What plants look good in your yard right now - without hand watering?

8 years ago

I have had salvia greggii for several years and every year about this time it look like it is dying without extra water. I have to put two long hoses together and drag them across and acre to water them, and quite frankly, I'm tired of the hassle. Every website I read says these are good in xeriscapes, drought tolerant, yada yada. So why do mine look so bad?

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User

8 years ago

I've got dozens of Salvia greggii plants. Some do fine without watering but a few do not & its beyond me why this is. I have one that will look ratty and stressed thats on a slope where there are lots of tree roots but others look fine higher up, they get more shade so maybe thats the difference? Its not THAT much more. I notice a bit of watering will bring them around and encourage blooming but I'm too lazy. I will give the really bad two or three plants a drink when a month has gone by without rain but mostly they are on their own.

I've got several plants that need no watering in summer. The trick is to find the ones that will do that and still tolerate some wet periods we get from time to time. I choose xeric plants and sort of experiment. Some make it, some don't. I loose more plants to rain than drought.

Here are some plants that never need watering and still look good here in Oklahoma, I'm on a slight slope so I get good drainage.

Most prairie grasses with a couple exceptions look best when its hot and dry.

Flame Flowers

Desert Marigold

Ephedra

Blackfoot Daisy

Missouri Primrose

Purple Prairie Clover

Dalea greggi

Ratibida--Prairie Coneflower

Dyssodia

Annual Bitterweed

Sphaeralcea ambigua & S. angustifolia

Heath Aster

Lantana, the wild types

Purple Texas Scullcap

Liatris

Zexmenia

Mealy cup sage

Annual gaillardia

All the artemisia both native and the ones in the nursery trade except for silver mound. It melts and turns into an ugly dead mat flat on the ground.

Comments (6)

edlincoln
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Echinacea, Liatris.

I planted these at my parents place and I doubt anyone ever watered them. The Echinacea has started to fall over since this picture was taken,
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ZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
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docmom_gw
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Annual rudbeckia, Monarda citriodora and M. Punctata and M. fistulosa, Verbena boniarensis, lavender, Boneset, Ironweed,

What plants look good in your yard right now - without hand watering?

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Comments (6)

edlincoln

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