Get Equipped: Drought Resistant Plants & Solutions For 2023

From the June 2023 Issue

This assortment of drought resistant plants and products that support drought tolerance can help your team create and maintain lush, healthy landscapes even in dry conditions.

Proven Winners® Meant to Bee™

Members of the Meant to Bee™ Collection were selected for their large, full habits; significant landscape presence; and hardiness. Anise Hyssop ‘Queen Nectarine’, an Agastache hybrid, has flowers that cover the top two thirds from mid to late Summer, with colorful calyxes extending interest well into Fall. Soft peach flowers are held on the mauve calyxes. Best performance comes in full sun with well-drained soil. Agastache are adapted to thrive in dry soils and are at home in rock gardens and xeric container plantings where they will attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and honeybees. An easy perennial to grow. (Zones 5-9).

Full Speed A Hedge® ‘American Pillar’ Available At Spring Meadow

The Full Speed A Hedge® ‘American Pillar’ arborvitae is a sport of ‘Hetz Wintergreen’ selected for its very rapid growth rate; dense branching structure; and tall, narrow habit. It maintains a desirable columnar shape with minimal pruning. Reaching between 15′ and 20′ in height, the American Pillar evergreen can live in areas of both full and partial sun. An excellent specimen plant, the American Pillar has tremendous potential in both residential and commercial landscape markets. Available as liners from MI-based Spring Meadow Nursery. (Zones 3-8).

DPH Biologicals™ RootXCell™

To help deliver climate-resilient turf, ornamentals, and trees, DPH Biologicals™ announces global distribution of RootXCell™, a unique biostimulant combining living biologicals with a powerful, well-known plant growth hormone. RootXCell technology is powered by Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), a naturally occurring plant hormone that accelerates root development and nutrient absorption, improving plant stress tolerance. Studies have shown that when RootXCell is applied at the soil level or root zone, root mass increases up to 30% in most plant species and up to 50% in hardwood plants and trees. RootXCell also helps plants survive weather extremes, decreasing mortality rates during drought by 60%. In addition, RootXCell helps plants capture increased levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium.

Spring Hill Nurseries Apache Sunset Hummingbird Mint

Attract plenty of beneficial pollinators with this beautiful hummingbird mint from Spring Hill Nurseries. Agastache rupestris ‘Apache Sunset’ has long, tubular flowers which cover upright spikes all Summer long. A subtle scent of mint surrounds the plant, acting as a beacon to nearby pollinators. If clients yearn for a lush butterfly garden on their property, start with a generous planting of Apache Sunset. The colors are out of this world and this versatile plant is right at home in borders, beds, containers, or rock gardens. (Zones 6-9).

Water Misers® From Little Prince Of Oregon

Little Prince of Oregon offers its Water Misers® selection of plants as an answer to drought tolerant planting since they require little water or even prefer less water. Delosperma ‘Lavender Ice’, part of the collection, is an evergreen perennial that forms a low mat of succulent-like leaves and lavender pink flowers. Lavender Ice needs excellent drainage and benefits from gravel mulch. This deer resistant variety is ideal in borders, mass plantings, and containers. (Zones 5-9).

Purple Lovegrass Sets From Garden For Wildlife

Purple lovegrass is a native perennial grass that will add stunning color and texture to any garden. In Summer, the foliage turns purplish-pink while airy reddish-purple flowers rise above the plants. They grow 1’ to 2’ and spread 1’ to 2’ and prefer sandy, gravelly soil. Native purple lovegrass likes full sun; returns each year; never needs chemicals; is deer resistant; and requires less water once established. Purple lovegrass is grown nonGMO and free of neonicotinoids at Garden For Wildlife by the National Wildlife Federation. (Zones 5-9).

Shortstop 2SC by Arborjet | Ecologel

Formulated to slow above-ground vegetative growth, Shortstop 2SC reduces the demand for plant watering and increases plant drought tolerance by producing more fibrous roots to help plants absorb more available water. Now appropriate for both trees and shrubs, the above-ground growth regulation means less time spent shearing and shaping. Shortstop 2SC may also offer increased disease suppression, producing thicker, waxier leaves, making it harder for fungi to take hold. Treated plants typically have denser, greener leaves, show less signs of chlorosis, and produce more flowers. Shortstop 2SC is a 22.3% Paclobutrazol that may be used as a soil drench or foliar spray on a wide range of shrubs. Spring is the perfect treatment time for optimal results.

Breck’s® Drought-Resistant Sun Designer Garden

Flower experts at Breck’s selected nine colorful, appealing perennials that when established can take heat and drought, but still put on a spectacular show all season long. And with very little effort needed! As the plants in this collection become larger over the years, they provide a cornucopia of coneflowers and a whole lotta phlox! This assortment also includes yarrow, gaillardia, sedum, and other beautiful, drought and heat-tolerant flowers in a wide range of colors and sizes. Plant in well-drained soil with full sun. The Designer Garden includes one of each: Green Twister coneflower, orange glory flower, Coronation Gold Plate yarrow, Snowflake Evergreen candytuft, Goblin gaillardia, Emerald Blue Carpet phlox, Emerald Pink Carpet phlox, Drummond’s Pink Carpet phlox, and Autumn Joy sedum. (Zones 3-9).

Wild Lilac From Mostly Native’s Nursery

Ceanothus, also known as California lilac or wild lilac, is a broadleaf evergreen shrub with medium blue, fragrant flowers that blossoms in Spring. It grows natively from mid to southern Oregon and into northern California, west of the Cascades. This local ceanothus is fast growing, from 6′ to 12′ feet tall. Wild lilac spreads 8′-12′, making a large shrub or small open tree. Requiring full sun, this flora is drought tolerant but can handle some water and clay soils. Grown from local Bay Area seed at Point Reyes Station, CA-based Mostly Native’s Nursery, the blooms attract the California Tortoiseshell butterfly. Shipping not available. (Zones 8-10 as a native).

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