The term draught tolerant is supposed to refer to plants which require less water than most. There are other factors which can come into play. Sun intensity, wind, poor soil are some of the other factors which need to be considered. For instance, harsh winds will cause so-called draught tolerant plants to need extra water.

Mulching well is probably the best thing you can do to enable your plants to deal with less water. The spacing of plants affects a garden's need for water. The more closely plants are spaced, the more they shade each other.

I planted red hot poker because it is supposed to be draught tolerant. It is actually a water hog. Liatris is supposed to be draught tolerant. Mine needed a lot of water, and did not do well here--eventually died out.

Salvias usually require less water, sunflowers, scabiosa (pin cushion flower), wild flowers native to your area, artemesia, daisies, privet, agastache, ceanothus, hollyhocks, yarrow, bachelor's buttons (corn flowers), globe mallow, yuccas and cactus. Roses require a lot of water.

Lorna

Also... cone flowers, plumbago, lavender, rosemary, copper canyon daisy, Texas aster. Lavender & rosemary require almost perfect drainage, and most of them will need regular water until they're established. I think daylilies do pretty well, too.

I'm really tired of these histrionic plants that I find flattened to the ground, gasping for water, at the end of every single day, no matter how much I've watered them the day before. Like ox-eye daisy, African daisy, gerbera daisy (though I do have one huge old one in the shade that can get through 2 days before collapsing). Hmmm, 3 daisies...do I see a pattern?

It's so hard not to buy pretty water-loving plants in the spring, before the heat and drought set in. Next year I will do better!

My catmint always looks good, salvia greggi comes in lots of colors. purple coneflower has got to be my favorite- long blooming, burst of color, doesn't need staking.

Well here goes I usually here it for my opinions
but here there are.

Drought tolerant plants,now there's a concept.
Here in North carolina we had one of the worst
droughts in history.I took notice of native trees,
shrubs and flowers that grew in the area.

Noticing that most if not all were suffering
greatly without water.Die off was evident
and trees,shrubs were lost.most if not all
the native flowers near me did not return
this spring with the rain.Now I know that
with conservation efforts and planting of
these natives help and are to some degree
drought tolerant,but is there a drought tolerant
plant and or plants,I don't think so.

Yes there are plants that require less water
and may be viewed as drought tolerant.
But is it not true with all living things that
water is needed to sustain life,such as plants.
So with that being said would it not be in our
best interest to design our gardens in respect for
the needs (water) of the plants rather then our own
pleasure of viewing it.By placing plants of the same
water requirements with each other reducing the amount
of water needed in that bed.
Group 1 high water demands
Group 2 moderate water demands
group 3 low water demands (what we would classify as drought
tolerant)

I guess it is all in how you define drought
tolerant.For me I will stay with my formula.

Blueangel

Being that my garden was in that long, North Carolina drought, I had a lot of good survivors that were planted from fall 2005 through early summer 2007, zone 7:

salvia greggii Navajo Red
echinacea Ruby Star (have it in both moist and dry spots)
echinacea (either Sundown or Sunset, can't remember)
spirea -- any flavor
delosperma cooperii (ice plant)
buddleia -- any flavor
vitex
nepeta
lavender
rosemary
thyme
oregano
bronze fennel
rudbeckia Goldsturm
lambs ears
stacys hummelo (required a bit more moisture)
ornamental grasses (pampas, muhly, miscanthus)
monarda
lantana
nandina Moon Bay
nandina Alba
snapdragons
petunias
dianthus (perennial)
rose campion
salvia black & blue
salvia rose queen
agastache Blue Fortune
agastache (forgot name...apricot/pinkish)
perennial heliotrope
gaillardia
tall verbena
verbena Homestead Purple
asclepias (drought fine; mixed results due to late frost in April)
baptisia
Achillea Prince Edward
hepatacodium micionides (seven son shrub)

I blogged about this topic a lot. The only thing that I've now taken off my list is coreopsis. Those, either through the drought (1st year planted), or over the winter, were really hit and miss with the varieties of Heaven's Gate,
Sweet Dreams, Limerock Ruby, Creme Brulee (1/3 of the CBs).

I also have some great survivors that got some minimal watering during the drought. These are moisture-lovers or just "regular" plants that did well:

Japanese iris
Iris pseudocorus
Iris pallida Variegata
asclepias incarnata
Canna (stayed in the ground)
Colocasia (stayed in the ground, mulched)
1 of 2 Brugmansia (stayed in the ground, mulched)
nepeta subsess.
carex Gold Fountains
nierembergia Purple Robe
creeping jenny
daylilies
Star Fighter oriental lily (1 of 2)
tall garden phlox
phlox subulata
Encore Azaleas
Knock Out Roses
Japanese Maple
Sweet Bay Magnolia
Kleim's Hardy Gardenia
White butterfly ginger
Swamp sunflower
Clumping bamboo fargesii
purple smoke tree
weeping cherry
Kwansan cherry
deodar cedar
crepe myrtles (shrubs and trees)
illicium
scabiosa
heuchera (even got munched in the winter and is now full)
akebia
confederate jasmine
jasmine
weeping willow
corkscrew willow
caryopteris (I lost one due to DS1's transplant skills!)
hydrangea Endless Summer (it never gets to bloom due to deer)
clematis
Lady Banksia roses
Leucanthemum Broadway Lights
geranium Brookside
balloon flower

Also, the daffodils, bluebells and Dutch iris came back strong.

I'm sure that I've left something out! I think I've listed my entire garden...the only thing I don't recommend now is that coreopsis.

Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: blogged about the drought over the year

Cameron
Thank you
may I use your list to try
I was given my view on this
and what I observed.
My gardens as most know are
still in the planning stages
I did loss last year fifteen
native azeala that where on
the property when I purchased
the home the were old ones
and we had plan on removing them.
I posted on the Carolina forum last
year for suggestion on plants for our
region,only recieved two reply's
one of them from Dottie.

Blueangel

I just read a book called Dryland Gardening (iirc). It was interesting - the introduction pointed out that with global warming, the big thing is that we are getting more extremes of weather in all sorts of ways. So, you may need to worry about drought one year, and lots of rain another year. It also talked a lot about how to prioritize your watering - basically, new plants, annuals and vegetables need the most constant watering until they get established.

One thing I found interesting is that she said that echinacea purpurea is NOT very drought tolerant. I had just planted some this year, and I had already noticed that it was one of the first plants to start drooping, which had really surprised me, since it is a prairie plant. I'm hoping that once it gets established, it will do a little better! I had some at the old house (Magnus, not the species), and it seemed to do fine without much water after the 1st summer. I had a soaker hose in that bed that I barely used after the first year. :)

Irene just pointed out what I was about to type.

Drought tolerant is meaningless until a plant is well established;
good reason not to attempt a 'drought tolerant garden' in hot summer.
Another good idea is to establish some type of 'rain garden' to soak up the extra water when it does rain.

Nell

Gaura! Wait, gaura probably isn't cottagy, huh? Can it at least count as cottagy in California? ;)

I think gaura fits in a cottage garden. I have one...in there somewhere! :-)

Blueangel -- I replied to your email. Sure, go ahead and copy the list. Part of my enjoyment in gardening is being able to test plants with drought and deer and then report the results.

I know your zone is different from mine, but we do have very hot and humid summers.

I never water tall bearded iris. In fact they say to water them once in their life.....at planting.

Russian sage, hollyhocks, gaillardias, lavenders, nepetas, peonies, and the sages.

I personally think anything you like fits in a cottage garden.

Thank you, everyone - you've given me lots of plant ideas. I agree with you, Blueangel, about planting by groups of water needs. I have tried to do that in at least one area. And I certainly learned that some plants should not receive too much water. I had a waterline leak for two months (because they wouldn't fix it until I took some action) when we were having our wettest spring in a long time, and had a number of plants die. I also agree with Lorna that mulch is the best thing you can ever do for your plants. That's why I'm trying to mulch everything really well this year. And I should have learned this in prior years, but I should not give in to my impulses and purchase plants after the middle of May. It's just too hot and they don't have much of a chance of survival. I think the penstemon I just planted from Bluestone are already goners.

Thanks,
Mary

Everyone is mentioning plants that are considered drought tolerant but miss another very important factor - GOOD SOIL preperation - I have almost all the plants Cameron has in her gardens and live in pretty much the same area and suffered the same drought conditions but I don't think my soil is as good as hers. We are working on it but you really need LOTS of organic matter that will retain moisture. My soil in many places actually sounds 'hollow' when I work it if that makes sense. I am totally convinced that the difference between so many of our gardens making it through drought goes right back to the soil. I have another truck load of garden soil not top soil coming next week to help improve mine plus working in homemade compost - one day my gardens will have good rich dirt for my plants to revel in - rain or drought....

Lynne

From my experience, the "sun loving" plants do much better in a semi-shade when there is a "water ban" and infrequent rains, in addition to 95F in my zone.
They do much better if planted a year or more before (preferably in fall), and had a chance to develop strong root system. Rookies have a tougher time, especially spring planted ones.

Cameron did not recieve your e-mail
and Thank you for the use of the list.
lynnencfan I agree with soil being an
important part of managing the garden.
I am In Charlotte and reported on what
I notice here in The south park area.

Blueangel

What a nice discussion! I started leaning towards more drought-tolerant plants a few years ago. Try looking for things that are native to your area, as they usually require less water than most.

There are also grasses, ratibida columnifera, gaillardia, daylilies, sedum, and of course many annuals will do well in the hot, dry weather.

Tracy

I like live 4 ever...it needs little water. I never use to be a fan of yucca..considering them large ugly monsters...but I now love them to a degree..they flower with no care...no water..and when everything else is saying to darn hot!! So, I decided they deserve credit for that...My iris seem to also do decently with little water..in fact better with little water than to much...they die out from wet feet but never for me at least from being dry.

Let me add this observation: We had a severe drought last year. This year we're starting off dry again.
Many plants that 'survived' last summer with what water I could give them, did not adequately recover during a dry winter and show the effects this year.

A specific example:
I have a row of tough, old, heirloom daylilies that managed for years in dry shade under pine trees when there was not a resident gardener here.
I did not make a pic this year. There were few scapes and there are dead leaves halfway up.
They will survive, but not thrive, without adequate water.

May 28, 2007, drought:
{{gwi:689802}}

May 26, 2006 -- adequate water in spring
{{gwi:689805}}

Nell

Centranthus is known for being drought tolerant. I started some from seed last year and they are really blooming in my garden now--these have really brightened up my perennial bed. I have the more common reddish pink and would like to get the white variety too.