If you’re a busy homeowner who still wants a beautiful flowering landscape in your arid location, you may be seeking plants that can thrive under heat and drought conditions. What should you plant that saves water, money, time and conserves resources? Some of these questions are answered in this list of plants that perform beautifully in drought conditions:
Here is the list of 10 heat tolerant perennials that do great in summer heat and drought conditions:
1. Try Salvia’s Moisture-Trapping Foliage
Source: flickr
Salvia Argentea (Silver Sage) is a water-smart plant that displays woolly foliage that conspires to trap moisture on the leaf surface. It’s a drought tolerant, mounding beauty that can grow to 12 inches tall and double that size in width. Use it in your edgings, borders and in containers. This low maintenance biennial will fit into your busy schedule; moreover, marauding deer and rabbits avoid it.
2. Establish a Drought Tolerant Garden With the Blanket Flower
This daisy-like bloomer is right at home on a hot and dry prairie landscape. It is a herbaceous perennial that favors hot and dry grasslands, woodlands and roadsides; consequently, the easy adaptability makes it an ornamental wildflower that is popular for naturalizing meadows.
Neglect is no problem as it blooms through summer and in the fall; moreover, the rough textured stems and leaves make it unattractive to grazing deer. If there’s a spot in your garden for vivid carnival shades of red and yellow flowers, this three-foot charmer will make your house a home.
3. Naturalize Yarrow for a Wildlife Habitat
Yarrow is a perennial herb that returns every year once it is established. The fern-like, hairy leaves are aromatic with flowers that appear in shades of white, yellow and tinted pink. They multiply in well-drained soil and recover easily from extreme droughts. If your soil is nutrient-poor, this may be the greenery for you.
4. Grow Heat-Tolerant Heuchera
You may know this plant as coral bells or alum root. Because it can grow on rocky ledges with little soil, it could be called a survivor. Many times it can rebound from drought, heat and deer damage. Grow it in a rock garden under the notorious black walnut tree, and it ignores the negative allelopathic effects of this tree. It’s a keeper.
5. Cultivate Hosta in Dry Conditions
Hosta is the broad-leafed plant that is popular in many landscapes. It’s for the busy homeowner that has little time for maintenance. Once it becomes established in your new garden environment, you can relax and watch it grow in beauty. Though it loves shady spots, it can adapt to sunny gardens and flourish.
6. Nurture Bee Balm in Your Cottage Garden
Plant this one by the garden gate, and watch it flourish with very little water. It can take the heat and still stand tall. Feathery old Cambridge scarlet blossoms are favorites on this fragrant perennial that can reach three feet in height. Long hot summers will only see this plant multiple in waves of color. Hummingbirds and butterflies are attracted to the long-tubed blossoms. It’s a good thing.
7. Incorporate Daylily Into Your Landscape
Daylilies are durable, tough and almost trouble-free. Their beauty is unaffected by summer heat or drought. The tuberous roots are fleshy and send up sword-shaped leaves that add to any yard decor. Large blooming clumps develop in a few seasons. They grow and perform in almost any soil. If you are a neglectful grower, this one will work for you.
8. Produce a Minimum Care Gerbera Daisy
Transvaal daisy is another name for this drought-tolerant plant that can grow to 12 inches tall. It’s from South Africa and likes to grow in sandy soil and poor dry areas. Large blooms that attract birds can last for six weeks. If you want cut flowers that are available in many profuse colors, grow some Gerbera daisies.
9. Raise Purple Cone Flower
The coneflower is a sturdy perennial that isn’t bothered by summer heat. It’s a coarse, rigid plant with bristly foliage that can reach five feet tall. It’s a good cut flower and it will continue to bloom until frost if fading blossoms are removed. Finches are attracted to the bristly seed pods that cling to the plants in winter.
10. Propogate Acanthus through dry Summers
Acanthus or Bear’s Breech performs well in poor, dry soil with a minimal amount of water. The roots conserve water by penetrating deeply to reach the moisture. Acanthus is a sturdy perennial that is recognized for its shiny foliage. White or pink spires reach up to 8 feet in the air, and they bloom through the spring and summer months. If you desire a garden that invites bees and butterflies, this one is for you.
