragaria fruticosa) Shrubby Cinquefoil grows along streams, in meadows and in openings in the fore... Learn more.

Ribes cereum, Wax Currant, growing in the Yellow Pine Forest, at Big Bear, California.  - grid24_12
Ribes cereum Wax Currant

syn. R. cereum var. pedicellare, R.c. var. farinosum, R. c. var. viridescens, Ribes inebrians, R. reniforme, R. balsamifera, , R. spaethianum, R. pumilium, R. churchii. Wax currant or Squaw currant ... Learn more.

Salix eastwoodiae Sierra Willow

A fuzzy grey almost groundcover willow of the upper middle Sierras. Learn more.

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