I just saw this post today, so, perhaps, you have already acted on your problem. I have planted with a great deal of success a California native commonly called 'coyote bush' or Baccharis pilularis. They get to be about 6-10 feet tall, 6 to 10 feet wide, and I never water them after getting them established during the winter rainy season. They stay green all year, take high heat (115 one summer), cold down to 0; they can be inundated, deer don't like them, and they grow fast. I grow them in very dense clay soil, in very shallow soil and in sun and shade. They can also be cut down to very low for rejuvenation if the bottoms get too straggly. Is this not perfect? I don't know why it is not more popular, but as a precaution (to avoid babies everywhere)I would get just all male bushes. I easily cloned mine so they are all the same sex. A bonus, they have a wonderful,albeit, elusive smell when it is damp. Try one.

The Florida Native Plant Society has lists of plants by county that includes drought tolerance and provides links to pages with more info and images. http://www.fnps.org/pages/plants/plants_by_county.php?county=PINELLAS&sort=dryt There are two nursuries in Pinellas that specialize in natives. Twigs and Leaves in St Pete (site is lame) http://www.twigsnleaves.com/ Wilcox Nursery in Largo/Bellair http://www.wilcoxnursery.com/revHome.html (Includes a nice list of plants to give you an idea of what is *potentialy* available.) I highly recommend Pineland Lantana, Blanket Flower, and Tropical Sage.

I donÂt know if I can give you too much bang for your buck on advise, mountainmama. First off, IÂd suggest that you search back thru this forum. IÂm not much of a landscaper and tend to loath the weed problems perennials present. But, I grow quite a few ornamentals and have a couple of ideas. There are some who will likely read this and roll their eyes at my lack of sophistication because IÂm basically just a farm boy with a yard (trying not to let it look like a barn yard). Grasses as ornamentals? I thought grass was for cows. Yeah, I know but then again, I donÂt know. Delphiniums, Columbines, Coreopsis, Achillea (aka yarrow), Agastache are all fairly trouble free for me. In zone 6 where you are IÂd think that there are plenty of Penstemons that would add a great deal to your landscaping. I like the looks of goldenrod even tho it seems to have a rather bad reputation for the allergy suffers (doesnÂt bother me and lots of things do). Just about my favorite flower is gaillardia for trouble-free growing. Indian blankets grow on the sunny slopes above the rivers around here and I guess thatÂs been going on forever. My only complaint, if IÂve got one, is that they arenÂt especially long-lived but they make up for that by their willingness to selfseed. Many perennials are going to need to be cut down to the soil level sometime during the growing season but thatÂs not much trouble. Gaillardia has never been one of these, however. Vines  The Halls honeysuckle vine I started years ago, I pulled out after a few seasons. Just too much trouble with aphids. Clematis are fairly easy to grow and seem to be sufficiently hardy. IÂm not convinced that they are drought tolerant but IÂve had no problem here even tho my 2 vines have only a very little sprinkler water thru the Summer because of their locations. When I planted them about a decade ago, I was very suspicious of the new varieties and their ability to survive in this arid place. Therefore, I just went with the tried and true clematis jackmanii. IÂve never been sorry but I see all kinds of newer clematis around so I donÂt think thereÂs too much risk involved with branching out in your selections. High Country Gardens is a long-time perennial plant source but you should think about purchasing seed and starting some of these varieties yourself at very low cost. I guess even clamatis can be started from seed but all the others that I mention are "easy peasy." IÂm not really sure that it puts you very much behind in instant gratification, either. Remember that with perennials, "the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap." CanÂt jump start that more than one year  maybe - and the exceptional variety you can gain with minimum expense is dizzying! Best of Luck! Steve

We too have two steep hills in our backyard that get barely any water. We're in north GA. When we bought the house there were clumps of English Ivy, obviously doing terribly. You could see the awful erosion all around the clumps. We planted the spreading type of liriope two years ago, and let me tell you we planted three hundred clumps and five have spread so far. We planted the orange wild daylilies here and there, they have become huge and have started to spread. I stuck giant daffodil bulbs and some vinca minor in spots, they are both doing well so far. I will tell you I have creeping phlox out front with good soil and water, and it has covered everything it can reach (hard to weed in). I stuck two of the same plants out back in a corner of the hill to see how it did, and both are the same exact size two years later. Just my two cents to add, hope I helped!