Plants For Sub-Alpine Forest

Mountain Yarrow's leaves are smaller and tighter than the common native yarrow in California. The plants are lower to the ground, flowers are as large and a bright, pure white. Achillea lanulosa grow... Learn more.

Sierra Columbine, Aquilegia pubescens, is similar to Aquilegia formosa but with larger, all yellow flowers with longer, more delicate spurs, sometimes with a little red or pink. Flowers are erect, n... Learn more.

Hoovers Manzanita is an evergray 10' X `6' bush with red stems that has proved intractable in our climate and soil. This species has an interesting leaf appearance, because of the long, silvery, hair... Learn more.

This is another species that is excellent in its range, and a pain elsewhere. If you have a mountain cabin in snow country this one's worth trying as a groundcover as it grows about 8 foot across and ... Learn more.

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.

I first saw A. integrifolius covering a hillside in a riot of blue. The elevation was about 5000 ft. above Sonora. The cover was rocky and open with the area around having Ponderosa Pines and some man... Learn more.

Blue Joint grows as a large creeping grass in wet places or meadows from Manitoba to New Mexico, Newfoundland to California. In California Blue-joint lives from about Tulare Co. north in the Sierras, ... Learn more.

Curl leaf mountain mahogany is an evergreen shrub or small tree to 15 feet tall, that grows in desert mountains of the western U.S. Excellent as a tough screen or accent plant, and an attractive pla... Learn more.

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.

A flat perennial strawberry with gray leaves, ranges in the wilds from California to British Columbia, to Wyoming. In California it ranges from 4000 to 10,000+ feet in the Sierra Nevada mountains. As... Learn more.

Scarlet Gilia is a biennial or short lived perennial that grows one to three foot tall with one to multiple stems of red tubular flowers. Rather common in open sandy areas of middle elevations where ... Learn more.

Mountain helenium is a foot or so perennial herb with yellow daisy-like flowers 3 inches across native to wet meadows, high elevations, Sierra Nevada. It needs part-shade to sun, regular water. Owl... Learn more.

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 merriami, or Alumroot, grows up to 10,000 feet elevation but it is hardy to only -10 F. The leaves are small, with scalloped edges, and form a low clump near the ground, while the flowering... Learn more.

The only differences between this and Heuchera rubescens are smaller leaves and a slightly lower plant. Learn more.

Juniperus communis montana is a  prostrate ground cover native to higher elevations in Northern and Eastern California  Mountains to Northern Alaska to Greenland. A common, low mountain ground cover ... Learn more.

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.

A deciduous shrub to 8', normally to 6'. The flowers are orange-red and appear from Mar.-Jul.. It has formal looking dark green foliage. The black berries are edible but bitter. Native to the Californ... Learn more.

A 1-2' perennial with 1" white flowers. The fragrant foliage has a very good mint odor. Native to 2000'+ throughout much of the West. It likes part shade to shade where the summers are hot and full su... Learn more.

A small little perennial that grows in our western mountains.The most likely place to find Mountain Muhly in California is Yosemite Valley. Companion plants include Mutton Grass (Poa fendleriana), We... Learn more.

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.

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.

A flat perennial with 3" long 1/2"wide dark green leaves. Bright lavender-blue flowers in clusters on a 4-6" spire. Best for moist spots (not wet spots). Not as drought tolerant in interior heat. It w... Learn more.

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.

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.