Drought Resistant Ground Covers
Adding Color and Saving Water With Drought Resistant Ground Covers
We have had a weekend of rain here in California, which we sorely need as we are in the middle of the worst drought in recorded history. The last rain we had this season, besides a day of drizzle a couple of weeks ago, was in early December and it’s now early February. I must say, that’s about double the rainfall of last season.
And yet, there is growth all around the place which is looking good and adding cheer to my day. What’s more, when the rain disappears in a few weeks’ time, such sturdy characters will continue to flourish with minimum attention and summer bloomers will join in. I’m talking about drought resistant ground covers. Even when not in bloom, these hardy ones still add color to the scene.
These wonderful plants come in all sizes, from low growing, sun loving plants like the Ice Plant ground cover to tumbling plants like Yellow Alyssums which fall exuberantly over walls and pots and are covered in little bright yellow flowers. The picture above show my wonderful patch of Selene which is native to California and lived through the cold.
Pelargoniums
Trailing Pelargoniums are definitely a hot favorite of mine when it comes to drought resistant ground covers. I had quite a few blooming away happily until we had a few days of bad frost which set them all back and killed all their leaves. I am delighted to see that they’re making a comeback in the street side bed. If they hadn’t, I’d have bought some more and taken cuttings. They have some of the most beautiful colored flowers and just carry on blooming all summer and into the fall. When I went to Italy, every window box, no matter how high, was groaning under red and white Pelargoniums. They were fantastic! Whilst these are drought resistant ground covers, they definitely need a bit of help during hot, dry summers.
Sour Figs
During a sunny patch yesterday I went walking along the sea cliffs which were covered in Sour Figs (Carpobrotus). Now those are drought resistant ground covers to beat most others. They don’t seem to need any care and attention in order to flourish. They’re starting to flower now and come in pink and yellow and some even have yellow flowers which turn pink as they age! They make a dense carpet of thick, succulent leaves on the ground and, when in full flower, pack quite a punch. You can also eat the sour figs later on in the season and you can use the leaves to treat planters’ warts (just a little bit of trivia for you).
I’m also looking forward to seeing how my Wild Lilac (Ceanothus spp) flowers. I have never been able to plant this before moving here and I love the colors on the shrubs so am looking forward to being thrilled by a carpet of blue. As back up, I have also planted a clump of Nepeta, or Cat Mint, which my local nursery was tossing out. I grew this in my previous garden in a sunny spot between flowers and my cats adored lying in it and even chewing on it.
All the drought resistant ground covers I have mentioned in this article have one thing in common – they prefer to grow in the sun. Wild Lilac can take filtered sun, as can Pelargoniums, but there are some that love the shade under trees and walls so I’ll mention some of my favorite ground covers for shade next.
Happy gardening and don’t forget to protect your skin.
By the way, here is a link to a list of gopher resistant plants:http://www.groundcoversandgardening.com/gopher resistant plants.
If you want to buy plants that deer may not eat, look here.
Fall Note: Now is the time to shop for fall bulbs so you have a spectacular spring garden. American Meadows is offering 50% off fall bulbs now so start shopping.
