In his book Perennials for Every Purpose, author Larry Hodgson lists a fair number of drought-resistant perennials that might suit your situation, including:

Agapanthus
Agave
Aloe
Delosperma
Echinops
Eryngium
Lavender
Lewisia
Opuntia
Phlomis
Phormium
Yucca

If you Google the Missouri Botanical Garden and do a search for each of those listed, you'll see photos of them as well as zone constraints, growing conditions & light preferences.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Missouri Botanical Garden

Any kind of planter needs daily, sometimes twice daily, watering.

Thanks Gardenweed I look into those. I appreciate your suggestions.

And just for fun here is a completed computer rendering of the backyard plan.

and here's one more from above

Futuristic is how I would describe that... very clean lines, modern... perhaps some compact grasses would suit you in those containers, ones that cascade like Hakonechloa..

I have a deep white trough much like the one you have at the back in that photo directly above, and with accompanying trellis... my location faces West, sun only in afternoon, and climate similar to yours actually..

In my white trough I have a rose Benjamin Britten to climb the trellis, Lithodora 'Grace Ward' which is evergreen with blue flowers, Helianthemum 'Ben Fhada' with yellow flowers.. Deschampsia flexuosa 'Tatra Gold', and Iberis 'Snowflake' dotted around the edges...as this cascades over the sides...
I also have in the centre, which also overhangs gracefully, is another grass Uncinia rubra...

..most of these are evergreen except the rose actually...and add both evergreen colour, foliage and flowers in the summer...

just to give you some suggestions... might be too messy for your arrangements...

Add some Soil Moist crystals to your potting soil - soak them first. They will keep your plant root system moist and you'll only need to water once a week. That will depend, of course, on the amount of humidity in the air and the amount of sunlight. A moisture meter is a wonderful investment for a gardener.

I have no affiliation with this company, but am posting a link for you to read about these crystals:

http://www.soilmoist.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Moist crystals

I quite like the look of your future courtyard. Are the plants intended to serve any purpose aside from aesthetic appeal (e.g., added privacy)? It looks like gardenweed has some good suggestions...I think a lavender would look nice and smell lovely as well, and it may be a good choice if you have mild winters. Or possibly some type of sedum if you don't want to have to worry about watering. Most ferns probably wouldn't work full sun & dry conditions.

And in addition to Campanula's questions, what is the volume of the planters? i.e. how deep and wide. The bigger the volume the easier the care. The part under the slats of the arbour will be particularly hard to get growing well.

You might check into greenroofs, it seems to be the latest environmental cutting edge thing. In that kind of raised off the ground situation you need xeric plants even in an area with regular rainfall.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.academia.edu/8893197/A_Selection_of_Plants_for_Green_Roof_in_Singapore

Wow thanks for all your suggestions and i like that the garden came across modern it wasn't my intention but i'll take it!!!

I really had no concept i was just trying to create somethinig visually appealing whilst working within the confines of the one little area of the garden that actually gets sun. everywhere else is pretty shady.

The plants under the pergola on the fence were actually just place holders I had intended on planting some vines in them and lead them over the top of the pergola The program im using is just a free trial version and the amount of plants i have to work with is quite limited.The other plants on the fence were also place holders for whatever i could come up with from you guys suggestions

In relation to the beds on the ground level: They are just raised beds completely open underneath to my sandy soil. They give the appearance that they are rather tall but really they are just 40cm tall with the soil at 30cm and the weird shape is just so i can have access to all the areas to tend the plants.

I really wasnt trying to be futuristic lol just trying to be creative in making something workable and visually appealing in that little 3m x5m space.

well You've all given me some great suggestions i can't wait to get to googling!!! Thanks for all your help :)

Ashlie

Ashlie: Have fun creating your garden space. :-) What a cool program you used to design it.
Campanula: Thanks for that pic. Now I'm even more convinced that we can have lots of plants in a small space.

Agave striata will fit in a container of well drained dirt and need watering even in 100F once a week. grasses would be nice too. There are some cheilanthes ferns that do well in sunshine and semi xeric settings..Nolina siberica, Nolina texana are also some grass like plants that will not need cleaning up in spring. since that will stand up to your winter and keep their growth nice and green. They bloom too. The N. texana will do nice things hanging over the planter edge I see them cascading off of rocks down by the river in nature. Mine are getting to the point that they are full are making a nice cascade over a wall. I never water them.

This post was edited by wantonamara on Fri, Dec 19, 14 at 1:06

I rather doubt Agave striata would survive a Dutch winter. It's recommended to over winter it in a greenhouse in the UK.

You might be confused with A. stricta. That one is very tender. My agave striata has survived 12F (-11C) in a pot. It has been growing AND blooming and sprouting from the stem for 17 years non stop. I had 4 blooms on it last year. Odd fro an agave. Meristem pupping.Some have it at Z 7. Definitely zone 8. It has also survived a wet cold winters here in well drained soils. I am experimenting with Agave striata 'Live wires" and it did 16F in a pot last year. It has beautiful pink violet tones to the meatballs of needles. I will say, that a wet winter in Central Texas Z8 will be different than a wet winter in Holland.

" I will say, that a wet winter in Central Texas Z8 will be different than a wet winter in Holland."

Yes, indeed. A lot of the UK desert plant collectors seem to resort to buildling rain shields. I'd skip the Agaves in the Low Countries, unless you are specifically accomodating them with protection from rain and cold, growing in pure pea gravel, etc.

A person named 'Agave Killer" in North Carolina (Z&7) has had good luck with A. striata. He might have had trouble with it last year when he had a Z6 winter. Just an idea, maybe not a good one.

Agaves, to my mind, always look pretty good in pots so it is perfectly doable to grow them in England (or Holland)...althoiugh a couple of mine have suffered more in the greenhouse (damp, still, lots of rotting) than outside with great drainage....which sound like you will be able to provide Ashlie.

When I built my raised beds, they had wide, flat timber coping, thinking they would do for seating. Naturally, within days, every square inch of coping was filled with pots and trays.
I think you will amaze yourself at what (and how much) can grow in your situation.

I only have Agave americana. It's in a pot but still gets chewed by snails and some leaves rot off in the winter. It's one thing babying a couple of iffy plants in pots, quite another to have an entire wall planter full of them.

BTW I wasn't confusing the two Agaves - I was going by info at the link, bearing in mind the Netherlands is slightly colder in winter than where I live.

Here is a link that might be useful: Agave striata

In case anyone is interested the program i use is called Realtime Landscape Architect by Ideaspectrum I gave a link to their page where you can download the fully functional (yes you can save) trial version. Only difference between it and the full version is the amount of plants and materials available to you and its says trial all across it other than that its a pretty great program and you can import your own materials into the program and also googlesketchup files

Here is a link that might be useful: Realtime Landscape Architect Free Trial

I'm a bit stuck with Realtime Landscape and I can't find a dedicated forum. How do you create those raised flower beds? If I use Terrain / Area Grader I can't go any narrower than 1.52m. If I use Add / Landscape / Region then I get a hump with rounded sides attached to the base even with Height Taper at 100.
Thanks