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Plants of Utah: Middle Rocky Mountains
Different Elevation, Different Plants
Elevation, rainfall, soil and sun control what plants grow where.
The higher up you go in Utah's mountains, the cooler and wetter it gets. As temperature and moisture chance, so do the communities of plants growing at different elevations. And at any elevation, north-facing slopes are home to plants that differ from those on the sunnier, warmer, south-facing slopes.
Such divergent landscapes lead to diverse plant communities. From the desert floor up into the foothills, sagebrush gives way to pinyon and juniper. Higher still grow oaks and maples. Groves of aspen dot high plateaus.