10/06/2026
Delightful Volunteers!
Di Graski Master Gardener
Several volunteer perennials have made their homes in our yard without any help from us. Like, NO help: we did not plant them or sow their seeds, and we provide them no supplemental water, fertilizer, or any other TLC. The only “gardening” we do for these delightful volunteers is protecting them from Pueblo’s pernicious weeds (e.g., kochia, Russian thistle, bindweed, noxious mustards, and goatheads).
I wonder, “Where do they come from?” Do our dogs carry their seeds in their fur from hikes? Maybe stuck to the soles of our shoes? Could their seeds be delivered by the wind? Or bird droppings? However they arrived, I want to share some information about them with you, because, if they happen to find their way to your landscape, I hope you’ll consider letting them thrive there. All the photos in this article were taken in late July 2026, Day 15 of a relentless heat dome.
1. Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata)
I have attempted many, many times to cultivate milkweed – you know, “Save the Monarch butterflies!” – but I have always failed. Then Whorled Milkweed just . . . arrived! They are as tough as nails, but they look quite delicate: less than two feet tall, thin leaves, lacy blooms. Our pollinators, especially the native bees, love them.
A few caveats. The National Resources Conservation Service’s PLANTS database says Asclepias verticillata is not native to Colorado (although it is native to many of our neighbor states: Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico). Like all milkweed plants, they are toxic to livestock. And Whorled Milkweed spreads both by seed and underground, so they will not voluntarily obey a “flower bed” boundary.
2. Four-Wing Saltbush (Atriplex canescens).
About two years ago I noticed a funny little silvery sprout in our rock-covered “hell strip,” that challenging landscape between the sidewalk and the street that some people call a “tree lawn” or a “parking strip.” Well, look at our mysterious sprout now!
Easily three feet tall and four feet wide, our volunteer Atriplex thrived this Summer, scoffing at the triple-digits; hot, dry wind; and droughty June and July. Now our only gardening task is to keep it pruned back from the sidewalk.
In addition to its amazing resilience through Pueblo’s Summers, Atriplex maintains its leaves through the Winter, providing a silvery mound of architectural interest and a safe-from-raptors habitat for small creatures all year long.
3. Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
Ornamental grasses are among our favorites, and our volunteer Little Bluestems are the winners! I think it is a beautiful plant: deep blue-green stems fading into orange-red, with gorgeous, fluffy seedheads. The first Little Bluestem that took up residence in our “hell strip” is now three feet tall and three feet wide. Like our volunteer Atriplex, Little Bluestems also offer a lot of Winter interest, as well as seeds for overwintering birds.
Early this Summer, we transplanted one of the Little Bluestem’s offsprings out of the middle of a walk path to a better-for-humans location, and we are happy to report that it is thriving, also (with a little bit of supplemental water).
4. Redbud tree (Cercis canadensis).
Do you have a neighbor with a Redbud tree? Redbuds are the modest-sized deciduous trees covered with gob-smacking pink blossoms in spring and deep green, heart-shaped leaves providing thick shade all summer. Oh, yeah, and the seed pods! O, the seed pods!
Every year we witness the offspring of our neighbor’s Redbud in our yard, in our raised beds, everywhere. One picked an awkward location between our sidewalk and our chain-link fence, right at the corner:
Our first instinct was to eradicate this baby tree from a horrible location, and I admit that all our attempts to remove it proved futile. Now my vision for this volunteer Redbud is espalier: I plan to use plant ties and pruning to train the Redbud to grow flat along our fence. My hope is that this technique will add spring beauty while mitigating any encumbrance to pedestrians and drivers.
Cercis canadensis is included in the “Front Range Recommended Tree List” and in both CSU’s and the Colorado State Forestry Service’s recommended trees for Southeastern Colorado.
We would love to hear about Delightful Volunteers in your landscape! Drop us a line at [email protected] .
More Resources
“Combining Garden Art and Science: Espalier,”https://www.johnson.k-state.edu/programs/lawn-garden/agent-articles-fact-sheets-and-more/agent-articles/garden-maintenance-docs/Espalier%20REV%202022.pdf (Kansas State Research and Extension).
“Fourwing Saltbush,” https://www.uvu.edu/crfs/native-plants/atriplex-canescens.html (Utah Valley University, Capitol Reef Field Station).
“Front Range Recommended Tree List,”https://planttalk.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-Front-Range-Tree-List.pdf .
“Managing Western Whorled Milkweed,” https://extension.colostate.edu/resource/managing-western-whorled-milkweed/ .
“Little Bluestem,”https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_scsc.pdf (USDA NRCS Plant Guide).
