EPA Level III Ecoregion
Southern Rockies
950 native plants for the Southern Rockies ecoregion (Durango area).
The Southern Rockies run through central and western Colorado into northern New Mexico, covering Durango, Santa Fe, Taos, Steamboat Springs, and Salida. Everything here is governed by elevation: the growing season shortens and the snow deepens as you climb, and the same town can hold both a hot south-facing slope and a cold shaded draw. Natives such as blue giant-hyssop, Rocky Mountain blazing star, and apache plume handle thin soils, intense sun, and nights that stay cold well into summer.
Conditions: Thin rocky soils on steep terrain, 15–40 inches of precipitation depending on elevation, deep snow, intense sun, cold nights.
Cities and areas: Durango, Santa Fe, Steamboat Springs, Alamosa, Taos, Salida.
950 Native Plants for the Southern Rockies
HOA-friendly picks listed first. Pet-safety status varies by species; each plant page shows its sourced ASPCA status. Native range data from vouchered herbarium specimen records and regional native plant society lists.
Swamp Milkweed
Asclepias incarnata
Little Bluestem
Schizachyrium scoparium
Wild Bergamot
Monarda fistulosa
Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta
Butterfly Milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa
Blue Lobelia
Lobelia siphilitica
Common Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
Switchgrass
Panicum virgatum
Common Sneezeweed
Helenium autumnale
False Sunflower
Heliopsis helianthoides
Lanceleaf Coreopsis
Coreopsis lanceolata
Nodding Onion
Allium cernuum
Blue Giant-hyssop
Agastache foeniculum
Sideoats Grama
Bouteloua curtipendula
Smooth Aster
Symphyotrichum laeve
Purple Prairie Clover
Dalea purpurea
Indiangrass
Sorghastrum nutans
American Fox Sedge
Carex vulpinoidea
Blue Grama
Bouteloua gracilis
Aromatic Sumac
Rhus aromatica
Scarlet Strawberry
Fragaria virginiana
Red-osier Dogwood
Cornus sericea
Azure Sage
Salvia azurea
Prairie Junegrass
Koeleria macrantha
Eastern Red Cedar
Juniperus virginiana
Leadplant
Amorpha canescens
Fall Aster
Symphyotrichum oblongifolium
Mexican Hat
Ratibida columnifera
American Solomon's-seal
Polygonatum biflorum
Winecup
Callirhoe involucrata
Bear-grape
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
Wafer Ash
Ptelea trifoliata
Golden Currant
Ribes aureum
Wild Woodland Strawberries
Fragaria vesca
Prairie Wildrye
Elymus canadensis
American Germander
Teucrium canadense
Solomon's-plume
Maianthemum racemosum
Firewheel
Gaillardia pulchella
White Prairie Clover
Dalea candida
Tufted Hairgrass
Deschampsia cespitosa
Heart-leaf Golden Alexanders
Zizia aptera
Gayfeather
Liatris punctata
Short-beak Sedge
Carex brevior
Stiff Goldenrod
Solidago rigida
Field Pussytoes
Antennaria neglecta
Great Blanket-flower
Gaillardia aristata
Canoe Birch
Betula papyrifera
Sulfur-buckwheat
Eriogonum umbellatum
Showing 48 of 950. Enter your ZIP for the natives matched to your yard.
Fall care in the Southern Rockies
What to do right now for plants commonly grown here. Each links to the full regional care guide for that species, with sources.
- Plains zinnia
Fall bloom tapers off as Durango's first frost arrives, usually in the last week of September, and the plant needs no special prep for winter.
- Golden currant
Fall brings leaf color, the first frost, and another good planting window for golden currant.
- Tufted hairgrass
Fall brings Durango's first frost around late September, and it is one of the two good windows for dividing a clump before winter.
- Stiff goldenrod
Fall is bloom season here, with flat clusters of yellow flowers opening from August into Durango's first frosts around late September.
- Tufted evening primrose
Fall seed set and a light cleanup as Durango's growing season winds down.
- Blackfoot daisy
Fall brings the last strong bloom push before frost, plus a natural point to tidy up seed heads.
- Sweet crab apple
Fall is when Durango's mountain climate calls for a few tree-specific chores before the ground freezes, wrapping the trunk and building up mulch.
- Wavyleaf thistle
Fall is when second-year pasture thistle plants finish their life cycle, and it is a good time to manage how much the patch spreads.
- Four nerve daisy
As Durango's growing season winds down toward its typical first frost in late September, four nerve daisy keeps blooming later than most perennials in the bed.
- Common sneezeweed
Fall is peak bloom for Common Sneezeweed. Once flowering finishes and the first hard frost blackens the foliage, cut the whole plant back to 2 to 3 inches above the ground and remove the debris. This keeps a front-yard bed looking tended through the shoulder season instead of leaving collapsed brown stalks standing.
Build a plan for the Southern Rockies
The Pollinator Patch App turns plants like these into a front-yard plan tuned for the soil, climate, and HOA expectations of the Durango area.