Gardening Basics
Drought-Tolerant Plants for Your Landscape and Garden
Here are some plants to consider adding to your drought-tolerant landscape. Don’t worry if you aren’t familiar with some of the names, either, as they’re all easy to find.
Drought-Tolerant Flowers
- Black-eyed Susan, a knock-out yellow bloomer in the sunflower family;
- Ice plant, a hardy groundcover with carpets of bright blooms, available in many colors;
- Tickseed, which produces a mound of vibrant blooms despite heat or drought;
- Sage or salvia, easy-care, pest-resistant flowers with colorful blooms and scented foliage;
- Lantana, a butterfly magnet that produces blooms in shades of orange, pink, red, or yellow;
- Blanket flower, a fuzzy-leaved, daisy-shaped bloomer also beloved by butterflies;
- Zinnia, one of the easiest cutting flowers to grow from seed;
- Sunflower, with deep roots and rough foliage that protect sunflowers against periods without rain.
- Edible herbs originating in climates like the hot, dry, sandy Mediterranean:
- Lavender
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Tarragon
- Sage
- Oregano
- Yarrow, with delicate, feathery foliage and lace-like blooms that come in a wide variety of colors.
Drought-Tolerant Grasses & Perennials
- There are hundreds of varieties of drought-tolerant ornamental grasses, including the popular pink muhly grass and purple fountain grass;
- Wormwood, also called absynthe wormwood, with eye-catching textured, silver-gray foliage;
- Succulents, a family of plants with water-filled branches that are either pokey or plump, including:
- Agave
- Cactus
- Sedum
- Sempervivum
Drought-Tolerant Trees & Evergreen Shrubs
- Pines, such as short leaf, loblolly, eastern white, and longleaf, with long taproots and thin, small needles that prevent moisture loss;
- Wax myrtle, an evergreen shrub that’s happy in sun, part shade, salty air, or dry gardens;
- Juniper, with options ranging from low-growing groundcovers to tall, pyramidal trees.
See, there’s no need to skip the landscaping just because you live in an area that’s exceptionally dry or prone to drought. Create your own oasis with a few of the drought-resistant plants that sound most intriguing to you—then smile to yourself, thinking of all the time you’ll save on watering.
