Types Of Salt-Tolerant Plants Suitable For Wyoming Landscaping

Wyoming presents a challenging combination for landscape plants: cold winters, low annual precipitation, alkaline soils, high winds, and localized salinity driven by irrigation, groundwater, and road de-icing salts. Successful planting in these conditions depends on selecting species that tolerate both salt and cold, and on adapting installation and maintenance practices to reduce salt stress. This article catalogs salt-tolerant plant types appropriate for Wyoming and gives practical guidance for site assessment, planting, and care.

Understanding salt problems in Wyoming landscapes

Salinity in urban and rural Wyoming can come from several sources: high-salinity irrigation water, naturally saline soils or saline seeps, and road salt and de-icing chemicals near streets, driveways, and sidewalks. Salt injury shows up as leaf margin burn, stunted growth, twig dieback, and poor establishment. Because Wyoming soils are often alkaline and low in organic matter, sodium and chloride damage can be worse than in more temperate, moist regions.
Quantifying salinity helps match plants to sites. Soil or water electrical conductivity (EC) is expressed in dS/m. General thresholds useful for landscaping are:

• non-saline: < 2 dS/m
• slightly saline: 2 to 4 dS/m
• moderately saline: 4 to 8 dS/m
• strongly saline: 8 to 16 dS/m
• very strongly saline: > 16 dS/m

Most common ornamental trees and shrubs decline above 4 dS/m; truly salt-tolerant species are needed for sites above that level. Also note that road salt creates short-term high-concentration pulses and salt spray that mostly affects foliage and new growth.

Principles for choosing salt-tolerant plants

Plant selection should combine salt tolerance with cold hardiness appropriate to Wyoming USDA zones (generally zones 3 to 6). Consider growth habit, root depth, and establishment speed. Practical steps include:

• Select native or adapted species that evolved in cold, dry, or alkaline soils.
• Prefer deep-rooted shrubs and trees on irrigated saline sites to access less-saline subsoil moisture.
• Use screening or hedges to protect sensitive plantings from road salt spray and wind.
• Install salt-tolerant species in buffer beds along streets, parking lots, and driveways.
• Test soil and irrigation water for EC and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) before planting.

Trees and large shrubs suited to saline Wyoming sites

These woody plants are known for combined cold hardiness and moderate to high salt tolerance. Many are useful as windbreaks, street trees, or specimen plants. When a species is known to be invasive in some western states, that is noted and alternative recommendations are given.

• Atriplex canescens (fourwing saltbush): Native, very salt-tolerant, drought hardy, excellent for saline, alkaline soils; multi-stem shrub useful for informal hedges and erosion control.
• Elaeagnus angustifolia (Russian olive): Very salt tolerant and drought hardy; hardy in Wyoming but considered invasive in many areas; check local regulations and consider native alternatives.
• Hippophae rhamnoides (sea buckthorn): Extremely salt tolerant, nitrogen-fixing, thorny shrub producing orange berries; very cold-hardy and useful for tough sites.
• Shepherdia argentea (buffaloberry): Native, salt and drought tolerant, produces edible berries; good screening shrub.
• Juniperus spp. (junipers): Many junipers tolerate saline soils and wind; low water use and useful as screens or groundcover forms.
• Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine): Moderately salt tolerant and cold-hardy; useful for windbreaks and urban plantings.
• Tamarix spp. (saltcedar): Highly salt tolerant but highly invasive in riparian systems; generally not recommended.

Practical takeaway: favor native shrubs like fourwing saltbush and buffaloberry for highly saline sites, and use pines and junipers where evergreen screening is desired. Avoid widely invasive taxa even if salt-tolerant.

Perennials and ornamental grasses for salty, dry plantings

Perennials and grasses provide structure, color, and erosion control on saline sites while requiring low water once established.

• Artemisia spp. (wormwood, sagewort): Many species tolerate alkaline, saline soils and are drought hardy.
• Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian sage): Tolerates poor soils and some salinity, provides long-lasting flower spikes.
• Achillea millefolium (yarrow): Tough perennial with moderate salt tolerance and excellent for dry, sunny sites.
• Sedum spp. (stonecrop): Succulent groundcovers and clump-formers that tolerate salt and alkaline soils; ideal for rock gardens and slopes.
• Liatris and Gaillardia (blanketflower): Drought-tolerant perennials that handle saline conditions when established.
• Thinopyrum ponticum (tall wheatgrass): Very salt-tolerant cool-season grass used in saline seed mixes and for soil stabilization.
• Festuca ovina and Festuca trachyphylla (sheep and hard fescue): Fine fescues with reasonable salt tolerance and cold hardiness; useful in low-maintenance turf mixes.

Practical takeaway: use a mix of deep-rooted perennials and salt-tolerant ornamental grasses to create durable, low-maintenance beds that recover quickly after saline pulses.

Groundcovers, rock garden plants, and small shrubs

For edges, slopes, and infiltration strips, low-growing salt-tolerant plants reduce erosion and limit salt accumulation in soil surface layers.

• Yucca glauca (small soapweed yucca): Native, drought- and salt-tolerant, evergreen clumps for rockier sites.
• Creeping thyme and certain sedum cultivars: Tolerate dry, alkaline, and moderately saline soils; good for walkable groundcover.
• Cotoneaster horizontalis (rockspray cotoneaster): Moderate salt tolerance and used widely in urban landscapes; select non-invasive cultivars.
• Atriplex hortensis (orach) and other saltbushes: Low spreading forms can be used as groundcovers on very saline patches.

Practical takeaway: for thin topsoils and slopes choose low-maintenance succulents and hardy native groundcovers that need minimal irrigation and resist salt spray.

Planting techniques and soil management for saline sites

Planting salt-tolerant species is only part of the solution. Proper site preparation and ongoing maintenance are critical for establishment.

• Test: Before planting, test soil EC and sodium percentage and, if practical, test irrigation water quality.
• Amend: Incorporate organic matter to improve structure and water-holding capacity. Organic matter does not remove salts but improves root health and buffering.
• Improve drainage: Salts concentrate where evaporation exceeds leaching. Provide good drainage and consider subsurface drains or raised beds where salts accumulate.
• Use gypsum for sodic soils: If the problem is high exchangeable sodium (sodic), gypsum (calcium sulfate) may displace sodium and improve structure. Note: gypsum treats sodicity rather than total salinity and is not effective in every situation.
• Leach salts when feasible: Deep, infrequent irrigation that allows some leaching below the root zone reduces salt buildup. Be sure leaching will not mobilize salts into groundwater inappropriately.
• Protect from spray: Install protective hedges or physical barriers between salted pavement and sensitive plantings and orient beds away from prevailing salt spray.
• Mulch and root zone care: Mulch reduces evaporation and salt accumulation at the soil surface and moderates temperature extremes.

Practical takeaway: combine soil amendments, proper drainage, and irrigation practices to reduce salt concentrations in the root zone and improve plant establishment.

Maintenance and monitoring

Ongoing monitoring makes the difference between marginal and successful plantings in saline sites.

• Inspect plants after freeze-thaw cycles and after winter for foliar salt injury.
• Rinse roadside vegetation in spring with fresh water when practical to remove accumulated chloride salts from foliage and soils.
• Limit fertilizer salts: Use controlled-release or low-salt fertilizers and apply according to soil test results; excess fertilizer salts add to total soluble salts.
• Prune damaged tissue: Remove salt-damaged twigs and foliage to stimulate new growth and reduce disease risk.
• Re-evaluate irrigation water: If municipal or well water is high in salt, consider alternate sources, blending, or more frequent leaching applications.

Practical takeaway: routine spring flushing, conservative fertilization, and selective pruning extend survival and performance on salty sites.

Plant lists by use and tolerance level

Below are suggested species grouped by common landscape uses and approximate salt tolerance. Check local hardiness and availability.

• Very high salt tolerance (good for roadside buffers, highly saline soils):
• Atriplex canescens (fourwing saltbush)
• Hippophae rhamnoides (sea buckthorn)
• Thinopyrum ponticum (tall wheatgrass)
• Elaeagnus angustifolia (Russian olive) — check invasiveness
• Moderate to high tolerance (windbreaks, street trees, shrubs):
• Juniperus spp. (many junipers)
• Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine)
• Shepherdia argentea (buffaloberry)
• Cotoneaster spp. (select non-invasive types)
• Perennials and groundcovers (saline, dry beds):
• Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian sage)
• Achillea millefolium (yarrow)
• Sedum spp. (stonecrop)
• Festuca spp. (hard and sheep fescues)

Practical takeaway: build plant mixes that combine very salt-tolerant foundation species with ornamental perennials and grasses to achieve functional and attractive landscapes.

Final recommendations for Wyoming landscapers

To landscape successfully in saline areas of Wyoming, start with a site-specific plan: test soil and water, select species that combine cold hardiness with known salt tolerance, and use targeted cultural practices. Favor native shrubs like fourwing saltbush and buffaloberry for severely saline, dry sites, and use hardy evergreens like junipers and Scots pine for screens and wind protection. Improve soil structure with organic matter, ensure good drainage, and flush salts from the root zone when possible. Finally, avoid promoting invasive, salt-tolerant species in sensitive ecological areas and consult local extension or nursery professionals for cultivar recommendations adapted to your county.
With informed plant choices and disciplined maintenance, Wyoming landscapes can be both resilient and attractive even when salinity is part of the challenge.