Autumn Amber sumac - (1) New Mexico 2025
Autumn joy sedum - (2) Asia/Europe 2025
Autumn Sapphire™ sage - (4) Texas 2024
Blonde Ambition blue grama grass - (8) New Mexico 2019
Butterfly weed - (3) native 2026
Butterfly weed 'Hello yellow'- (1) native 2019 (3) 2026
Carolyn's Hope pink penstemon - (1) Colorado Mexicali penstemon 2024
Canby's mountain lover - (3) Appalachia 2024
Cashmere sage - (1) Kashmir 2025
Cherry skullcap - (3) Texas, New Mexico 2025
CHEYENNEⓇ mock orange - (1) Canada/Cheyenne 2025
Chick CharmsⓇ Trio Strawberry Sunrise - (6) hybrid 2026
Chieftain manzanita - (2) native 2020
Chocolate flower - (3) native wildflower 2025
COLORADO GOLDⓇ gazania - (8) Africa 2024, 2025
Colorado pinyon - (1) Colorado 2019
Coral Baby penstemon - (1) native hybrid 2025
CORAL CANYONⓇ twinspur - (3) South Africa 2025
Coreopsis grandiflora 'Double the Sun' - (1) native 2026
Coreopsis grandiflora 'Solar Fancy' - (2) native 2026
Corsican violet - (3) Mediterranean 2025 (2) 2026
DENVER GOLDⓇ columbine - (1) native 2020
Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus' - (6) native 2019
Engelmann’s daisy - (3) native 2020, 2025
Fernbush - (2) native 2025
FIRST LOVE™ dianthus - (6) hybrid Dianthus genus native to Europe and Asia 2025
Flatiron™sand cherry - (2) native 2026
Gaillardia 'Arizona Red Shades' - (2) hybrid native 2025
Gaillardia 'Spin Top Orange Halo' - (4) hybrid native 2025
Gold on Blue prairie zinnia - (2 habitat locations) Great Plains 2020
Golden candles - (2) Asia, Russia 2021
Golden storksbill - (3) Greece 2025
Grand Mesa beardtongue - (4) native 2026
GRANITAⓇ Orange Ice Plant - (3) South Africa 2026
GranitaⓇ Raspberry ice plant - (4) ice plant cultivar 2026
HALF PINTⓇ pineleaf penstemon - (3) New Mexico, Arizona 2025
KANNAH CREEKⓇ buckwheat - (3 habitat locations) native 2020
KINTZLEY'S GHOSTⓇ honeysuckle - (1) native 2025
Lavender haze hyssop - (1) Netherlands, hybrid of anise hyssop 2019
Leprechaun southernwood – (3) Mediterranean 2025
Littleleaf mountain mahogany - (4) native 2019
MONGOLIAN BELLSⓇ clematis - (2) Mongolia 2020
Mongolian Snowflakes - (1) Mongolia 2020
Moonglow juniper - (1) cultivar of Rocky Mountain juniper 2019
Munstead lavender - (1) Mediterranean 2024
ORANGE CARPETⓇ hummingbird trumpet - (1) Idaho 2019
PAWNEE BUTTESⓇ sand cherry - (7) native 2019
PINK ON REPEAT™ lilac - (1) Cheyenne 2025
Pink cotton lamb's ear - (3) Iraq, Iran 2025
Prairie dock - (1) mid west native 2021
Prickly pear 'Walk in Beauty Fire Sun' - (1) hybrid by Kelly Grummons 2025
Purple winter savory - (4) Mediterranean 2025
RAMBLER™ mountain fleabane - (2) native 2025 (1) 2026
Red Birds in a Tree - (3) New Mexico 2019, 2025
Rocky Mountain goldenrod - (6) native 2025 (6) 2026
Rocky Mountain sumac - (1) native 2019
Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' - (1) Czechoslovakia 2026
SARADA'S™ Greek mountain tea - (3) Greece 2026
Scots 'Hillside Creeper' - (1) cultivar of Scotch pine from Pennsylvania 2019
SHADOW MOUNTAIN™ penstemon - (1) native Mexicali penstemon 2025
Snow Angel coral bells - (5) native cultivar 2026
Spanish PeaksⓇ foxglove - (2) Spain 2026
Standing Ovation little bluestem - (23) North American prairies 2019
SteppeSunsⓇ Sunset Glow penstemon - (2) bred at Denver Botanic Garden 2019
Stonecrop 'Little Miss Sunshine' - (3) native hybrid 2025
SUNSETⓇ foxglove - (3) Spain 2019
SUNSETⓇ hyssop - (5) Arizona, New Mexico 2020
TANAGERⓇ gazania - (3) Africa 2025
TIDY littleleaf peashrub - (2) Siberia 2021
Tennessee purple coneflower - (3) Tennessee 2021
UNFORGETTABLE™ hummingbird trumpet - (6) native cultivar 2026
VERMILLION BLUFFSⓇ Mexican sage - (1) Mexico 2025
Walker's low catmint - (9) Netherlands 2019
Washington hawthorne - (1) Washington, D.C. 2019
Wee One dwarf English lavender - (2) hybrid 2025
Western sugar maple - (1) western United States 2019
Westerplatte clematis - (1) Poland 2019
WINDWALKERⓇ big bluestem grass - (8) North America 2021
WINDWALKERⓇ Desert Rose salvia - (2) native 2026
WINDWALKERⓇ garnet penstemon - (1) native hybrid 2025
WINTER FIREⓇ sedum - (2) Italy 2019 (2) 2026
BOLD indicates a Native to the 4 Corners region and the Midwest. Some of the plants are cultivars of native species, and we include them in this group as well. Not all native plants in the habitat are designated as Plant Select®, and not all Plant Select® plants are natives.
The Shadow Grass Park Pollinator Habitat is designated as a Plant Select® Demonstration Garden and a Certified Wildlife Habitat. There are about 70 Plant Select® Demonstration Gardens nationwide, but currently only two that are HOA-sponsored: Shadow Grass and Cherry Creek. The Shadow Grass Park habitat is teaming with pollinators and wildlife of all kinds: ladybugs, beetles, praying mantis, bumblebees, honeybees, leafcutter bees, yellow jackets, wasps, sphinx moths, monarch butterflies, painted ladies, tiger swallowtails, cabbage butterflies, crickets, mosquitoes, and more. There are birds: finches, rufous hummingbirds, white-crowned sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, robins, goldfinches, lesser goldfinches, Say's phoebes, mourning doves, blue jays, grackles, Cooper's hawk, northern flickers, spotted towhees, and more. There are earthworms, toads, garter snakes, and rabbits.
Most plants in the habitat have been observed to be “resistant” to Japanese beetles, which feed on some habitat plants such as coneflowers, goldenrod, fleabane, clematis, and chocolate flowers. Mountain mahogany and Tidy littleleaf peashrubs are nitrogen-fixing plants. Many of the plants are considered "low flammability" because they retain moisture. Gravel is considered low-flammability and does a good job insulating the roots from extreme temperature fluctuations. Because the habitat is east-facing, it receives full sun for most of the day. It is mulched with gravel and can run up to 10 degrees hotter than the ambient temperature. The habitat is watered twice a week from overhead sprinklers from mid-May to mid-October. The habitat is subject to damage from high winds, hail, torrential rain, sub-zero temperatures, heavy snow, freezing rain, flash freezes, drought conditions, and heavy smoke from wildfires. Other challenges include rabbits, grasshoppers, aphids, and Japanese beetles. It is maintained and weeded by volunteers, and spring and fall cleanups are conducted by Beltran Landscaping.
We typically buy plants for the habitat from The Flower Bin, The Tree Farm Nursery & Garden, Harlequin Gardens, Echter's Nursery & Garden Center, and High Country Gardens (online).