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

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