Even in Utah’s dry climate, certain flowers manage to flourish and bring life to any garden. I’ve tried plenty in my own yard, and a few proven favorites stand out for their resilience and vibrant color.
These blooms don’t just survive—they brighten up dry landscapes with ease. With a little planning, your garden can stay lively and full of charm all season.
Let’s check out the flowers that thrive best in Utah’s arid environment.
1. Lavender
The fragrant purple spikes are a favorite across Utah’s sunny valleys. Hardy and low-maintenance, lavender thrives in our state’s alkaline soil and requires minimal watering once established.
Beyond its beauty, this Mediterranean native offers calming aromatherapy benefits and attracts beneficial pollinators to your garden. Utah’s hot summers bring out its strongest fragrance.
2. Russian Sage
Airy clouds of tiny purple-blue flowers create dramatic impact from midsummer through fall. Many Utah landscapes feature this hardy perennial because it laughs at our state’s brutal heat waves and practically ignores drought.
Growing up to 4 feet tall, Russian sage provides fantastic height and structure. The silvery foliage looks beautiful even when not blooming, making it a true year-round performer in Utah gardens.
3. Blanket Flower
Cheerful red and yellow daisy-like blooms cover these plants from early summer until frost. Utah gardeners love how these native wildflowers keep producing flowers even during the hottest, driest weeks of summer.
Deer resistant and practically indestructible, blanket flowers attract butterflies while requiring almost no care. Their bright colors echo Utah’s famous red rock landscapes, creating a natural-looking garden.
4. Yarrow
Flat clusters of tiny flowers in white, yellow, or pink top feathery foliage that stays attractive all season. Native to Utah’s mountain meadows, yarrow handles our state’s challenging conditions with remarkable resilience.
Ancient healers prized yarrow for medicinal uses, but modern gardeners value its drought tolerance and pest resistance. The plants form tidy clumps that spread slowly without becoming invasive in Utah landscapes.
5. Agastache
Hummingbirds can’t resist the tubular flowers on these aromatic perennials. Utah’s high desert climate perfectly matches what these plants need: full sun, excellent drainage, and minimal water.
Sometimes called hyssop or hummingbird mint, agastache releases a delightful scent when brushed against. The spiky purple, orange, or pink flower wands add vertical interest to Utah gardens from midsummer through fall.
6. Penstemon
Tubular blooms in stunning shades from scarlet to electric blue dangle from upright stems. Utah actually claims more native penstemon species than any other state, making these showstoppers perfectly adapted to our challenging conditions.
Hummingbirds flock to these flowers while deer typically ignore them. The glossy, evergreen foliage of many varieties provides winter interest in Utah landscapes long after the blooms fade.
7. Sedum
Succulent leaves store water, making these plants incredibly drought-resistant champions. Throughout Utah, gardeners rely on sedums for their ability to thrive in poor soil and harsh conditions where other plants fail.
Fall-blooming varieties like ‘Autumn Joy’ produce large flower heads that change from pink to rusty red. Low-growing types create living carpets that suppress weeds in Utah rock gardens while requiring almost no maintenance.
8. Salvia
Spikes of blue, purple, or red flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds all summer long. Utah’s hot, dry climate brings out the best in these aromatic perennials, intensifying both their flower colors and distinctive scent.
Many varieties are actually culinary herbs related to common sage. The gray-green foliage remains attractive even during Utah’s harshest drought periods, adding texture and color to the garden year-round.
9. Coneflower
Daisy-like blooms with distinctive raised centers bring butterflies flocking to your garden. Native to America’s prairies, coneflowers handle Utah’s extreme temperature swings and periodic droughts with remarkable resilience.
Beyond their beauty, these plants have impressive medicinal properties. The flowers keep coming for months in Utah gardens, especially if you remove spent blooms, and they make excellent cut flowers for indoor arrangements.
10. Catmint
Clouds of lavender-blue flowers hover above aromatic gray-green foliage from late spring through fall. Utah gardeners appreciate how catmint bounces back after our state’s occasional summer hailstorms, quickly producing new growth and flowers.
Unlike its cousin catnip, most catmint varieties won’t drive your pets crazy. The plants form tidy mounds that suppress weeds and look beautiful spilling over walls or path edges in Utah landscapes.
11. Jupiter’s Beard
Clusters of tiny star-shaped flowers create a frothy display of red, pink, or white. Also called red valerian, this Mediterranean native handles Utah’s alkaline soil and water restrictions with remarkable grace. Once established, Jupiter’s beard reseeds gently without becoming invasive.
The plants bloom repeatedly throughout Utah’s long growing season if trimmed back after each flush of flowers, providing months of color with minimal effort.
12. Sulfur Buckwheat
Native to Utah’s high deserts, these wildflowers produce clusters of yellow blooms above silvery foliage. Extremely drought tolerant, sulfur buckwheat thrives in our state’s poorest soils where other plants struggle to survive.
Pollinators adore the long-lasting flowers while deer and rabbits leave them alone. The rounded shape and year-round silver foliage make these plants attractive elements in Utah rock gardens even when not in bloom.