Pick a Colorado Plant, Any Plant

At every Garden Bloggers Fling, attendees discuss which plant signifies that particular gathering and locale. It's always interesting to hear the ideas. Was it the multicolored Ice Plants (Delosperma spp.) blooming in so many of the gardens?



Or the tiny Hens and Chicks (Sempervivum spp.) and other low-growing succulent plants, which were also prevalent? These were particularly prominent in the many rock and crevice gardens in the Denver area.



The Ninebarks (Physocarpus opulifolius) were blooming: Who can argue with this beauty? But wait; this was one of the plants of the Toronto Fling, right?



The cold-hardy Agaves were happy in several gardens. (Is this A. havardiana?) Well, Agaves were also an Austin Fling plant.



Oh my gosh, the Poppies (Papaver and Eschscholzia spp.)!

















But Poppies are popular everywhere.



Maybe it was the masses of African Daisies (Osteospermum spp.).



Or the Cactuses, like this stunning, bright pink-blooming Beaver-Tail Cactus (Opuntia basilaris).



Personally, I'm always partial to delicate, but tough Astrantias (A. major).



And an all-time favorite that's native only to the Southwest U.S. and Northern Mexico is the shrub Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa). It looks different at various stages and in different lighting.







Apache Plume seedheads resemble those of Prairie Smoke (Geum troflorum); both are in the rose family.



Many people felt that Foxtail Lilies (Eremurus robustus) were the Denver Fling signature plant.



They were quite dramatic--like candelabra glowing over their garden beds.



But perhaps the signature plant of the Denver Garden Bloggers Fling was the Rocky Mountain Penstemon (P. strictus). That color, that form, those "pollinator pockets"!







How does one choose? All the Fling plants were fabulous!