I like columbine and poppies too

For a groundcover, vinca minor. I also live in the Bay Area, and just put in vinca minor in a bed which is 60 ft long and 8 ft wide, after spending a long time researching alternatives. After it is established, it is low water. It grows well in both sun and partial shade. For interest, I put in a lot of South African bulbs, whose native climate is just like ours. Sparaxis, ixia, and there are many others. They bloom in the early and late Spring, depending, and go dormant in the Summer, and thus actually need no water in the Summer. Stay away from chasmanthe - it is huge and invasive here. Other SA bulbs should be OK.

Jackie

My DH wants to plant some really large sunflowers ... there are some terrific ones across the Lane from us. And California Poppies. And Nasturtiums, which seem to flourish in un-tended wasteland here.

I love in Richmond, Ca. (hmmm. I think I'll leave the typo)
Mexican Sage never needs watering in my garden; it grows to be 4-5 feet tall by nearly as wide, and although I prefer lavender for its scent, the hummingbirds love and feed on the mexican sage which blooms through much of each of the four seasons providing food for the hummers in winter when there are very few flowers in bloom.
- Rosemary is low-water when small, to drought tolerant after it reaches c. 4' tall.
- Tree Collards have marvelous purple-green foliage and if planted in winter are low-water to drought tolerant by summer, locally. One can crop them to c. 3' tall, or let them grow to 6-7' tall, unlike bush collards the tree collard is an evergreen perennial locally.
- Climbing forms of Nasturtiums, if planted in late winter to early spring, are drought tolerant locally by summer. I grow them on my taller rosebushes, such as M.A.C. and Lamarque, and the orange and red Nasturtiums were in full bloom in Feb providing vivid color in winter.
-Snow-in Summer, is a low growing groundcover, c. 3 inches tall and it covers c. a yard square, it has lovely silvery green foliage and small white flowers that bees adore. It is drought tolerant when it reaches a mature size.
Lux.

How about achillea? I've just ordered some alstromeria, which are said to be low-water need once established. I noticed other people on this site have been very enthusiastic about them. And asters.

Trish.

Thank you so much, these are wonderful suggestions! I foresee myself excitedly rushing off to our local nursery as soon as possible :)

I planted Laurentia around my roses. It works beautifully and is drought resistant from what I recall. Check out Annie's Annuals and Perenials by you in Richmond. They have a fabulous selection and I ordered my plants from her. They are annuals and they seeded in my yard and are still there (although we had a mild winter for the most part). They look beautiful next to my roses. I will see if I have some pictures to share.

You can see it under my Lady Alexandra of Kent spilling out into my walkway. Love their pretty little purple flowers.

There you can see the whole bush. On the other side are my penstimons and some iris and sage. Munstead Wood is peaking out in the background. P A of K is in the front left. It held up to our heat and water restrictions well. It does NOT like hard pruning. Found out the hard way on that.

You can see my white penstimen on the right (has purple stems on it) and on the left is my blue one. Here is a close up of it. Sorry for the quality of the picture.

Also drought tolerant.

That is my baby Munstead Wood in the back.

I second Mexican Sage. They can be propagated easily, plus they come in many colors though the pink and white ones are harder to find in local garden centers.

Mustbnuts, thanks for the beautiful and inspiring photos! I love how your walkway looks with the penstemon. Do snails eat them? I have unfortunately many snails in our front yard and they are horrible. Ugh! But they don't eat Mexican Sage... which sounds like a firm favorite for many people :)

How about catnip, santolina, artemisia, black-eyed Susan ( can be invasive here), the short bright blue plumbago, Moonbeam coreopsis, the euphorbia that looks something like babies breath.. diamond dust or something. Also Bat-Faced Cuphea is a very tough plant that blooms all season. It has little red and purple flowers that look amazingly like little bats with ears sticking out and little snouts. Sky blue Cape plumbago blooms all season too and is very tough but would get pretty big there I think. Mexican salvia has such a neat fuzzy texture. Some of the short, small flowered zinnias are tough and mildew resistant. Larkspurs also are low maintenance and self seeding. I have a lot of tall phlox in my garden. It's very tough and drought tolerant, very pretty and blooms for many weeks. But it is invasive. Dianthus is drought tolerant. Here's the diamond something euphorbia:

Diamond Frost Euphorbia. They are awesome here in Texas in the summer for heat and drought tolerance.

I have an unidentified lavender floribunda that was completely swallowed by a cistus x. hybridus. The rose managed to grow through the cistus and is now happily growing and flowering like crazy, with the cistus spreading beneath it. And both never need any water.

Mexican sage is not a ground cover (gets 4 ft tall by 4 ft at least in the SF Bay area), but it is certainly a great plant here. Formal name is "salvia leucantha". Comes with purple only flowers, or flowers which are a mix of purple and white. Indestructable, and it blooms late Summer, all of Fall, and most of the Winter (mine is still blooming now).

Jackie

Thank you Jackie - does yours grow in part shade as well, or is it only full sun? We sometimes get hummingbirds and I would love to attract more of them!

I agree with Jac. Mexican sage gets HUGE here. It will cover up any small rose bush quite easily as it does at my boyfriends house. If you want a salvia, try midnight blue. It stays small and the bees love it. If snails are a problem, I noticed that they go for the salvia much more than any other plant in my garden. They leave my laurentia alone.

There is a smaller version of the Mexican Sage, often called Santa Barbara Sage. It does get bigger, but not as massive as the common one. I think one of my favorite combos is the Mexican Sage and Iceberg

That's great, Kippy. I have an iceberg hedge and was reading this thread to get ideas for companion plants. The Santa Barbara sage sounds ideal. I hope to find it. I've always liked Mexican sage. I didn't know there was a dwarf variety. Thanks.

Annies Annuals website is a good source for drought tolerant companion plantings. Some of my favorites are Penstamon 'Tubular Bells' next to Lady Hillingdon and Salvias 'Royal Bumble' and 'Anthony Parker'. And, Salvia leucantha, is certainly a favorite of bees and hummingbirds -- does need its space.

Lamb's Ears, Stachys byzantina (aka S. lanata) 'Silver Carpet' is a good perennial groundcover in dry conditions. It is non-flowering but I've seen an occasional flower on it that I remove at once. The silver goes well with pastels. Children love the wooly leaves. BTW, the creeping thyme in the foreground and the largeleaved bergenia in the background to the right are also good in drought.

Groundcover thyme is nice but you have to be completely weed free before you plant it. I also like forget me nots. They reseed like crazy so make sure you really want it before you sow them. They get rough looking as they finish blooming then I pull them out and new ones grow from the seed left behind. I've never had to plant these. They plant themselves. Alyssum is the same way and ladybugs use it to raise their children. Ladybugs will stay around the area where they were born. A little sand scratched into the soil helps these get started.

How often do you water, and how much natural rainfall do you get? Jackie in the north bay averages 3-4 times as much natural rainfall as I get here in the south bay. It makes a difference. I have areas where I water deeply once a week, and other areas where I water only every other week with drip. The succulents you mentioned could potentially rot out if you water too frequently. Well, maybe not hens and chicks. They seem to be happy under almost any conditions.

BTW, some roses can get by with being watered as infrequently as once every three weeks after they are well established (at least two years). These would include big climbers and ramblers and a few very drought tolerant roses such as 'Mutabilis'. Do not try this with hybrid teas, or I suspect, with hybrid perpetuals.

Jasimine, that combo with agapanthus is what I am using to update the apartment complex courtyards. (My gardener seems to have control issues with his hedge trimmer. They are either growing over windows or cut to 12" tall. I am working on hedge trimmer free zone......) Moms neighbor had their lawn surrounded with the sage/iceberg combo and it was stunning. I think it was planted with the Iceberg in front and the sage in back. At least that is what I am doing here. And easy care as well.

I purchased a white and pink version of the Mexican sages and planted both just a couple of weeks before a surprise freeze. Only one survived (I think the pink but it has not bloomed yet) So that is something to think about. Once I know for sure which made it I will share that info

Hi Kippy. I read that in California, Santa Babara Mexican Sage should be pruned around December or January down to 6 to 12 inches in order to look tidy. I plan to call local nursery centers today to see if they have it or if they can order it for me. I think it will look beautiful.

Wow, those are some great suggestions! I'm going to see if my local nursery has different types of salvia. I'm on the peninsula, but the last year or so we've had hardly any rain. Our little house came with some old, established roses which surprised me by being very drought resistant, and I've added a number of David Austins and antique roses which once established, also seem to manage quite well with a good deep watering once a week. People are always surprised because they think that roses are water hogs, but I don't think they need as much water as lawns do. Last year was so bad, however, that even some of my lavender died :(

I do have some lamb's ear and you're right, it is indeed very drought tolerant, but all my alyssum died last year too (maybe I was too frugal with the water)! I love the honey smell though and will give it another try this year - thanks for letting me know that ladybirds raise their children in it!

Annie's Annuals is like a death trap to my wallet - it's about an hour away from me, but every time I go, there are just so many wonderful plants, and you're right, they would have some good suggestions! Love that place - thanks for reminding me to go visit again :)

Another plant that surprised me with its sort-of low water needs has been the clematis Rooguchi, which I've grown on a trellis together with Westerland and Crown Princess Margareta. Could be because the roots are in shade, but flowers are in the sun. I can't say enough good things about it - it's really easy to maintain, just needs to be hard pruned all the way down, and flowers all summer. Mine looks like this:

Thank you all so much - I now have an exciting list of plants to hunt down! xoxo

Bunny, your Clematis is beautiful. I had one, but it didn't grow well for me. Maybe, I'll try again. There are some great ideas on this thread and I plan to try several of the suggestions. Thanks for starting it :) Today at my garden center, I bought Diamond Frost Euphorbia. I also reserved Santa Barbara Mexican Sage, expected next week and will plant it with my Iceberg hedge as Kippy mentioned. Everything will look great with the roses. I agree, once established, the roses aren't the water hogs they are reported be. My city officials said they will "rethink" the common area plantings due to the water restrictions. I hope that doesn't mean removal of the Icebergs I see throughout are city. They actually look a lot better than some other plants during this drought. Here is the Diamond Frost. It is small now, but I'm sure it will spill over in no time.

And here is some Alyssum with one of my roses.

I just thought of a plant in my garden that seemed to do quite well with the water restrictions and that is Mexican Heather, aka Cuphea hyssopifolia. It stays low-growing. Here is a link: Mexican Heather. Dichondra Silver Falls also works well. I like it, because it spills over pots like a waterfall: Dichondra Silver Falls

Annie's Annuals' website is a dangerous place for me too. Right now I have white monkey flowers on my wishlist (they expect a crop to be ready in April and then again in June). Monkey flowers are beautiful, native, bloom like crazy most of the year, and don't need much water.

Another place I should stay away from, but don't, is Flowers By the Sea. They are Salvia specialists and have over 400. I have an order coming in April (Agastache 'Kudos Yellow', Salvia muirii, Trichostema 'Blue Bonnets, and Clindina 'Desi Arnaz) which is likely to grow. Flowers by the Sea

I am a newbie to the world of OGRs, but have been growing drought tolerant natives in Texas for many years. There was a survey done by Texas Gardeners magazine after our epic 2011 drought. Winners that made it through were Lantana, Salvia (Greggi) , Yellow Bells (tecoma) and texas sage (cenizo).

A good place to research is http://www.wildflower.org/plants/

In a normal year, the sprinkler runs once a week for 5 minutes, thanks to water restrictions. My plants live off rain water the remainder of the year. Plants that have made it through tough summer after summer. Good Luck. Drought is hard to get through for plants and gardeners.

Ground covers:

Santolina (green and gray varieties)

Moss Verbena

Asian Jasmine groundcover

Semi evergreen and evergreen plants:

1. Giant Liriope

2. Salvia Greggi

3. Lantana

4. Tecoma (yellow bells, orange bells )

5. Cape flower (tecoma capensis)

6. Agave and Aloes

7. Rosemary

8. Artemesia powis castle

9. Salvia indigo spires and mystic spires

10. Copper canyon daisy

11. Pavonia rock rose

12. Oleander - there are dwarf and variegated varieties that do great.

13. Blue Plumbago

14. Anisacanthus ( hummingbird plant)

Ashrose, do you get rains in the summers?

Jasmine, I would wait til after the last frost to trim the sage. I was told the best way to keep it tidy in the summer is to take off a few of the spent canes and let it push new growth.

A local nursery gets Annies Annuals in, boy that could get expensive!

Thanks, Kippy. Pruning the Santa Barbara Mexican sage after frost and dead heading during summer makes sense. I'm glad I could find it at my local nursery, so I don't have to pay for shipping.

Kippy,

We get rain once a month during the summer months if we are lucky. But it's mostly temps hovering around the 100s in July and August and a lot of times June and part of September as well. Our average summer days above 100F used to be 12. Last couple of years it's been 60 and even 80 days above 100 with no rain. We are under stage 2 drought now and were under stage 3 two summers ago. That means once a week watering. My roses once established get the same amount of water as the natives. The plants survive the summer ( no blooms though) and recover quickly once it cools down somewhat in October and we have some rain. I mulch all my beds with 3 inches of shredded native hardwood mulch. That helps a lot.

For those of us that want to grow natives from seed, I recommend mailorder from Wildseed farms in Fredericksburg. Excellent quality and selection and prices are the cheapest on the web. I order cosmos and zinnias from them every year.

Wildseed farms

About Cosmos

I have to say this. Cosmos is one of my favorite annuals because it's foolproof. And they come in all sorts of lovely colors and sizes and make fantastic companion plants. Hummingbirds and butterflies love them too. I planted the pink and purple bipinnatus around my Ducher a few years ago and it was a lovely effect.

Jasminerose,

I have a lot of Mexican Heathers but I am always afraid of putting them around the roses because their rootball can get pretty big. Do you think that their roots will compete with the roses' for nutrients? Thanks

I didn't know about the rootball of Mexican Heathers. Thanks, norizam. I'll move mine then, because the rose takes priority. Today, I bought Columbine. I had that plant at my old house, so I was happy to see it again at the nursery. They look so alien to me.

We get no rain at all here in Crete, between April/May and Sept/Oct. During that time I water once a fortnight. (Once a week for the pots)

I love lots of perennials or annuals with my roses. There are lots of good suggestions here. I will pinch a few ideas for my own garden.

I also like Lychnis coronaria. It seeds around a bit, but is easy to pull out or move. Here it is with William Shakespeare 2000.

Daisy

Here in South Central Victoria Australia we have been in and out of drought for 40+ years and I find that Stachys, Rosemary, lychnis, pink evening primrose, echeverias,plumbago, penstemon, hardy salvias,lavenders, vincas, white violets and marguerite daisies all keep the garden ticking over. Just be aware that evening primrose seeds prolifically if not deadheaded and plumbago, once settled, grows huge when the rains start again and also self seeds. Oops,forgot agapanthus! These we also have to deadhead fast as they become troublesome escapees in our native habitats, but they are the ultimate survivors.

Ps. Also white violets can become a weed if not monitored closely, but ,as someone (forget who) once said, 'a weed is a plant that does not know its' place'

the wild santa barbara daisy is drought tolerant and the white blooms are a nice contrast near pink or yellow roses; Erigeron Karvinskianus, when mature grows to be c. 14-18 inches tall by c. 18 to 24 inches square in my garden in Richmond, ca
Lux.

Wow, Jay, what a list! I'm bookmarking this and looking everything up. I would love to see photographs of your garden.

Hi, quiet lurker here. :) I hope I can jump in with a question. Jay, I'm in the SFValley. Great list, there are a few there I wasn't aware of. I was wondering whether you buy those plants locally or mail order? If so, where? :) I'm always hunting for new local nurseries. In particular, I've never seen Limonium Statice in any color but purple, of which I have a few. I would love them in apricot. Thank u!