Southern Rockies

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.