Drought Tolerant Perennials

Yesterday, I did a presentation on "Drought Tolerant Garden Design". It reminded me that in North Dakota, we are always just one windy day away from drought, and it seems other parts of our country are currently experiencing the same conditions. It is possible to still have beautiful perennial gardens without breaking the bank or depleting the water supply in times of drought. Most of our North Dakota native plants are drought tolerant, but there are many other perennials that can create beauty in your landscape without constant watering.

Here are a few of the plants I have found to do well here at Wiese Acres. Last year was a very hot, dry summer. I have a rain gauge that monitors and records all precipitation for me. I put it out in March and in November, it had recorded just under eight inches of rain in that time. That's about half of what we would normally expect, so it was a stressful year for all things living. These plants did fine with one watering of about one inch of water every month, so I think I can officially classify them as "tough".

The (XX) code indicates that the plant is moderately drought tolerant, while the (XXX) indicates extremely drought tolerant.  Of course, the root system of the plant needs to be well-established to accomplish any level of drought tolerance, so the first couple years after planting perennials, and up to five years for shrubs and trees, you will need to water regularly. After that, the (XX) plants will generally do well with a half inch of water every week or so, while the extremely drought tolerant (XXX) plants will do well with a half inch every other week.