There wasn’t space in the Winter issue to include all the plants that Karen Brower has grown at her Southwest Montana home. For the full story, see “A High-Country Cottage Garden” on p. 20 of Zone 4 No. 16.

Karen’s favorite plant varieties, as she said, “are easily grown from nursery plants, or often from seed, and add a lot of color and interest to the garden.” She offers a few seasonal plant suggestions that can grow well in many zone 4 gardens.

Early Spring

•   Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa spp.)

•   Creeping veronica (Veronica pectinata)

•   Japanese peony (Paeonia japonica)

•   Drumstick primrose (Primula denticulata)

•   Pasque flowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris)

•   Species tulip (Tulipa sp.)

Late Spring

•   Darwin and lily-flowered tulips (Tulipa spp.)

•   Columbines, many hybrids and species (Aquilegia spp.)

•   Dwarf and intermediate bearded iris (Iris spp.)

•   Alyssum (Aurinia saxatilis) ‘Basket of Gold’

•   Creeping phlox (Phlox subulata)

Early Summer

•   Siberian and German iris (Iris spp.)

•   Penstemon Eatoniiand P. ovatus

•    Mediterranean Pinks (Saponaria Ocymoides)

•   Oriental poppies (Papaver orientale)

•   Bellflowers (Campanula cochleariifolia and C. carpatica)

•   Fleabane (Erigeron speciosus )‘Pink Jewel’

Mid-Summer

•   Delphiniumspp. ‘Pacific Hybrid’ and ‘Connecticut Yankee’

•   Yellow columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha)

•   Daylilies (Hemerocallis  spp. ‘Stella d’Oro’, ‘Hyperion’, and Candy series)

•   Common peonies (Paeonia  spp.)

•   Bee balm (Monarda didyma) ‘Marshall’s delight’

Late Summer/Fall

•   Sedum‘Autumn Joy’ and ‘Matrona’

•   Coneflowers (Rudbeckia fulgida and R. nitida (6 feet tall in my garden!)

•   Aster novi-belgii‘Professor Kippenberg’

•   Chrysanthemumx rubellum ‘Clara Curtis’

•   Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)

•   Blazing-star (Liatris punctataand L. spicata)