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Drought Tolerant and Heat Tolerant Perennials
Category: Flower Gardens, Garden Planning, Plant Ideas & Info, Presenting "The Curious Gardener"
It’s been hot and dry here in southern New England this summer, and even hotter in many other parts of the country. I asked horticulturist Ruth Clausen for a list of her favorite heat and drought tolerant perennials. I was delighted to see many of the plants in my garden on her list, and I want to keep adding more of them with the goal of creating a water-wise garden!
By drought tolerant we mean they can withstand dry conditions for a few days and will recover from drooping during the day. It doesn’t mean they should stay dry for several days. Drought resistant plants, by contrast, can stay dry for longer periods of time and are well adapted to an arid climate (cactus for example). Heat tolerant plants can withstand direct sun and high temperatures. They don’t ‘meltdown’ to use Ruth’s words.
In the image shown at the bottom of this post are 6 perennials in my garden, many of them blooming now. On the top row, from left to right are: Purple coneflower, Butterfly weed, Stonecrop (will bloom in about a week or so); and on the bottom row left to right are: Allium, Black-eyed Susan and Amsonia hubrichtii (which bloomed in spring).
Here is the list Ruth compiled for us, with botanical name and common name, Or click here to view and print the list now:
Drought tolerant Perennials
* indicates ALSO HEAT TOLERANT
Achillea spp. and cvs * Yarrows
Agastache spp.and cvs * Anise hyssop
Allium spp. * Ornamental onions
Amsonia hubrichtii Arkansas bluestar
Asclepias tuberosa * Butterfly weed
Baptisia cvs False indigo
Echinacea spp. and cvs * Purple coneflower
Echinops cvs * Globe thistle
Eryngium spp. Sea hollies
Gaillardia cvs * Blanket flower
Iberis sempervirens Evergreen candytuft
Knautia macedonica Knautia
Lantana camara * Lantana
Lavandula cvs * Lavender
Liatris spp. and cvs * Gayfeathers, blazing stars
Penstemon pinifolius Pineleaf penstemon
Perovskia atriplicifolia * Russian sage
Salvia spp. and cvs * Sages
Sedum spp. and cvs * Stonecrops
Stokesia cvs Stokes’ aster
Vernonia spp. * Ironweed
Plus many ornamental grasses including:
Calamagrostis acutiflora Feather reed grass
Festuca glauca Blue fescue
Helictrotrichon sempervirens Blue oat grass
Muhlenbergia capillaris cvs Muhly grass
Panicum virgatum cvs Switch grass
Heat tolerant Perennials
Coreopsis spp.and cvs. Tickseeds
Gaura lindheimeri Wand flower
Helenium spp.and cvs Sneezeweed
Hemerocallis spp. and cvs Day lilies
Heuchera spp. and cvs Coral bells, alumroot
Liriope spp. and cvs Lilyturf
Monarda spp. and cvs Beebalm
Nepeta spp.and cvs Catmints
Rudbeckia spp.and cvs Black-eyed Susans
Veronica spp and cvs Speedwells
Yucca spp. Yucca
This listing of drought tolerant perennials provided by Ruth Clausen is a useful reference. I’m wondering, in the future, would it be possible to provide such information on your website in a downloadable format so that I might print it out, without all the extraneous info on either side? (I wouldn’t need to print out the images either.)
Thanks so much for the lists. I find I have many in my yard, but will add more. Always enjoy you tips and info
Thank you Ruth. It would be really helpful if the list of plants were a pdf or some format that could be printed.
Thanks again
Ren
Thank you for your great information. I have several of these plants and will look forward to adding to my cottage garden with addition new plants. Do you know where one can purchase some of the plants you mentioned? Thank you again Candy
That’s a good idea. We can send you the list if you’d like!
That’s a good idea. We can send you the list if you’d like!
Meredith Tumlin
I order two gist sets sku number 4900GS some months back. They came in the mail Saturday July 25,2020. Your web page said they were made in America but in the gloves they say made in China. The soul reason for buying them from you was they were made in America. I could have bought the same gloves at Walmart for half the price. Sincerely Connie Simmons 713-455-0689 or [email protected]
Dear Connie,
The soap in the gift set is made in the USA, but the gloves are not. It does not say anywhere on the website that the gloves or the gift set are made in the USA so I’m not sure where you got that information. Since our prints are exclusive to Womanswork (designed in the USA), you would not find anything like these items at Walmart at any price!
I am sure struggling this hot time in Okla to keep plants alive. All New Eng asters died a month ago. Goldenrod is near death. It is all I can afford to keep the less than five yr old trees alive. Will see next spring if roots have just dropped the tops to survive. I would love a list, I have some drought and heat tolerant plants and may have to plant lots more. And rearrange some locations. Fall cannot come soon enough for this Fall and Winter person!