Garden Flowers – Flowers in a Dry Climate Garden

Executive Summary by: Jonathan Ya’akobi

Garden Flowers: Here are some tips for cultivating flowering bedding plants while keeping WITHIN your annual water consumption budget.

flower garden

Reduce the amount of flowers in the garden. I know this is pretty obvious, but try relying more on flowering shrubs that over the year, consume a fraction of the quantity of water required by herbaceous flowers.

The irrigation system MUST have a separate tap for bedding plants. This is the key to saving water, because drought resistant shrubs and trees require a completely different watering regime than flowers. Whereas the flowers may need watering every 2 – 3 days, consuming annually some 1000 mm!

Annual flowers (i.e. plants that complete their life cycle in one season) are best used in containers. In nature, annuals grow during the wet season.

Add Rich Color To Your Garden With Blue Perennial Flowers

Executive Summary by: Kathy Burns-Millyard

• Polemonuim, Blue Pearl – A compact plant with deep sky blue flowers that grows to 10″. Plant in partial shade and in well drained soil.
• Blue Sea Holly – This dramatic plant has a lavender blue cone like flower with long spiked petals. Plant in full sun – blooms in mid to late summer.
• Delphinium, Butterfly Blue – Bright blue delicate flowers adorn this plant that blooms in early to mid summer.
• Campanula, Blue Carpet – Bright blue to lilac colored flowers bloom for weeks in the middle of summer. This low growing perennial grows to 4″ and prefers full sun with well drained soil.
• Penstemon, Blue Buckle – This plant has tubular shaped blooms in blue to purple and flowers in mid summer to early fall.
• Ajuga, Bronze Beauty – This short bushy plant has spikes of blue flowers that grows quickly.
• Scabiosa, Butterfly Blue – A bushy perennial with lavender blue flowers that bloom from June to October.
• Verbena, Babylon Blue – Blue purple flowers petals adorn this plant that blooms in early spring.

Check out my other guide on garden water supplies and garden art