Guessing since this is around the mailbox that it is near the sidewalk. I would not plant cactus there-my granddaughter and one of her neighbors were fascinated by another neighbor's cactus in the he11strip and they both touched it. Not a fun experience. The neighbor is not very nice actually. Everyone is waiting for him to move or leave for a different astral plane.

Anyway, how about Sedum, Perovskia (Russian sage), and/or Penstemon? All perennials.

Perovskia gets too big for the spot and I already have some penstemon behind it. I’m not concerned about anyone touching a cactus. We don’t have too many people that walk through as we have no sidewalk.

Echinacea? Lantana?

I do love echinacea, but again, a little tall for the spot. Maybe if there was a dwarf one I would use it.

Hmmm, batting 0 for 4. I will keep thinking. I do believe there are some shorter echinacea around. Seems I saw some at the nursery last year.

I don’t want anything like perovskia as I have 2 lavender plants in the same spot, and I don’t want anything like thyme or coreopsis as I have those in that spot.

I'd want to see more repetition in the planting, not one of this and one of that. You already have single specimens of 5 different plants. The bed lacks coherence.

Agave americana

Amorpha canescens, Eryngium yucciifilium, Dalea purpurea, Phemeranthus/Talinum calycinum Monarda punctata. Euphorbia corrolata, Antennaria neglecta. There's a red flowered Opuntia species hardy in Ohio. High Country Gardens sells zone 6 hardy cacti.

Ah yes, I agree. I have had to be very strict with myself and my tendency to plant one of everything. In a mish-mash large bed, this never looks too bad (because it is essentially just a collection, not some design feature) but in a very formal and visible display around a central object, I actually prefer to see a single variety or a combination of 2 at the most. I would have probably just planted 5 Hidcote lavenders or something like convolvulous cneorum.

I think vines look great growing up mail posts, with a couple/few more plants below.

I know of no vine to put there. It’s hot and dry and sunny all day

As Cyn mentioned … can you grow Lantana in Ohio?

I’m in Texas, very intense sun and heat, and have Lantana ’New Gold’ that absolutely thrives in harsh conditions. Here are two pots I planted in my driveway beds:

Butterflies love them:

As an annual. Very invasive in the south where it’s perennial growing range is however

“Very invasive in the south where it’s perennial growing range is however”

’New Gold’ is not invasive in Texas.

Maybe ask for cacti or other suggestions at your local nurseries.

None of them sell perennial cacti😩. It’s very frustrating as they should be more commonly grown perennials

Forgive my ignorance regarding Ohio cacti growing, but would any last your winters? Cacti are quite pricey, even here in Texas … most people wouldn’t invest in them for annual purposes. But again, I don’t know about them in Ohio. I do have family in Iowa and I can’t think of any type of cactus they can grow as perennials.

Yes of course! We have 1 native cactus. And there are many native high mountain areas in Colorado and New Mexico and South America and the Great Plains

If it were me, I’d consider sentimental blue balloon flower. It did very well for me when I gardened in NE PA. onve established, it prefers to be left alone and is a very tidy plant so you wouldn’t need to divide or it. I’m partial to adding blues so that’s my bias, but there are many salvias that would also do well there… or a low nepeta.

If you are wanting something a bit different, maybe consider perrennial snapdragons (Antirrhinum hispanicum). They are happy to bake in the sun all day.

I have doubts about any cactus other than Opuntia humifusa. I grew that one for years, until it got shaded out, and if I didn't have trouble with it, I can't imagine it wouldn't like Ohio. I found it at a local botanical garden plant sale, but mail order isn't the end of the world.

Echinocereus seems popular in higher rain areas

I have just bought a couple of ballota pseudodictamnus. for my 'dry' garden..and honestly think a bed of low-growing, silver leaved evergreens would be just the ticket. Consider santolina, stachys, ballota, teucrium, dichondra, helichrysum, artemisia, convolvulus, phlomis, senecio....

There are Echinocereus species hardy to zn.4, but many that are claimed to be cold hardy aren't hardy in zn. 6. Cylindropuntia has species hardy to zn. 4. The Opuntia humifusa complex was studied and is now split up into about 9 new species. It was reworked by L.C. Majure. There are several hardy Opuntia cultivars.

Cylindropuntia spinosior

Cylindropuntia versicolor.

We have cactus in town in a few unattended areas. They are big fat paddles. Probably not native, but they do survive in SW Michigan just fine. However, I wouldn't put one by a mailbox. Or anything else that could be unfriendly. Even if you have vehicle carriers, they aren't thrilled about unfriendly plantings around mailboxes.

Other consideration. Do you get snow? Does your road get treated with winter chemicals? If so, that can impact the grow site since it's by the roadside.

Yes, lots of snow, and we do have snowplows that ice the roads in winter

Is lavender salt tolerant? I keep getting mixed results. All of the other plants planted there are.

Jay 6a, Excellent list. Euphorbia corrollata -- Well done man! I don't believe I've heard this plant mentioned or appreciated by anyone in over 40 years of gardening, much of that in the upper midwest prairie biome. I've only seen the plant on a couple of occasions in Minnesota prairies. It stopped me in my tracks, but I think most folks wouldn't even notice its existence. The epitome of subtle beauty.

Artinnature, Euphorbia corrollata has been discussed in this forum before. It's a great native alternative to Babies Breath. I have 3 corrollata plants that returned and look vigorous. There is a lot of it growing in our Illinois prairies. Some of the associates that I see growing with it are much more difficult to grow from seed, like Agalinis, Polygala/Senega sanguinea and Linum sulcatum. North American Polygala species have been moved to Senega, with a few of them moved into new genera. Polygala senega is now Senega officinalis and not Senega senega. I'm also growing Euphorbia Spotted Spurge. It shows up on it's own with absolutely no effort on my part LOL. Tough little sidewalk crack dweller.

OMG, definitely NO on the cold hardy, Optuntia humifusa, unless you want your mailman to sue you for damages! They SPREAD, and have both the tiny prickly things AND occcasional LONG needles.

These are in a tub to control their spread.