Drought-tolerant perennials for full sun
Perennials that get through a dry summer without watering once settled, with a sample bed planned from them.
A drought-tolerant plant tells you what it is by its looks: grey or silver leaves (fine hairs that reflect the sun), small, narrow or waxy leaves that lose little water, and often a long taproot. Most come from dry grassland and Mediterranean hills.
They are tolerant once settled, not from the day they are planted: water them through their first summer. After that, the way to lose them is kindness. Rich soil, feeding and regular watering make them soft, floppy and short-lived; lean soil and neglect keep them tight. Plant them in spring, not autumn, so their roots are deep before the first wet winter, which kills more of them than any drought.
188 plants: 188 perennials.
The dozen to start with
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Bearded iris
2½ ft · late May to mid June · grey leaves
Ruffled, often scented flowers in almost every colour stand above fans of grey, sword-shaped leaves in late spring.
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Lamb's ear
12 in · grown for its leaves · grey leaves
Soft, fuzzy silver leaves make it a favourite for edging and for softening bolder colours around it.
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English lavender 'Munstead'
16 in · late June to late July · grey leaves
A compact, early English lavender with lavender-blue flowers, named for Gertrude Jekyll's garden at Munstead Wood.
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Oriental poppy
2½ ft · late May to late June
Enormous, crepe-paper flowers in scarlet, orange, pink or white, usually with a black blotch at the base, in early summer.
A bed planned only from these plants
The planner was given only the plants on this page that suit zone 6 and full sun, and designed this 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed from them when the page was made.
The plants
- 1 Leadwort × 39, blue
- 2 Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies' × 9, pink
- 3 Brown-eyed Susan × 3, yellow
- 4 Smooth aster 'Bluebird' × 3, blue
- 5 Gas plant × 1, white
- 6 Southernwood × 3, grey-green leaves
- 7 Coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' × 4, pink
- 8 Bergenia 'Winter Glow' × 4, red
Planned as a naturalistic planting: low grasses and groundcovers, the matrix, make up 41% of the planted ground. Neither end outweighs the other: the visual weight is split 49 to 51, left to right. Cool colours (blue and pink) with yellow and red as the warm notes, and white to calm things between them.
The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 5 Good, 1 Satisfactory. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
All 188 plants
Show all 188, by where they go in a bed
Front of a bed 82
- Basket-of-gold 10 in · mid April to mid May · grey leaves
- Beach wormwood 'Silver Brocade' 8 in · grown for its leaves · grey leaves
- Bergenia 16 in · mid April to early May
- Bergenia 'Winter Glow' 14 in · mid April to mid May
- Bird's-foot violet 5 in · late April to late May · host plant
- Black-eyed Susan 'Little Goldstar' 16 in · mid July to mid September
- Blue flax 18 in · mid May to mid July
- Calamint 16 in · mid July to early October · grey leaves
- Calamint 'Montrose White' 16 in · late June to mid October
- Candytuft 10 in · mid April to late May
- Catmint 'Junior Walker' 16 in · late May to early September · grey leaves
- Catmint 'Purrsian Blue' 16 in · late May to early September · grey leaves
- Cheddar pinks 'Bath's Pink' 10 in · mid May to late June
- Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch' 8 in · mid May to late June
- Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies' 4 in · late May to late June
- Chives 14 in · mid May to mid June
- Common thyme 10 in · late May to late June · grey leaves
- Coral bells 'Firefly' 10 in · late May to late July
- Creeping phlox 6 in · mid April to mid May
- Creeping phlox 'Candy Stripe' 5 in · mid April to mid May
- Creeping phlox 'Emerald Blue' 5 in · mid April to mid May
- Creeping thyme 3 in · early June to mid July
- Cushion spurge 'Bonfire' 16 in · late April to late May
- Eastern prickly pear 10 in · mid June to early July
- English lavender 'Hidcote' 18 in · late June to late July · grey leaves
- English lavender 'Munstead' 16 in · late June to late July · grey leaves
- Golden oregano 12 in · grown for its leaves
- Goldenrod 'Golden Fleece' 18 in · late August to early October · host plant
- Goldmoss stonecrop 3 in · late May to late June
- Heath aster 'Snow Flurry' 6 in · mid September to mid October
- Hens and chicks 4 in · grown for its leaves
- Japanese aster 'Blue Star' 18 in · late June to mid September
- Lamb's ear 12 in · grown for its leaves · grey leaves
- Lamb's ear 'Big Ears' 12 in · grown for its leaves · grey leaves
- Lamb's ear 'Silver Carpet' 6 in · grown for its leaves · grey leaves
- Leadwort 10 in · early August to early October
- Lemon thyme 10 in · mid June to mid July
- Lilyturf 16 in · early August to mid September
- Maiden pinks 8 in · early June to mid July
- Mouse-ear coreopsis 'Nana' 8 in · early May to mid June
- Nodding onion 18 in · early July to early August
- October daphne 8 in · mid September to late October
- Ornamental oregano 'Herrenhausen' 20 in · mid July to mid September
- Pasque flower 10 in · early April to early May
- Pink English lavender 18 in · late June to late July · grey leaves
- Plantain-leaved pussytoes 6 in · grown for its leaves · grey leaves · host plant
- Pussytoes 4 in · grown for its leaves · grey leaves
- Red creeping thyme 2 in · early June to mid July
- Robin's plantain 'Lynnhaven Carpet' 6 in · early May to late May · grey leaves
- Rock cress 8 in · mid April to early May · grey leaves
- Rock soapwort 8 in · mid May to late June
- Roman chamomile 6 in · late June to early August
- Roof iris 14 in · mid May to early June
- Scarlet coral bells 18 in · late May to late July
- Sea holly 'Blue Hobbit' 12 in · late June to late August
- Sea thrift 8 in · early May to mid June
- Sedum 'Angelina' 5 in · grown for its leaves
- Sedum 'Dragon's Blood' 4 in · late June to early August
- Sedum 'John Creech' 2 in · grown for its leaves
- Sedum 'Lidakense' 4 in · late August to early October
- Sedum 'Purple Emperor' 18 in · early August to mid September
- Sedum 'Tricolor' 4 in · late June to late July
- Shasta daisy 'Banana Cream' 18 in · late June to late August
- Showy stonecrop 'Brilliant' 18 in · mid August to late September
- Showy stonecrop 'Neon' 20 in · late August to early October
- Silver sage 12 in · grown for its leaves · grey leaves
- Snow-in-summer 8 in · late May to late June · grey leaves
- Stokes' aster 18 in · late June to mid August
- Sundrops 18 in · late May to mid July
- Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam' 18 in · late June to early September
- Threadleaf coreopsis 'Zagreb' 16 in · late June to late August
- Variegated lilyturf 14 in · early August to mid September
- Verbena 'Homestead Purple' 10 in · mid May to early October
- Wall germander 12 in · late June to early August
- White stonecrop 'Coral Carpet' 3 in · mid June to mid July
- Wild strawberry 6 in · early May to early June
- Winecups 8 in · late May to late August
- Wood sage 'Blue Hill' 20 in · late May to late July
- Wood sage 'East Friesland' 18 in · late May to late July
- Woolly thyme 2 in · grown for its leaves · grey leaves
- Woolly yarrow 8 in · late May to early July · grey leaves
- Yellow ice plant 2 in · mid May to late June
Middle of a bed 75
- Aromatic aster 'October Skies' 20 in · mid September to late October
- Aromatic aster 'Raydon's Favorite' 3 ft · mid September to early November
- Autumn sage 2½ ft · mid May to mid October
- Bearded iris 2½ ft · late May to mid June · grey leaves
- Beardtongue 'Husker Red' 2½ ft · late May to late June
- Betony 'Hummelo' 20 in · late June to early August
- Black-eyed Susan 24 in · mid July to mid September · host plant
- Black-eyed Susan 'Goldsturm' 2 ft · late July to late September
- Blackberry lily 3 ft · mid July to mid August
- Bluestar 3 ft · mid May to mid June
- Bluestar 'Storm Cloud' 2½ ft · mid May to mid June
- Butterfly weed 24 in · late June to early August · host plant
- Catnip 2½ ft · grown for its leaves · grey leaves · host plant
- Caucasian scabious 'Fama' 24 in · late June to early September · grey leaves
- Common blanket flower 24 in · mid June to early September · grey leaves
- Coneflower 'Green Jewel' 24 in · early July to early September · host plant
- Coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' 20 in · early July to late August · host plant
- Coneflower 'Magnus' 3 ft · early July to early September · host plant
- Coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry' 22 in · late June to mid September · host plant
- Coneflower 'White Swan' 2½ ft · early July to early September · host plant
- Corsican hellebore 2½ ft · late February to late April · grey leaves
- Culinary sage 24 in · early June to early July · grey leaves
- False sunflower 'Summer Sun' 3½ ft · late June to early September
- Feverfew 20 in · late June to mid August
- Flowering spurge 2½ ft · early July to late August
- Garlic chives 20 in · late August to mid September
- Gas plant 3 ft · late May to late June
- Gaura 'Siskiyou Pink' 2½ ft · mid June to early October · host plant
- Gaura 'Whirling Butterflies' 3 ft · mid June to mid September · host plant
- Globe thistle 'Veitch's Blue' 3 ft · early July to late August
- Gloriosa daisy 2½ ft · late June to mid September · host plant
- Gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer' 3 ft · early July to early October · host plant
- Golden Alexanders 2½ ft · early May to mid June · host plant
- Hyssop 20 in · early July to late August
- Ironweed 'Iron Butterfly' 2½ ft · late August to early October
- Lanceleaf coreopsis 20 in · late May to mid July
- Meadow sage 24 in · late May to mid July
- Meadow sage 'Caradonna' 24 in · late May to mid July
- Mexican hat 24 in · late June to early September
- Ohio spiderwort 2½ ft · late May to mid July
- Oregano 20 in · early July to late August
- Oriental poppy 2½ ft · late May to late June
- Oriental poppy 'Patty's Plum' 2½ ft · late May to late June
- Painted daisy 24 in · early June to mid July
- Pale purple coneflower 3 ft · mid June to mid July · host plant
- Pearly everlasting 24 in · late July to early September · grey leaves
- Purple coneflower 3 ft · late June to early September · host plant
- Purple gas plant 3 ft · early June to late June
- Purple milkweed 3 ft · early June to mid July · host plant
- Red valerian 2½ ft · late May to early September
- Rose campion 2½ ft · early June to late July · grey leaves
- Russian sage 'Little Spire' 2½ ft · mid July to mid September · grey leaves
- Salvia 'Hot Lips' 3 ft · late May to mid October
- Salvia 'May Night' 24 in · late May to mid July
- Sea holly 3 ft · early July to mid August
- Sea lavender 24 in · mid July to late August
- Shasta daisy 'Crazy Daisy' 2 ft · late June to late August
- Siberian iris 2½ ft · late May to late June
- Siberian iris 'Caesar's Brother' 3½ ft · late May to late June
- Slender mountain mint 2½ ft · early July to late August · host plant
- Society garlic 20 in · late May to mid September · grey leaves
- Southernwood 3½ ft · grown for its leaves · grey leaves
- Spanish lavender 24 in · early May to late June · grey leaves
- Spotted bee balm 24 in · mid July to early September · host plant
- Sunset hyssop 24 in · mid July to mid September · grey leaves
- Tennessee coneflower 24 in · mid June to late August · host plant
- White sage 'Silver King' 3 ft · grown for its leaves · grey leaves
- White sage 'Valerie Finnis' 24 in · grown for its leaves · grey leaves
- White valerian 2½ ft · early June to early September
- Whorled milkweed 24 in · late June to late August · host plant
- Wild geranium 20 in · early May to late May
- Yarrow 24 in · mid June to late August
- Yarrow 'Cerise Queen' 24 in · mid June to late August
- Yarrow 'Paprika' 24 in · mid June to late August
- Yellow coneflower 3 ft · mid June to mid July · host plant
Back of a bed 31
- Anise sage 'Black and Blue' 4 ft · late June to mid October
- Blue false indigo 4 ft · late May to mid June · host plant
- Blue sage 4 ft · late August to mid October · grey leaves
- Bronze fennel 5 ft · grown for its leaves
- Brown-eyed Susan 4 ft · late July to early October · host plant
- Clary sage 3½ ft · late June to early August · grey leaves
- Common milkweed 4 ft · late June to early August · host plant
- False sunflower 4 ft · late June to early September
- False sunflower 'Summer Nights' 3½ ft · late June to early September
- Foxglove beardtongue 3½ ft · late May to late June
- Giant coneflower 6 ft · late June to early August · host plant
- Globe thistle 3½ ft · mid July to mid August · grey leaves
- Golden lace 5 ft · late July to mid September
- Grey-headed coneflower 4 ft · early July to late August · host plant
- Maximilian sunflower 8 ft · early September to mid October · grey leaves · host plant
- Meadow blazing star 4 ft · late July to mid September
- Mediterranean spurge 4 ft · late March to late May
- Mexican bush sage 4 ft · early September to early November · grey leaves
- Oriental poppy 'Beauty of Livermere' 3½ ft · late May to late June
- Prairie blazing star 4 ft · mid July to late August
- Rattlesnake master 4 ft · mid July to late August · host plant
- Rough blazing star 3½ ft · mid August to late September
- Russian sage 4 ft · mid July to mid September · grey leaves
- Showy goldenrod 4 ft · late August to mid October · host plant
- Smooth aster 'Bluebird' 3½ ft · early September to mid October · host plant
- Sweet coneflower 'Henry Eilers' 4½ ft · late July to mid September · host plant
- Tall coreopsis 6 ft · early August to mid September
- Tall verbena 5 ft · late June to mid October
- White false indigo 4 ft · late May to late June · host plant
- Wild bergamot 3½ ft · early July to late August
- Wild quinine 3½ ft · late June to late August