Tall shrub up to 7ft or more with grayish leaves and red berries on the female plant

Tolerant of high pH soils like ours and drought and cold tolerant

For indigenous peoples it provided fruit for nutrition and medicinal use

The Navajo used the ashes to make a lotion to soothe headaches, toothaches and sore throats.

(Our specimen planted in Fall, 2021)

Pink flowers are especially attractive to beneficial insects, critical to the survival of Monarch butterflies.

Seed pods burst open to show long, silvery white hairs    

Indigenous people ate the flowers of this 2-4ft plant raw and cooked the shoots like asparagus

A very hardy native with gray green leaves, and pendulous greenish white flowers which form a woody seed pod. It can reach heights up to 4ft.

Indigenous people used the roots for making soap and the fibrous leaves for making baskets

For the Durango gardener, they can provide seasonal interest with their spectacular flower, and gray leaves which hold color all Winter.