What are the Best Wildflowers for the Rocky Mountain Region?

One of the best choices you can make to have a gorgeous garden is to plant wildflowers! By giving the impression of wildness, of unrestrained freedom, they will make your garden look beautiful and original. In addition, they are very easy to care for, so you will not have to worry too much about them. Find out everything you need to know about the best wildflowers for the Rocky Mountain Region from the article below.

Wildflowers can be truly amazing, and their aspect wipes that impression of perfect garden layout and design that may actually spoil the natural beauty. Some people, in their intimate space, want to relax instead of feeling as if they are walking into an impeccable plant museum. But the supreme advantage of wildflowers is that they do not require too much of your time: being accustomed to growing up in open spaces, where no one cares about them, they will not become a burden. Most wildflowers do not require special soils, nor too much water or excess fertilizer.

However, there are certain things you need to do, just to make sure your garden located in the Rocky Mountain Region remains healthy and beautiful yearlong. One of the most important is to choose your meadow mix flowers according to the climate in the region.

Climate in the Rockies

The climate is temperate, oceanic type, being nuanced by the contribution of the Pacific Ocean and a part of the warm oceanic current Kuro-Shivo. Towards the coast, the precipitations are abundant; they pass of 3000 mm annual average, whereas on the plateaus within mountains they do not exceed 350 mm.

The mountainous system of the Rockies is of great importance in the formation of the American Chinook Foehn wind which, in a single day, can raise the temperature from -20 degrees to + 20 degrees in the marginal lands, that is in the prairies. However, dramatic decreases in temperature may also occur in the northern part of the Rocky Mountain Region. In general, the temperatures are typical of an alpine climate, which obviously causes the development of an alpine flora, and forests at lower altitudes.

meadow mix

How do you choose wildflowers for your garden in the Rocky Mountain region?

The advice of specialists is to opt for wildflower species specific to your area and altitude. Do not focus only on the ones you like, as they may be incompatible with the soil you have in the garden. You should also takes into account the available space you have, as many species grow large enough to annihilate the most delicate ones.

A few suggestions you can use to create your own wildflower garden:

  • Colorado Blue Columbine or Rocky Mountain Columbine (Aquilegia coerulea)
  • Heartleaf Bittercress (Cardamine cordifolia)
  • Splitleaf Indian Paintbrush or Rosy Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja rhexiifolia)
  • Fireweed or Great Willow Herb (Chamerion angustifolium)
  • Sego Lily or Mariposa Lily (Calochortus nuttallii)
  • Common Gaillardia or Blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata)
  • Bitter Root (Lewisia rediviva)
  • Wild Blue Flax or Prairie Flax or Lewis Flax (Linum lewisii)
  • Cushion Phlox (Phlox pulvinata)
  • Subalpine Buttercup (Ranunculus eschscholtzii)