125 Drought-Tolerant Plants: From Full Sun To Total Shade

The relationship between a plant and its environment is as old as time.

Once a plant is in the ground, its ability to flourish has several limiting factors that go well beyond the basics of sunlight and water. The soil composition, texture, and pH, as well as air temperature, humidity, and the presence (or absence) of bacteria, fungi, insects, and animals are all hugely influential on how our perennials and annuals grow.

匹配正确的植物和the right habitat is the critical difference between plants thriving – or simply existing.

种植了exotic beautymight be okay for the first few years. But as soon as unfavorable weather patterns strike – a deluge of rain, freakish cold temperatures, or a long-running drought – a plant mismatched to its surroundings is more apt to become stressed, leaving it vulnerable to attack by diseases and pests. The decline and death of the plant after these events can be very sudden or occur gradually over the next season or two.

Choosing plants adapted to your ecoregion will take a fraction of the time, effort, money, and resources than growing varieties ill-equipped for our climates and habitats.

When you garden with ecology in mind, you can have a lush and beautiful garden – even in drought. Having a better understanding of where our plants come from in the wild is the key to knowing what cultivars will prevail when there hasn’t been any rain for weeks.

Growing an Ecological Garden

An ecoregion – or regional ecosystem – is an area with distinctive landforms, geology, climate, and hydrology, populated by specific and interconnected communities of flora and fauna. There are1 82年生态区在北America, each with an unique mix of soil types, temperatures, precipitation, and humidity.

Growing plantsnative to your ecoregionis the best thing you can do to make your garden resilient to drought and other common sources of plant stress.

Native plants have a major evolutionary advantage over non-natives and are practically impervious to most adverse conditions. And they are gorgeous, diverse, and low-maintenance plants that have superior wildlife value. There’s no need to apply fertilizers or pesticides. Once established, they need little, if any, watering.

The next best thing is to look for plants indigenous to dry habitats around the globe, as well as places where the ecoregion is similar to our own. The arid woodlands of Southern Europe, the steppes of Central Asia, and the dry and hot summers of the Mediterranean will offer a range of lovely plants that are highly resistant to drought.

125 Drought-Tolerant Ornamental Plants to Grow

There are thousands of flowering plants to choose from with proven drought-resistant traits.

To you get started, we’ve rounded up a slew of native and non-native ornamentals that are well-adapted to environments where water is scarce.

Below you’ll find self-seeding annuals with long blooming periods that can handle dry soils. Once sprouted, they won’t need much by way of supplemental watering to look amazing all summer long.

There’s also scads of drought-hardy perennials. Although these ones will need some extra TLC for the first year of growth, manual irrigation is entirely optional once the roots have become established.