Winterfat in the Landscape

Diane Jones, Draggin' Wing Farm, Water-thrifty Plants for Idaho

Scientfic Name: Krascheninnikovia lanata, Ceratoides lanata
Common Name: Winterfat, Whitesage

Description: Mid-size, compact xeric shrub with silvery leaves on wiry, candelabra-like stems. Unusual and eye-catching attractive growth form. The inconspicuous white flowers in late summer are followed by ornamental wooly white seedheads in fall, which can be used in dried arrangements. Attracts birds & tolerates alkaline soils.

Native Habitat: Hillsides, mesas, plains and foothiils throughout the Intermountain Region from 4,000-9,000.

Cultural Requirement

Soil: Well-drained, shallow, nutrient-poor or ordinary garden soil. Tolerant of alkaline soils.

Moisture Tolerance: Very drought-tolerant. More tolerant of extra water and fertility than other desert shrubs.

Sun/Shade/Preference: Full sun.

Transplanting: Transplants well from containers, not from the wild.

Propagation: Seed.

Maintenance (pruning, fertilization, deadheading, division, irrigation, etc): Prune back in spring for tidier appearance.

Insect, disease, or other problems: None of concern.

Landscape Value

Use in the Landscape: Attractive specimen plant, its unusual shape providing an interesting contrast with flowering perennials.

Foliage: Thin silvery leaves on winding stalks.

Flower: Inconspicuous.

Timing: Fall.

Fruit: White with hairy bracts

Form: This shrubby plant sprawls horizontally, sending up numerous candle-like stalks.

Texture: Branches, leaves and fruit covered in dense hair gives the plant an overall whitish appearance

Ultimate Size: 3 x 3

Rate of Growth: Moderate to rapid growth with supplemental water

Suggested Plant Partners: Cutleaf Daisy, Sulfur Buckwheat, Winecups, Princes Plume

Availability: Available at specialty nurseries

Cultivars: None

References:

USDA Plants Database.

Earle, A. Scott & James L. Reveal, Lewis and Clarks Green World, The Expedition and its Plants, Farcountry, 2003, p. 40-41.

Parkinson, Hilary et. al., Landscaping with Native Plants of the Intermountain Region, U.S. B.L.M. Technical Reference #1730-3, 2003, p.20.

Love, SL. 2009. Landscaping with Native Plants. University of Idaho Bulletin No. 862, p.14.

Meyer, Susan et. al., Landscaping on the New Frontier, Waterwise Design for the Intermountain West, Utah State University Press, Logan, 2009, p. 194.

Mee, Wendy et. al. Waterwise, Native Plants for Intermountain Landscapes, Utah State University Press, Logan 2003, p. 16.

Elmore, Shrubs anx Trees of the Southwest Uplands, 38