With drought conditions due to lack of rainfall prevailing in much of the west, water wise plants are the name of the game in most gardens in this area of the country. That being said, this shouldn’t limit the choices of the green thumbs in California. We offer suggestions below for planting a water-wise garden to comply with most of the guidelines put in place by many communities in the region. For guidelines specific to your area visit the website of your city or community and look for guidelines like those found here on the City of Long Beach Department of Water website for their demonstration garden.

There are many choices of water-wise plants to choose for California gardens. Some are native to the region while others have been adapted to the hot and dry conditions found in California.

Some of the plants suitable for California’s hot and dry climate are native to Mediterranean climates. They work well in Southern California because the climate in this area of the west is similar to many areas of the Mediterranean which is hot and dry and also suffers from a shortage of rainfall.

Plant choices for a drought tolerant garden that should be high on a gardeners list in the west might include flowering shrubs such as evergreen shrubs that have attractive foliage for most of the year, Apache plumes that produces pure white flowers followed by seed plumes that appear like purple smoke, and California lilac which grows less than one foot tall and produces green and yellow leaves.

Other excellent choices for a California drought tolerant garden include sage plants, lavender, rosemary, and rock rose. These plants do not require much water and they are easy to maintain for the average gardener. Keep in mind that summer is not the best time to re-plant because higher temperatures and dry conditions make it difficult for roots to take hold. Seeds need more frequent watering to take hold and the cooler temperatures coming about in late September make this the perfect time to rejuvenate the backyard garden.

Happy planting and don’t forget to visit your local nursery and gardening center for more information on what to plant in your area.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.