Well, as pretty as your garden is, Roselee, what would it have looked like with water and care????

That's what I was just thinking! I've been ignoring mine too & it shows. Maybe Roselee will come ignore mine for awhile so it will look better. lol

Just beautiful!

Well, the individual flowers look nice, but overall the yard has a sort of bedraggled look. It's helping to trim back some of the old foliage and stuff like that, but I am rethinking the things that I plant from now on.

There are a few things that REALLY take to dry conditions and continue to produce fairly nice foliage and flowers; things like esperanza, blue plumbago, shrimp plants, coral vine, bougainvilleas in pots, salvias, agaves, and succulents. I'm on the lookout for winter hardy succulents at the moment.

I'd like to hear what plants are doing the best for any others that have !really! dry conditions in their yard. I don't think I've had even ten inches of rain this year at my place, which is in a rain shadow, and with the price of water skyrocketing I simply have to do something different from now on.

Thanks y'all, for looking and commenting on the photos!

Lovely photos as always Roselee.

Hang in there on the yard. The good news is that mother nature will give you some nice wet years too.

You might consider investing in some of those drip irrigation supplies. They can give you alot of bang for your buck on water bills.

And, of course, as you are already doing, incorporate more of the dry weather type plants. I think there might be a forum for that on GWeb.

Mexican salvia is one plant that makes a great display in the fall that doesn't need alot of water. Its kind of straggly until the fall so you might want to put it in the back of the bed.

Have fun.

Richard

Roselee, Your yard looks much better than mine.
I don't have much going on other than things going dormant or looking ragged.

I kinda like the look of your Pink trumpet vine taking over the area.

I am trying new things in my beds, adding to them. This fall Has really be taxing on getting things cleaned up but I finally got a start on it last week then had to stop to do other thing's.
We'll be getting a hard frost up here any time so the EE's will need cutting back and mulched, we had some really warm days so they are still putting out new leaves.

Thanks for posting I always enjoy your pictures.

Hey Rosie! Glad to see you've gotten your camera out again.

Well, I'm super stingy with the water. I don't even water the front yard at all, but I have very few types of plants up there because of the deer.

Things that are blooming right now for me are:

Rock Rose
Prostrate Rosemary (that thing is really putting on a show and full of bees)
Pink Trumpet vine (hmm, now where did I get that?)
Ice Plant
Mexican Mint Marigold
Mexican Oregano
4 Nerve Daisy (It's scraggly at this time of year but it's blooming)
Autumn Sage
Confederate Rose
Mexican Heather (those I baby a bit)
Ruby Grass

What just finished blooming is:

Butterfly Bush
Native Fall Aster
Salvia (one that's similar to yours)

Then I've got Iris, day lilies, Amaryllis (from you, it's multiplied into 4 plants already and it was only watered a few times - it gets afternoon shade)asparagus fern, damianita, herbs herbs and more herbs. All of these things do really well in my rocky, dry, hillside yard.

When you water do you pull back some of your leaves? They are so thick I would think it would take a lot of overhead watering to penetrate. Or, do you have soaker hoses underneath it.

Hi Roselee,
Beautiful flowers! The salvia caught my eye because I have Salvia Guaranitica 'Tula' and it looks just like yours. I love that plant...it just keeps going through the fall ☺ The lavendar vine is lovely too!

Pam

Pam, thanks for the name of the salvia! I'm making a note of it.

I love hearing what's doing well for y'all during this year of sparse rainfall. Gives me some great ideas. Some I knew about, but sort of forgot about during the years of my interest in roses, like the Mexican salvia. Gonna' get some of that.

Anybody else with suggestions? We'd all appreciate hearing them. Thanks Tammy, for your list! I thought I had lost all the Four nerve daisies you gave me, but found one under some other things that I cut back.

Thanks everyone for looking at the photos and for your helpful replies!

Ah Roselee, I mistakenly called it guarantica..it's a mexicana. I was sure when I first got the plant that it had an ID of Salvia guarantica 'Tula'. My CRS is showing ☺

Pam

Here is a link that might be useful: here she is

Pam, thanks for the link!

I sent this thread and the link to my friend Linda, who gave me the cutting of the salvia last fall, to tell her it had been named. This is her reply:

"I will have to send you a pix of mine because it is covering up my kitchen window! It buried my camellias. It is beautiful. Mine is bloomed out now. The butterflies were all over it as they are all salvias.

"I have a TON of sulphurs again this year. I am always blessed with an amazing butterfly show. My #1 tip for butterflies is to plant broccoli now. Even if you don't like the veggie it is a butterfly MAGNET! When it bolts in the spring and throws off those huge bouquets of yellow flowers the butterflies beat it up! I discovered it by accident one year and that is the only veggie I grow and I do it for the butterflies. The broccoli doesn't freeze so it is the first nectar source available along with the crossvine.

"I hope your salvia doesn't get as big as mine did this year. Six foot tall and eight foot wide. I was stunned."

I might have to think about moving Tula to give her room to spread. How big is yours Pam?

I'm also going to be planting broccoli!

Hi Roselee,
Mine gets easily 5 feet tall and 3.5 feeet or more wide. I've only had it for maybe 3 years and it was planted out in early spring of 2007 and moved this summer. She is a beautiful plant. Here's a picture of mine blooming in late spring 2007. She is closest to the left side of the picture, with the blue green foilage.

{{gwi:1333020}}

Pam

I found another picture from this past summer:

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Thanks Pam, for your pictures of Tula! What a great salvia it is.

I bought another salvia yesterday from Schumachers. The sign named it, but I forgot to take a picture of the sign! Guess I will have to go back :-) as I forgot to pick up the Mexican salvia that Richard mentioned.

The sign said it was from Mexico, kin to Salvia Greggi, but with larger flowers and will take more shade -- which is good news for me. The flowers are much larger and dark hot pink.

I'm getting seeds for Yvonne's Salvia in a week or two. Have you grown it? It's supposed to be the species Splendens.

pam

Pam, I remember reading about it on the Salvia forum so I did a search and found a picture.

Be sure and let us know how it does for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Yvonne's Salvia