Drought tolerant plants Landscape Design

As demand for water increases and water becomes more expensive drought tolerant plants have greater importance in landscapes. This means change for many landscapers. It also provides the opportunity to design and create beautiful outdoor spaces that use less water. Below are several resources for drought tolerant plants to help you create and maintain beautiful water-wise landscapes.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION

If you are interested in the benefits of drought tolerant plants as well as the history, characteristics, proper selection, care and maintenance this is the site for you. Drought Tolerant Plants from University of California Cooperative Extension is from 2009 but the concepts and information are still perfect for today’s conditions.

HAVE YOU FOUND YOUR HOUZZ YET

Do you still think drought tolerant gardens means cactus and decomposed granite. If you want to see some example of beautiful drought tolerant gardens to get you thinking out of the design box, you will find almost 4, 000 pictures here. After viewing these you will understand the opportunities are limitless.

MONROVIA

Monrovia has almost 1000 plants classified as drought tolerant. These plants are listed 12 to a page and you can type in your zip code and they will identify your plant hardiness zone and make recommendations accordingly. They have excellent photographs as well as instructions for care, water and a detailed description of every plant. This will be one of your favorite places to get plant ideas.

VERY DROUGHT TOLERANT PLANTS

Are you interested in plants that require no supplemental water after establishment? Who wouldn’t be interested? The Master Gardeners from Sonoma County have put together an excellent list. These plants are recommended for Sonoma County but you can see the USDA plant hardiness zones here and see if any of the Sonoma plants might work well in your area. Or, this may spark you into action to find some very drought tolerant plants for your area. Don’t forget to share them back with readers here in the comment section.

WHAT DROUGHT TOLERANT PLANTS ARE APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR CITY

Below are several of my favorite resources for lists for drought tolerant plants. I tried to share the love across the United States, and I am sure I missed many great sites.

Arizona – Here is a list of low water use plants supplied by the Department of Water Resources. From our friends at Arizona Municipal Water Users is a link to a searchable online data with photos and plant descriptions.

California – The Nifty- 50 list from the San Diego County Water Authority is a great resource. So is the All-Star database of plants from the UC Davis Arboretum.