It is very good if the summer cottage or personal plot is open and sunny. The most beautiful and bright flowers prefer well-lit places, but often they require abundant watering. If we come to the dacha only on weekends or simply cannot water our flower beds every day in the heat, the lack of moisture can become a real problem. But this is only at first glance.
Drought-resistant perennials are numerous and decorative, they will decorate the flower beds and flowerbeds on our site with insufficient watering. And rocky hills, rockeries, rock gardens initially assume that they will be poorly moistened. Drainage is specially arranged there, poor, low-nutrient soils are poured in order to artificially simulate drought even in the presence of an irrigation system. That doesn’t make them any less beautiful.
Dry places in our garden
In addition to rockeries, rock gardens and slides, dry places may appear in any sunny area. Irrigation systems are laid before planting perennials. Sometimes it happens that a small bush or tree grows over time and blocks the sprinkler from supplying water to one or another part of the garden.
If we live in the city and come to the dacha only on weekends or holidays, the lack of moisture will definitely be felt, especially in sunny, dry summers.
In any garden there are areas that are not watered, or dry out very quickly:
- in the immediate vicinity of a stone or concrete fence;
- on paved paths;
- adjacent to a variety of steps, ladders that unite the terraces;
- on the sun terraces themselves with a small layer of soil.
But that shouldn’t be a problem! The choice of perennials that grow in the sun is huge.
Sun-loving perennials for the garden
There are many drought tolerant herbs, flowers, shrubs, and trees that can thrive and bloom in full sun with little water.
In this article, we will look at sun-loving perennials.
Drought tolerant ground covers
Not a single sunny area can do without drought-resistant ground cover perennials. They help out when you need to cover a seemingly hopeless place where nothing grows due to the bright sun, a thin layer of soil and lack of watering. The range of drought-resistant perennials for sunny places is huge, we will consider only the most popular ones.
Readings
They are an extensive squad of succulent perennials, outwardly attractive, but drought-resistant and require little or no watering. They receive moisture from the air and store in thick leaves, grow rapidly, cover the most problematic sunny areas, and are widely used to create slides and rockeries. The most popular types of ground cover stonecrops:
- stonecrop caustic;
- stonecrop white;
- stonecrop Lydian;
- sedum bent;
- stonecrop Kamchatka;
- stonecrop false.
There are tall species, the most popular of which is the prominent stonecrop, it is used in sunny flower beds, in discounts and is planted as a border.
bryozoan
Bryozoan styloid or Irish moss is a tiny, drought-resistant perennial that will perfectly fill the space between slabs or path stones in a sunny area. Watering is required only immediately after planting. It tolerates any conditions – light, shade, drought, heavy rains, heat, frost. And in July, the bryozoan also blooms with tiny delicate flowers. Resistant to trampling.
Zhivuchka
This drought-resistant perennial lives up to its name – it can grow anywhere, in any conditions, but prefers sunny areas with poor watering. There are many varieties of tenacity with a variety of leaf colors, there are even variegated forms. They reproduce by daughter rosettes, quickly form a multi-colored rug. The most popular types:
- tenacious creeping, having a lot of varieties;
- tenacious Geneva;
- pyramidal tenacious.
Molodilo
A succulent compact plant that grows in pretty rosettes with light green or purple leaves. In summer, it blooms with rather large flowers located on long peduncles. Virtually no watering required.
Purifier woolly
Chistets is also called hare or sheep ears. This drought-resistant, sun-loving perennial is characterized by elongated leaves, as if covered with gray-silver fur. In summer, the chistets blooms with blue, pink or purple flowers, collected in a spike-shaped inflorescence.
Phlox-shaped
The subulate phlox forms an extensive cushion of small, needle-like leaves. This drought-resistant perennial blooms in late spring – early summer with numerous, almost covering the bush with small flowers of a wide variety of colors. It is planted in sunny areas on hills, in rockeries, as a low border or bordering sunny flower beds, with separate curtains.
Coleman’s coffin
It is believed that loosestrife loves to be well watered, but without watering in the sun, it will also grow and bloom magnificently. In a sunny area, in the absence of regular watering in varieties with yellow leaves, the color will become especially saturated. The loosestrife looks very beautiful on hills, slopes, even as a grassy lawn for arid sunny places.
drought tolerant flowers
Almost all flowers like sunny areas, many of them can withstand a short drought. But the assortment of not just drought-tolerant, but drought-resistant flowers is so large that you can make many flower beds without ever repeating. We will consider only some of them, without claiming to have named the best – we all have our own preferences, arguing which flower is the best is a thankless task.
Phlox frosted
Phloxes in sunny areas were grown by our mothers and grandmothers. Since then, this undemanding drought-resistant perennial has disappeared from our field of vision for some time. Today, the fashion for phlox has returned, and many new varieties have appeared, painted in all sorts of colors, except for yellow.
Irises
It is difficult to imagine a person who does not like irises. Among the many species there are real water lovers growing right in the reservoirs. But many irises are able to grow in sunny areas with little or no watering throughout the hot summer, while blooming and pleasing to the eye with beautiful long leaves.
Peonies
Peonies are among the real elite of flowering perennials that prefer sunny places. They are beautiful not only during flowering – their leaves adorn our site until the frost. At the same time, peonies can be watered almost completely, they are able to be content with rare rains, only in the driest summer additional moisture may be required.
Alpine aster
Alpine aster or perennial aster, which is sometimes called “frosty” because it blooms until frost, is also very drought-resistant. In addition, today there are many new varieties of various colors and sizes. It is especially good as a curb perennial.
Bellflowers
Among the many species, we are interested in mountain bluebells, which are drought-resistant and prefer to grow in sunny areas. They are decorative not only flowers, but also leaves. The most popular types of mountain bells:
- Carpathian bell;
- Portenschlag bell;
- Pozharsky’s bell.
These perennials are always welcome guests on rocky hills and rockeries.
Daylilies
One of the most beautiful flowering perennials is daylilies. There are many varieties of a wide variety of sizes and colors. At the same time, daylilies are surprisingly unpretentious, they are drought-resistant, prefer sunny areas, their leaves remain decorative even after the flowering period. Now the selection of daylilies pays special attention to the breeding of remontant (re-blooming) varieties.
Rudbeckia
This drought tolerant perennial is like a little sun and invariably cheers up everyone who looks at it. The size of rudbeckia, depending on the type and variety, can vary from 30 cm to almost 2 m. It will decorate any flower bed, will not require either abundant watering or careful care – for a successful vegetation, it needs only a sunny area. The most popular perennial species:
- rudbeckia dissected;
- rudbeckia glossy;
- rudbeckia brilliant.
Yarrow
Today on sale you can find many highly decorative varieties of yarrow in a wide variety of colors. It is very unpretentious and the only problem that this perennial can present is that it actively reproduces by self-sowing and can even litter the site. Prefers full sun and is very drought tolerant.
Echinacea
Echinacea is like a large chamomile, painted in red, pink, purple and lilac tones. It is very decorative, besides it has unique medicinal properties. This drought-resistant perennial grows in full sun. Flower size and color vary, but almost all varieties are derived from two species:
- echinacea purpurea;
- echinacea strange.
Milkweed
One of the most drought tolerant perennials for sunny areas. Euphorbia can decorate a hill, rockeries, it is suitable for creating borders, and tall species are used as a focal plant for a sunny place. The most popular types:
- spurge multiflora;
- spurge almond-shaped;
- euphorbia cypress;
- milk thistle;
- spurge bordered.
Herbs for dry places
Now more and more ornamental grasses have begun to be included in the landscape design of personal plots. In large sunny areas, they even create special gardens from herbs alone, they look amazing. Among them are many inhabitants of the steppe, drought-resistant and growing well only under the bright sun. In addition, most herbs remain decorative in winter.
Elymus
It is also called a kohl. He was one of the first to appear in the gardens of Europeans as a drought-resistant ornamental perennial. Very unpretentious, easily endures both drought and heavy rains.
Fescue Fescue
Compact and very attractive drought-resistant fescue is used in design quite widely. Her individual bushes can often be seen on a sunny hill or in rockeries, as a low border. If you plant a piece of land only with fescue, its bushes will resemble hummocks. This perennial is unpretentious and great for dry sunny places.
Thyme
It may not be entirely correct to attribute thyme to herbs, from a botanical point of view, it is a shrub, but I really wanted to mention this wonderful sun-loving and drought-resistant plant. It is unpretentious, blooms attractively and has a charming aroma. Thyme looks great on a hill, in rocky gardens and is ideal for sunny places.
There are many types of this perennial:
- thyme ordinary;
- creeping thyme;
- lemon thyme;
- flea thyme.
Dual battery
In culture, only the variegated form of the drought-resistant reed cane is grown, reaching a height of 90-120 cm. But it is widely used, often growing for years on the outer sunny side of the fence, where in the hottest summer there is not even a question of watering.
Feather grass
For its landing choose the driest and sunniest site. Feather grass looks especially good in rocky gardens and herb gardens, but a skilled landscape designer will always find where to fit this wonderful drought-resistant perennial.
Conclusion
We have only touched on the topic of drought-resistant perennials for sunny areas. In fact, there are much more of them. The area of our attention did not include drought-resistant herbaceous shrubs and semishrubs. We hope that we have clearly shown that any land plot can be populated exclusively with sun-loving plants that tolerate long-term drought well, and this will not make it less attractive than well-irrigated plots.