Hi there,

Cat mint
Saliva Nemorosa should be ok
(don't know blanket flower)
Corepsis (moonbeam?) verticilata IMO is more drought resistant than C. lanceolata. And personally I prefer Moon beam to regular yellow ones.
Blackeye Susans: Rudbeckia triloba is pretty tough, about 4 feet high

and I watched a bed last summer while it wasn't raining for quite a while, and Echinacea purpurea kept going when the Rudbeckia hirta was wilting already.

tall Sedum should do well also.
Hope that helps, bye, Lin

My previous experience with corpesis and echinecea have not been good. Later, it turns it's because I planted them underneath a birch tree. I see a lot of day lilies and sedium there and think that both are sun plant so it should work... Wrong. The reason they work is because both are tough as nail plants. I'll find a better site next year.

I also got some black eye susan to plant, but I think I got some weird version. This one grew only up to 6 inch tall. Do you think the yellow coneflowers would be just as drought tolerant or even more so than black eye susan?

Blanket flower or Gaillardia are supposedly pretty tough and can grow out of cracks in sidewalk. Can bloom from late spring till fall (so they say). We'll see if this is true next year :-).

Paul

My winter sown gaillardia is not only still blooming, it's covered with buds. According to my notes, it started blooming the second week of June. We had a rainy summer so I can't vouch for how well it does in dry conditions but Swallowtail Garden Seeds' growing information says it's drought-tolerant.

Coreopsis 'Zagreb' is a lot tougher verticillata than 'Moonbeam' which I haven't found to be reliably hardy. 'Zagreb' is extremely hardy and I've never watered mine in all the years I've had it in the garden.

Both Nepeta/catmint and rudbeckia hirta/gloriosa daisies are tough as nails + both appear to thrive on neglect. My rudbeckia started blooming the third week of June and many are still going strong. Nepeta is new in my garden this year but it did bloom for many weeks.

Hmm, I guess the cat ate the post I wrote earlier.

Gaillardia is a short lived perennial. It should be divided every other year, which makes it fairly high maintenance. Moonbeam coreopsis lasts a bit longer, but still requires regular division to keep it going. Foxglove is, of course, biennial.

Blackeyed susan is the common name for a fair number of plants. Without knowing exactly what the plant is, it's hard to say what is 'normal' behavior. The most common one grown here can have fungus issues in a wet year (Rudbeckia fulgida)

Our local Cooperative Extension actively discourages working off the standard xeriscaping lists because a lot of the plants will have trouble with our normal rainfall. Not only do plants tend to have lower rainfall limits, but also upper ones. That is what I've always heard of the yellow echinacheas - they *require* fairly droughty conditions.

Gaillardia usually blooms in July for me and still blooming now. It may be a short lived perennial but I leave it alone and it reseed in the same spot. Been there for 4 years now.

I don't know where you are located... but many of the things you list are drought-tolerant but not xeric in all places.

You could also use some height on that list!

FOR FULL SUN:

Taller plants:

Hollyhocks
Caryopteris clandonensis (Blue mist spirea)
Agastache rupestris (hummingbird mint)
Penstemons (many kinds)
Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian sage)

Medium-height plants:

Centranthus ruber (Jupiter's beard)
Bearded iris
Day lilies
Sedum telphium 'Autumn joy'
Liatris punctata (most xeric liatris available)
Lavender
Stachys byzantina (Lambs ear)

Short plants:

Spreading sedums (any kind)
Cerastium (snow in summer)
Phlox sublata (creeping phlox)

FOR PART SHADE/EDGE OF SHADE:

Tall:
Alliums (many kinds)

Medium:

Labs ear again (it tolerates full sun to full shade)
Aquilegia (Columbines... many kinds)

Short:

Salvia 'may night'
Oregano (many kinds, some have amazing pink flowers)

FOR SHADE:

Tall:
Daphne x burkwoodii 'Carol Mackie'

Medium:
Geranium macrorhizzum ("wild geranium")

Short:
Bergenia
Ajuga reptans
Hellebore

I'm in the Denver area so "xeric" here can be very dry. The plants I listed do well with just a couple supplemental waterings per year. Not all of them are normally listed as being drought-tolerant yet I find they are anyway. Also, here you can often take a "full-sun" plant that is NOT drought tolerant, move it to part shade or shade, and grow it xeric; we have little summer cloud cover in Colorado so it makes up for shade, plus that allows it to survive drought.

I think the plants on this list would also not be killed by a little water if you have it.

Catmint re-seeds LIKE CRAZY so you need either a well-established garden with lots of competition, willingness to weed it, or a confined area to keep it from taking over.

Thanks for the response. The nearest big city is Chicago. The annual rainfall is around 35 inch per year, but it can get really dry and really wet. I don't think most of the plant on this list will mind the extra rain as long as it doesn't flood. The reason for "drought" is so my in-laws don't have to water.

Gaillardia are short live (about 3 years) but reseeds constantly. Most Foxglove are not perenniels, but apparently straw color foxgloves are.

Cat mint like Walker Low do not reseed.

Centranthus ruber was on the list, but Dave's garden indicate that it smells like Cat Pee, is this true?

Paul

Re Catmint reseeds like crazy. No catmint that I'm familiar with reseeds like crazy. Nepeta 'Walkers low', a very popular variety, is sterile, as is 'Six Hills Giant'. 'Little Titch' is also sterile. 'Wild Kat' does reseed a little, but it's a very uncommon variety.

I have handled it when planting some for the neighbors and weeding out the volunteers the following year. And I never noticed a funny smell, neither in the foliage nor in the flowers. Buxus or white Salvia nemorosa really have a weird cat peelike scent for me.
I like Centranthus very much: it just needs some space, at least 2 feet diameter in the long run. Could get floppy on rich soil. And deadheading/ pruning could help against seedlings. AND there is a white variety, and all kind of insects love their flowers, of Centranthus, I mean. Definetely thrives on neglect so it fits the bill for your in-laws. Actually, I have it on my wish list for a small order this autumn. So, happy pondering, Bye, Lin

Thanks Ln,

I'll add Centranthus back to the list. Supposedly the flower are used for cutted flowers, so I was rather doubtful it smelled. Perhaps the people on Dave's Garden had real cats nearby :-).

Paul

Gaillardia is an excellent choice.

I like Coreopsis 'Creme Brulee'
Nepeta 'Walker's Low is awesome!
Echinacea 'PowWow Wild Berry' is perfect and short.
Russian Sage 'Lacey Blue' is excellent.

This year I really liked this combo:

Centaura montana (perennial cornflower) & Shasta daisy behind Geranium macrorhizzum (bigroot G.)

The cornflower did flop a bit, but this was in rich soil with only a few hours of direct sun. I cut it back in mid-July after flowering, but left some to reseed. Still a few linger blooms of cornflower & daisy looking great together.

The bigroot fills a lot of space & blended well with the taller stalks of the other plants. I cut it back hard after flowering & it looked good all summer + slugs don't eat it!

My nepeta 'Little Titch' grew slowly for a couple of years. Last year it started to self seed but not invasively. I love it because it is so short and compact and reblooms after being cut back making it a very nice edger in my gardens.

Even tho a plant has low water needs ONCE ESTABLISHED, most plants do need extra TLC the first season. If you don't get reasonable rain each week for the first couple of months after planting, you may have a lot of early mortality unless you can get them to water (slow and deep) occasionally. Also it would be really helpful to plant in the early spring before things heat up, and while there is still a good chance for rain. (or yet this fall, if it isn't too late where they live).

Re: plants -
* nepeta (like Walker Low) should be carefree and grow well; doesn't self seed
* coreopsis Moonbeam - many of us in the north (z5) find that it is a weak grower. It may hang on for several years, but doesn't seem to thrive. Corepsis zagreb is much more robust - to the degree that it should be divided fairly regularly. Coreopsis creme brulee - put in small plants this spring it it took off like gangbusters... but have no experience with how strongly it will come back next year
* gaillardia - is often shortlived - seems to need amazing winter drainage, or else let it self-seed.
* salvia (like May Night), or russian sage should do well

Consider adding some daffodils for spring - critters don't bother them, they multiply, and don't ask for much.

Beth
Z5 northern MI