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Small Trees and Large Shrubs All of the good attributes of medium sized trees apply to these also, only for even tighter spots and with more windbreak potential because shrubs carry foliage to the ground in most cases.
Folks who have bought this accent tree love its unique growth habit - it looks rugged and windswept when young. This Hawthorn would do well anywhere in Wyoming. It’s an attractive broad -headed tree, with small 3/8” thorns. Leaves are deeply lobed and medium green in summer. Numerous white flowers emerge in the spring and by late September the whole tree begins to glow as the abundant cherry like fruit ripens. They decorate the branches like ornaments for 2- 3 weeks and make a great bird attractant! This one wants full sun. This tree has done well at the Cheyenne Experiment Station for over 70 years! Click Here to watch our VIDEO about Russian Hawthorn.
One of our personal favorites, this native performs at its best in central Wyoming! Can be considered a small tree/large shrub with the ability to withstand just about anything Mother Nature can conjure - wind, drought, sun, and difficult soils. Consider planting them in multiples - much like an Aspen grove or for a windbreak. Excellent choice for wildlife (Especially squirrels and turkeys!) because of the acorns it produces. Glossy green leaves turn yellow to an occasional orange or red in autumn.
Fragrant white flowers in pendulous racemes appear in spring, followed by fruit you and the birds will fight over (homemade jelly!) Both the statewide native green leafed form and the maroon leafed Canada Red grow in some very rugged conditions! The yellow fruited is the same except that it was found growing outside Sheridan and the fruit gives the appearance of a bright second bloom in late July and August. (Birds aren’t as tuned in to seek out that color to eat.) All three are excellent choices for a Screen or Windbreak because of fast growth. All sucker so planting in an area that allows for new stemsto spring up only adds to the screening effect!
Plant Select® 2007 Consistent, breath-taking scarlet red samaras (seeds) appear in summer giving the tree the appearance of being in bloom! Outstanding autumn color as the leaf color migrates from orange-red on the outside to yellow in the middle of the tree. Tolerates a wide range of soils and is drought tolerant to boot! One of our growers developed this tree and has since patented it and soon it will be available around the nation. Be the first to grow this specimen tree!
As the name suggests, its ‘columnar’ and an excellent choice for a dense hedge or privacy screen in tight places! (think about those neighbors you want to screen-out!) Surprisingly rugged for our conditions, this handsome shrub with glossy green foliage and in late summer purple fruit and yellow autumn leaf color is even thornless. Great windbreak and screen potential!
If you like the look of Aspens but just can’t get them to survive, we recommend this as an alternative. “Limbing up” to expose the smooth whitish-blond trunks gives an Aspen-like look. We like it for its own look and high desert-edge heritage. It really performs under hot, dry and windy conditions! Yellow flowers (on female trees) precede leaves in the spring followed by small dark blue fruit in August - a real treat for birds. The leaves are small, light green ovals and wind tolerant. In the six years we’ve been growing this species we’ve seen no deer damage. An excellent choice for a windbreak.
New! This is a twin to the Plant Select selection of the Blue Velvet Honeysuckle. Our grower noticed it in their trial beds as being slightly different – it had even more pink flowers than the Blue Velvet! This is an outstanding shrub for a windbreak or screen.Pubescent light blue foliage in spring matures to gray green. We’ve trialed the Blue Velvet for over 10 years and have seen no insect, disease, or wildlife issues. Expect the same from this shrub! Watch this VIDEO about this premier shrub!
The Cheyenne Horticultural Field Station; a Wyoming treasure. Established in 1928, the mission was to research dry land conditions and to aid horticulture development in the West. For 46 years the Station field-tested thousands of fruits and vegetables as well as ornamental trees and shrubs. The research needs of the USDA changed and in 1974 trials ended having tested 1,300 woody ornamental plants, 200 hundred trees/shrubs for windbreaks, 2,000 fruit varieties and 8,000 vegetables! Afterwards, interested staff volunteered and did what they could but it was not the priority of the station. After twenty years interest in the facility was renewed. Nurseries began to search for new plants that were hardy in the West’s difficult soils and climate. in 1974, 250 species had survived. Many of these trees and shrubs have now been propagated and made available to the nursery trade. The property has now recently been deeded to the city of Cheyenne and their botanic garden and will have a secure future to showcase horticultural possibilities at elevation in the wind, dryness, hail, abrupt temperature changes and alkaline soils. The Wyoming Plant Company is proud to offer a number of these plants, not only as beautiful ornamentals but also as true Wyoming survivors. We applaud the men and women who traveled the globe in those early years to collect such gems, those who tended trials on the open plain, those who weeded and watered in the hiatus years and the new plant finders who championed these selections into the wider western.
Tip on formal hedge pruning: Whether you choose Curl Leaf Mountain Mahogany, Cheyenne Privet or another species for a formal hedge, you must prune so that the base of the plant is wider than the top if you want the plant to carry foliage to the ground and not become leafless and twiggy in its lower parts. The sun must reach all parts of the side of the hedge to keep it in active foliar growth.
Wind is such a constant factor in Wyoming. Whether you live in town or the country windbreak plantings can offer you a sanctuary from its draining effect. Regardless of the size of your yard we can help you create your sheltered outdoor living area. In town, this may mean clustered plantings of trees and shrubs whereas a country property has space for traditional layered rows. Consider these species for the job: Utah Serviceberry, Wichita Blue and Cologreen Juniper, Gambel Oak, Russian Hawthorn, New Mexico Olive, Cheyenne Privet, Columnar Buckthorn, and don’t forget the chokecherries! If trees and shrubs are in your future, consider dormant planting in March and April. There is less heat and water stress associated with planting then for you and your trees! When ever possible we will work with you to secure your woody’s for early spring delivery. When ordering please indicate on the order form you want to plant early.
“Lilacs could very likely be the first plants brought into the High Plains by early settlers. We say this not because they have been mentioned in the literature, but because we see them growing beside long abandoned homesteads. The sturdiness and beauty that inspired the early settlers to bring them west are still good qualities that encourage us to use them today. Even small children can recognize lilacs, responding to their unmistakable blooms and fragrance.”
If you like profuse blooming, fragrant purple lilacs – look no further! But it doesn’t stop there –this one is considered to be one of the best lilacs for hedge or screen planting because it holds its foliage downs to the ground and grows so quickly! The leaves are smaller than on most lilacs and we think more decorative and the flower clusters are more open and airy.
This lilac was developed in 1943 in tribute to the city of Moscow and today it still is one of the most striking lilacs on the market! It blooms in late may and exhibits an array of small pink buds that open into large white double flowers with a star-like appearance. This stunning combination of pink and white synonymously creates a beautiful bouquet effect. As the flower matures, its exceptional fragrance becomes strikingly stronger. Each year our customers huddle around these lilacs taking turns inhaling — and it’s not illegal!
This may be the common species of lilac but there is nothing common about the purple florets that are tipped in white— the only picotee lilac we are aware of in any species! This one is shorter and more upright in habit than “common purple” but just as healthy and hardy!
Upright rapid growing hedge plant with extremely fragrant clusters of small white flowers in early summer. Takes shearing well making it excellent for screening and formal hedge use! The most famous of all the Cheyenne Horticulture Field Station plants. Establishes easily in difficult sites. Originally found near Sarajevo, Bosnia.
Native tree-like shrub with silvery foliage and thorny branch tips. Yellow flowers in spring are followed by orange-red berries for jelly or birds on female plants. Must have a male plant to pollinate. Outstanding as an accent shrub where slivery foliage is desired, in a windbreak or as wildlife cover and food.
Height Width Shape Zone Watering Sun 10 to 15 feet 10 to 12 feet Rounded 2 Full Sun
Curl Leaf Mountain Mahogany (Cerocarpus ledifolius) This drought tolerant Wyoming native is found throughout the foothill country of the Bighorns. This shrub has an upright habit with dark green, leathery leaves with edges that curl under — giving it its name! Most winters the leaves stay green adding interest through out the year. In autumn, attractive, curled, fuzzy seed tails arise adding yet another reason to add this to your western landscape. Very long lived, in fact we believe that some near the ‘Hole in the Wall’ Country are over 2,000 years old! Consider using this for a western formal hedge. As a native plant it is regularly “pruned” by deer without detrimental effect. It will be a while before it needs shearing but when it gets to your chosen size it will tolerate it well.
Toba Hawthorn (Crataegus x mordenensis ‘Toba’) New! This was developed many years ago at the Morden Research Station in Manitoba, Canada. Like the other hawthorns we recommend, it has disease and insect resistance, and has year-round interest in the landscape. In late May, clusters of double white, fragrant flowers appear, aging to showy pale pink. Medium sized dark red fruit ripens in late summer and persists that way through winter. In autumn, the green leaves migrate from yellow to orange. The trunk and branches have a distinctive yellow-orange bark and become ‘muscled and twisted’ with age adding another unique characteristic to this tough tree.
Size Cost 1 inch diameter Bare Root $70.00 10 Gal (available in June) $150.00
Rain Gauge Throughout this site, the following are used as guidelines for watering established plants:
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Cheyenne Pink Velvet
Silver Buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea) 
These plants need regular watering somewhat like a bluegrass lawn so that they never dry to depth in the root system during the active growing season and need occasional winter watering to prevent root dessication and resultant plant death.
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