Waterwise Garden Choices
Contributed by Jolene Ottosen for the Chaparral Green Thumbs
With the potential of water restrictions looming, consider adding more drought tolerant plants to your garden. While some varieties can appear subdued, here are some varieties that would look lovely in any garden while thriving in our semi-arid desert climate.
‘Karl Foerster’ Feather Reed Grass
This is a favourite because of its great performance and stiff, upright habit providing interest in all seasons. It is ideal for creating a low screen or hedge and provides a good backdrop for more colourful perennials. This tall plant can reach up to six feet and spreads about two feet wide.
‘Elijah Blue’ Blue Fescue
Blue fescue is a diverse plant. Plant it in groups as a groundcover or as an accent in a rock garden. Plant ‘Elijah Blue’ at the base of tall shrubs or tall perennials, such as lilies, to help them blend with the landscape. I like the seed heads that turn tan when mature and add colour throughout winter. Blue fescue can grow to be one foot tall and two feet wide.
‘David’ Phlox
This is a truly stunning fragrant flower! It is also resistant to powdery mildew, a disease that can ruin phlox foliage before the end of the season. This phlox grows to be three and a half feet tall and three feet wide.
‘Fire Witch’ Dianthus
This has bright, pink, fragrant flowers in late spring which continue through fall. It’s wonderful at the front of a sunny border and is a star planted among rocks. This plant grows to be about eight inches tall and two feet wide.
Baptisia
This is a wonderful perennial for Alberta as it is heat, drought, deer, and rabbit resistant. It thrives in the sun but tolerates part shade and doesn’t need to be divided. The seed heads are lovely if you do not deadhead it, and the blue-green foliage looks great in the garden from spring to fall.
‘Goldsturm’ Black-Eyed Susan
These make lovely cut flowers when they bloom in August into September. It fills the garden with deep yellow flowers and tolerates heavy clay soils. Black-Eyed Susans can grow to be two feet tall and two feet wide.
‘Magnus’ Purple Coneflower
This is a great cut flower and is valued for its cone-shaped seed heads. Its magenta-pink blooms last from mid to late summer and attract butterflies. It is heat and drought tolerant. As a bonus, many gardeners find this plant to be deer and rabbit resistant. This coneflower variety grows to be about four feet tall and two feet wide.
‘May Night’ Salvia
This plant’s dark purple spikes provide a lovely contrast against light-coloured flowers or variegated foliage. It holds up to heat, drought, deer, and rabbits and can grow to be two feet tall and two feet wide.
‘Husker Red’ Penstemon
This is one of the easiest perennials you can grow, and it bears purple-red foliage and white flowers all summer long. It’s native to areas of southeastern and central North America so it stands up well to heat and humidity. This plant grows to be three feet tall and two feet wide.
Russian Sage
I cannot think of a finer plant for the late-summer garden than Russian sage. It thrives in hot, dry spots and produces silvery foliage topped with clouds of lavender-blue flowers at the end of the season. The foliage is nicely scented too, which also makes it unappetizing to deer and rabbits. Russian Sage can grow to be five feet tall and three feet wide.
Common Peony
This is a perennial prairie classic, which can be found in many established gardens in the area, providing beautiful and sometimes fragrant pink, burgundy, or white flowers in June. It’s a long-lived flower and you’ll find original plants still looking great in some of Calgary’s oldest communities. Peonies can grow to be two to four feet tall and three feet wide.
Clustered Bellflower
This plant provides showy clusters of purple blooms all summer and forms a large clump of dark green leaves. It makes a great cut flower and the more you pick it the more flowers are produced. Do not confuse it with creeping bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides), which is more upright and is an invasive, noxious weed. This plant can grow to be two feet tall and two feet wide.
‘Silver Mound’
This plant lights up in the dark with its low cushion of silver-grey textured foliage that complements nearly all other perennials. It looks great along the edge of the garden and looks particularly good next to white or blue flowers. It does well in hot, dry, sunny conditions. Cut it back after its spring flush of growth to prevent the plant from flopping open in midsummer. Silver Mound grows to be about one foot tall and one and a half feet wide.
Liatris ‘Kobold’ Blazing Star
This is one of my favourite native prairie wildflowers. It has spikey blooms of pink that butterflies love and grass-like foliage. It thrives in hot, dry locations. This liatris can grow to be two feet tall and one and a half feet wide.
‘Stella d’Oro’ Daylily
This daylily is so easy to grow and provides yellow trumpet-shaped, fragrant blooms all summer. When in bloom, these are about one foot tall and two feet wide.
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