My favorite native plant that I have growing in my garden in my false rosemary/scrub mint. It's drought tolerant, extremely hardy, blooms nearly year round, and the foliage has a wonderful fragrance when it's brushed up against. It also grows so thick that no weeds are able to grow through it. The only trouble is that is attracts a lot of bees so if you're allergic to bees I wouldn't plant this near a pathway or gate. I happen to like seeing all the bees that visit the plant. Altough scrub mints like full sun mine is planted under a crape myrtle tree and is thriving. This is a close up of the flowers. Another tough, drought tolerant native that would do well in the conditions you described is the wild petunia. You could also try beach sunflowers although they seem to prefer as much sun as possible.

Courtney, I have grown crossvine on a chain link fence, at our home in Fort Worth in the 1980s/1990s, and I have grown it here in Oklahoma on an arbor since 1999. I have never seen it sprawl on the ground as a ground cover, but it is my understanding that it is often used that way. It will make a pretty dense cover of foliage over time, but I think that if it and the shasta daisies/coneflowers were all planted at the same time (or if the daisies/coneflowers precede it), the crossvine shouldn't overwhelm them and choke them out. Another excellent native type of groundcover is Virginia Creeper. It creeps on the grounds in our woodland areas and doesn't seem to climb up into the trees too much (perhaps because the poison ivy and greenbriar have already climbed all the available trees! lol). On the east side of our house, it is climbing the wall of the 2 story house and has just about reached the roof. It has taken it several years to climb that high though. As a bonus, it attracts some kind of butterfly or moth. I don't remember which one, but I bet Susan knows. I have 'Tangerine Beauty' crossvine on an arbor with 'Flava' trumpet creeper and it is a true hummingbird magnet. I think crossvine would make a beautiful ground cover, and it is semi-evergreen so you'd still have some leaves on it for most of the winter. One of the great things about American Crossvine is that it is one of the primary flowering vines that hummingbirds rely on when migrating. So, in the springtime, when the American Crossvine and the Trumpet Creeper start blooming, the hummers are right behind them. Dawn

Wanted any type of drought tolerant, arid, direct seeding seeds, native preferred. I live opposite a mound that is rocky, not much soil, well drained and in an semi-arid environment with little rain fall. Salt Bush seem to be the only things that thrive on it, but are few and far between. I need seeds, ebay only offers certain types and only a few. I'm looking for 1000's. Any suggestions?

Thanks everyone for your comments. I am adding a few more pictures here to show the rest of the property from different angles. The picture with the large palm tree shows the edge of my lawn, my driveway and what the rest of the block looks like - here in Fair Oaks we don't have sidewalks, and many of the properties have lawns going straight down to the street. Also, there is no place to park on the street, so, as much as I would like a path leading to the house from the street as enmarene suggested, it would never be used. The second picture shows the edge of the lawn that I'm replacing on the and the big swath of concrete driveway adjacent to the lawn. If anything, I'd like to de-emphasize the driveway by planting a lovely garden. I'm not sure what the semi-circle Yardvaark suggested, was it a driveway? I do like the idea, but I have too much driveway. I do like Yardvaark's drawing, however and would like to incorporate some of the ideas indicated. The trees look great. right The third picture (above) shows the meager pathway from the driveway to the front porch/front door. I would like to enhance that path in some way, as well as make the front door pop more, but that might just be a matter that will be taken care of next spring when we paint the exterior. Thanks again everyone.