Low-water landscaping is an essential tool for water conservation in the arid Intermountain West (IMW) for managing limited supplies and population-driven increased demand. The IMW harbors a large number of drought-tolerant native species that have potential for use in the low-water use landscape (LWL). However, many species are not available in the nursery trade due to their morphological confusion and establishment difficulty in the managed landscapes. The overall goal of this study is to elucidate morphological, ecophysiological, and genetic distinctions within two IMW native plant genera containing species with high urban low-water landscape potential.