An Overview of Drought Tolerant Plants
If you live in an area with hot summers or in one that is under water restrictions, planting and tending a beautiful garden can be a challenge. This Volunteer Gardener video presents an overview of heat and drought tolerant plants (all perennials) that will provide beautiful color to your yard all summer long and perform well year after year:
Gaillardia (blanket flower): The ‘Oranges and Lemons’ variety has beautiful bicolored orange and yellow flowers . If you deadhead them regularly, they will continue to bloom throughout the summer.
Baptisia (false indigo): Native to the Southeast, this plant has a long indigo blue stalk of flowers in the spring and beautiful foliage in the summer. It is disease and pest resistant.
Rudbeckia maxima (giant coneflower): The largest of the rudbeckias, this plant has a mound of blue-green foliage at the base and sends up tall bloom stalks, with the flowers resembling large brownconed daisies. It is native to the Southeast and Midwest.
Echinacea ‘Tennesseensis’: This rare Tennessee coneflower grows in cedar glades and tolerant of heavy wet clay soils in the winter.
Echinacea ‘Paradoxa’: So named because it is the only yellow flowered echinacea (others are white, lavendar, purple or pink), the Paradoxa has been hybridized with pink or purple varieties to produce orange, red and coral flowers.
Echinacea ‘Pallida’ (pale coneflower): Pale pink to almost white, these flowers can get as large as 6-7 inches across with drooping petals.
Salvia greggii: This plant grows on dry west Texas roadsides. It flowers like an annual nonstop from May through October-November.
Salvia argentii (silver sage): A felty grey-leaved salvia that resembles a Lamb’s Ear, it requires a perfect drainage situation. Add gravel in the hole when planting.
Melampodium luecanthum (blackfoot daisy): Native to Rocky Mountains but does well in southern climates and is hardy to Zone 6.
Delosperma ‘Kelaidis’: A groundcover found worldwide (many varieties are native to South Africa), it blooms from mid spring to early summer with apricot, red, magenta or purple flowers. This succulent-type plant requires good drainage. Mix PermaTill or pea gravel with dirt in the planting hole when backfilling.
