Spicy High-Country Flare: Orange Carpet Hummingbird Mint and Sulphur Flower Buckwheat
For high-altitude rock gardens, gravel beds, or terraced xeriscapes, interplanting ‘Orange Carpet’ Hummingbird Mint (Agastache aurantiaca) with native Sulphur Flower Buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum) creates an exceptional, drought-proof tapestry. ‘Orange Carpet’ spreads ground-hugging mats of fine foliage topped with intense tubular bright orange blossoms that serve as magnets for hummingbirds. Sulphur Flower Buckwheat—a true native champion of the Rocky Mountains—produces dense cream-to-bright-yellow flower clusters resting over leathery, evergreen foliage. As autumn approaches, the Buckwheat flowers dry into warm russet-red seed heads that stay attractive for months. Both species require lean, gravelly soil with quick drainage, effortlessly withstanding intense high-altitude sunlight and freezing winter temperatures. Their combination brings low-slung, high-intensity color that locks down dry gravel slopes and rock borders with minimum watering requirements.