Do you live in a dry area? Or maybe you have little or no water available, especially in summer? Then you will need to grow drought tolerant plants in your garden – it’s the only solution. Even if you just have a spot where you cannot irrigate, maybe sandy or rocky, your choice of perennials and annuals is very limited. But don’t worry! Many will flower abundantly, and others will have very decorative and unusual shapes and colors.
Gardeners call it “xeriscaping”, which simply means choosing and growing plants in dry places.
Your garden doesn’t need to be barren if you have dry land – it just needs to have the right type of plants: drought tolerant variety. Now, sit back, have a drink, and find out how you can turn a desert into a corner of paradise!
1: Gazania (Gazania rigens)
Even if your garden is very dry, you shouldn’t give up on colorful blooms! In fact, you can always grow gazania, a little perennial with a massive personality… Native to South Africa, it grows a rosette of deep green leaves low down at ground level, and then, just above them super showy “daisy-like” flowers. Actually, they are much more striking than normal daisies: the colors are just impressive and very vivid (white to purple via red, pink, and orange), and the petals look like they are made of ivory, or shells… And each blossom is 4 inches across (10 cm)!
The great news is that gazania blooms all the way from spring to fall! And, thanks to its long roots, it will find that tiny bit of moisture it needs, even if it doesn’t rain or you don’t water it for weeks, even in sandy soils. An absolute must have flower for dry gardens!
2: Beardtongue (Penstemon spp.)
So called because its trumpet shaped flowers look like colorful open mouths with spots inside, which are meant to draw pollinators in. And they will be very thankful, because it is hard to find blooms in dry spells and regions, but beardtongue (also known with its scientific name, Penstemon) is drought tolerant, of course. Coming to your garden from North America, this perennial grows in arid areas of the continent, where it produces tall and upright spikes of blooms from late spring to early summer, which you can now have in bright shades of blue, white, red, orange, pink and purple, or in bicolor combinations.
With small varieties that reach 6 inches (15 cm) and tall ones that climb up to 6 feet (1.8 meters!), there is surely a beardtongue variety that suits your garden, even if you are so unlucky as to have poor rocky or sandy soil that retains very little water.
3: Ice Plant (Delosperma cooperi)
How about if you want to cover those unsightly dry patches in your garden? Have you thought about growing ice plant, which is a carpeting succulent with dense upright, evergreen and pencil-like but fat foliage and… From June to September, it becomes a sea of daisy-like flowers, in super vibrant shades of yellow, purple, red, pink, sometimes with a bright white center, while other varieties are bicolor. A massive spectacle for months on end!
Being a succulent, this spreading, crawling and trailing perennial from South Africa can store away water in periods of drought, and it will grow well in rocky and sandy soil (ideal for a rock garden). What’s more, it is so easy to propagate that you can use it as ground cover for a large area with little money.
4: Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae)
Bird of paradise is a wonder of nature! Its massive flowers (they are actually spathes) last for ages, they are massive, super brightly colored (orange, purple and violet and blue) and up to 8 inches long (20 cm)! And there’s a white and black variety too, Strelitzia nicolai… Super packed with nectar, they attract hummingbirds from a distance, rising among the super glossy, waxy, huge and spear shaped, deep green evergreen leaves that form an exotic forest.
And this queen from South Africa is, of course, drought tolerant but not cold hardy – only to USDA zones 10 and above, where it blooms through winter and spring. But I have an idea… You can still grow it in containers, repair it till temperatures warm up, and take it out to your dry garden.
5: Euphorbia (Euphorbia characias)
You can bring a fresh touch to your dry garden (or areas) with a very unusual looking perennial that looks almost prehistoric, Euphorbia characias. Native to the Mediterranean, this weird plant produces large clumps of tall stems with bluish green, needle like evergreen leaves that look like upright raccoon tails and, at the top large clusters of lime green and yellow flowers (they are actually spathes) that last for “cool down” your arid yard’s atmosphere from June to September.
Reaching 4 feet tall and in width (120 cm) Euphorbia characias is a close relative of Christmas flower (Euphorbia pulcherrima) and fairly cold hardy, to USDA zone 7, ideal for xeriscaping also in sandy and rocky gardens.
6: English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
All types of lavender are drought tolerant, but the English variety is the hardiest and the most fragrant of all. Its spikes of flowers will attract lots of pollinators to your garden in summer, and its bushy foliage will fill in dry spaces all year round. It needs no introductions, in fact, but if you prefer a smaller shrub, maybe for containers or little beds or rock gardens, the French variety (Lavandula stoechas) with its butterfly-like blooms will do perfectly well.
Yet another Mediterranean plant for dry gardens, lavender grows well in poor, sandy and rocky soil – and it is ideal for slopes.
7: Yucca (Yucca spp.)
I know, yucca is a desert plant – but it is quite cold hardy (to USDA zone 6, some varieties 5!) and I have seen it blooming in the snow! In fact, those massive displays of bell shaped, fragrant (and often edible) flowers last for months on end, bringing light to the saddest garden. Drought tolerant and native to the Americas, it will definitely add structure and an impressive sculptural garden, and its pointed and dense evergreen foliage will keep your yard green all year round.
What is more, there are smaller varieties of yucca, container or tiny garden friendly, and much bigger ones, rising to 30 feet (9.0 meters); but they all grow well in dry, sandy and even rocky soils.
8: Blanket Flower (Gaillardia spp.)
But how about if you live in a very cold area, like USDA zones 3 to 4, and you still have a dry garden? You can still fill it with super colorful daisies like blossoms in warm reds, yellows and oranges from June to September thanks to blanket flowers! Yes, this drought tolerant perennial is very hardy indeed, and, even with little flowers, it literally fills with flowers for months, each blossom being between 2 and 4 inches across (5.0 to 10 cm), and a magnet for pollinators.
Thanks to its long taproot, blanket flowers can flower even during dry spells and in sandy soils – even in places where winters are freezing cold!
9: Sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri)
If you want a really sculptural plant to xeriscape your dry garden, then have a look at sotol… This amazing perennial forms a sphere of succulent-like, very spiky leaves that store water even when it does rain for a long time. Reaching 5 feet across, it will certainly leave a mark all year round, being evergreen, and fairly cold hardy (USDA zones 7 to 11). But it is in summer that it puts on its best spectacle… A very tall spike with yellowish flowers packed together will look like a massive corncob against the sky – and visible from afar!
Native to Mexico and the USA, sotol can be a centerpiece in a dry garden, even if it suffers from poor, sandy and rocky soil.
10: Prickly Pear (Opuntia spp.)
More strange shapes, more brightly colored flowers and this time also a delicious fruit for your dry garden, thanks to prickly pears! Super easy to grow, these succulent plants are not just super easy to grow (just put a pad on the ground, and it will produce a full plant soon); they are also, surprisingly, cold hardy (some varieties to USDA zone 4!) There are big ones that pass 10 feet tall (3.0 meters) and small ones that keep to 3 feet (90 cm), great for containers or small beds.
Adopted by the Mediterranean but native to the Americas, prickly pear stores water in its pads, and it blooms in late spring to mid summer, before producing the most dangerous fruit of them all. Great for very dry, poor, rocky or sandy soils, it has another benefit for xeriscaping: it is also fire resistant!
11: Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
Do you need another hardy perennial to grow in an arid garden, or dry spot? Enter shrubby Russian sage! It will tolerate freezing winters (to USDA zone 4) and long dry spells, and it will not disappoint you. Growing to 5 feet tall (1.5 meters) and 4 feet in spread (1.2 meters), it will enrich your days with its many hairy silvery leaves, that reflect the sunlight and minimize perspiration all through the gardening season. Then, from July to September, it will engage in a flowering marathon, with long, upright stems carrying innumerable lavender colored flowers that attract pollinators and wow your friends and guests – ideal to the sides of a walkway.
And again, like other drought tolerant plants, Russian sage will thrive even in poor, sandy and rocky soil, as long as it is well drained.
12: Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ (Hylotelephium spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’)
Did you know that there are drought-tolerant succulents that you can grow even in Canada? One example? Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’! In fact, it can grow in areas as cold as USDA zone 3, and survive even the most rigid winters intact. A very strong plant indeed, though you wouldn’t tell from its tender looking fleshy foliage, growing on upright stems that form clumps of “leafy softness” all year round. Nor would you guess it looking at the romantic, round and flat clusters of small pink flowers that persist on top from August to October. But it’s all true.
Native to many areas of the Northern Hemisphere, including mountains and arid places, sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ is yet another drought tolerant plant you can grow in harsh soil conditions, like poor, sandy and rocky.
13: Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia uvaria)
You may associate red hot poker with classical, informal English-style gardens, where it “burns” for months in herbaceous borders. But it is actually a drought-tolerant perennial from South Africa! Its long and pointed leaves have great decorative value, though we all love this fiery beauty for its big, conical inflorescences that rise up to 5 feet (1.5 meters), in super bright shades of yellow, red and orange. The many tubular flowers start opening from the bottom in June, and they keep climbing up and up to the tip of this “floral flame” till October!
Thanks to its tuberous roots, red hot poker can store away water for when it needs it, and it doesn’t mind drought and sandy soil.
14: California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
The name of this perennial gives it away: California is hot and dry, and poppies like sunny conditions anyway… In fact, it comes from arid areas of Western North America, but also from hills and mountains – and this is why it is pretty cold tolerant as well, to USDA zone 6. It is not big, reaching 2 feet tall (60 cm) and about 1 foot in spread (30 cm), so, it is ideal to xeriscape flower beds, border fronts or wild areas, like prairies. It will bring its finely cut, elegant foliage to your garden, and a sea of golden orange round flowers that run a real marathon: they will keep opening from April to August!
And nothing breaks California poppy’s floral stamina; not drought, nor sandy, rocky and poor soil!
15: Oleander (Nerium oleander)
A drought tolerant wonder from the Mediterranean is oleander, of course! I have seen it revive even when I had thought it had died of thirst, as a young plant. Once established it will manage very long spells with now water – even months! Thanks to its deep roots and leathery leaves, this shrub can live on very little humidity and still bloom profusely as if it was spring – always! Yes, in warm climates it flowers in waves almost all year round, in pink, red, yellow and white (white blossoms are usually the most fragrant), and when it peaks, it is all covered in flowers… In colder areas, the floral show is still very long, from May to September, usually.
You can train an oleander into a small tree (well, 20 feet tall maximum, or 6.0 meters) and it will grow in very poor soil, rocky areas, coastal places and even on a sandy beach!
16: Mexican Feather Grass (Nassella tenuissima)
If you are looking for a decorative grass to “soften” your dry garden and make it look like a fresh prairie, or just to get an interesting leafy spectacle, Mexican feather grass may be what you are looking for. It is cold hardy to USDA zone 6, and it has very fine, long leaves – and that is why it is drought tolerant… Its needle-like shape reduces transpiration, as it must do in its native country: hot and sunny Mexico.
Reaching 2 feet in height and across (60 cm), Mexican feather grass takes this name from the light plumes that wave in the wind in summer. Once more, this drought-tolerant perennial is perfectly fine with rocky and sandy soil as well.
17: Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata)
Well, if it is called desert marigold, it must be drought tolerant, and in fact it is. Native to arid areas of the southeast of the USA, this perennial plant has small hairy leaves, grayish silvery in color, which reduce transpiration, but also very long taproots that can still find some humidity deep underground. While it has a bushy habit, it looks empty inside the mesh of stems due to the tiny foliage. But this only sets off the many daisy-like, super golden yellow flowers that open at the tips all the way from March to November!
Cold hardy to USDA zone 6, desert marigold will also tolerate rocky soil.
18: Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea spp.)
Last but not least, the queen of dry gardens: bougainvillea! This rambling giant can reach 30 feet tall (9.0 meters) and it will never die, even if you don’t water it for ages. Nor will it ever stop blooming – it can flower all year in waves, and totally change color, from the deep green of its many but tiny leaves, to the pink, purple, orange, red or yellow of the explosion of flowers (bracts) that cover it completely at peak time. While it is not cold hardy (USDA zone 9); there are also small dwarf varieties which you can grow in containers and shelter indoors till days warm up – and they are much more easily managed.
But there’s a myth I have to debunk about bougainvillea… We all think it is from the Mediterranean, because it is everywhere in that region, but actually, it comes from South America originally.
Now You Can Xeriscape Your Garden!
Now, have a fresh drink, and think about which of these plants is or are best for your dry garden – because you have just made the first step towards xeriscaping it.
Written By
Amber Noyes
Amber Noyes was born and raised in a suburban California town, San Mateo. She holds a master’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco. With experience working on an organic farm, water conservation research, farmers’ markets, and plant nursery, she understands what makes plants thrive and how we can better understand the connection between microclimate and plant health. When she’s not on the land, Amber loves informing people of new ideas/things related to gardening, especially organic gardening, houseplants, and growing plants in a small space.