Any suggestions for outside plants that thrive in sandy soil with lots of sun and heat? It's also pretty humid here in the summer and sometimes it doesn't rain for several weeks?
I have found lots of good infomation about xeriscaping which addresses growing plants in areas of little rainfall on the Colorado State U site at http://www.ext.colostate.edu/Pubs/Garden/07231.html. I like it because it tives easily understood information and lists of plants for both shade and sun. I garden in an area of rain forest on the west coast of Canada but we still experience times of drought - go figure! Good luck. Margaret
Local natives (including pines, if you want coniferous trees) from same habitat as was there before property developed.
Thanks so much for the information! Margaret, the website you gave is perfect. I'm looking for small plants rather than trees, so the website should do nicely.
I noticed that it's for Colorado, but when I looked at the names of the plants, I saw the names of some that are grown here and have survived, so that gave me some hope to cover some ugly areas close to my house. I'm just looking for something that likes sandy, hot weather, so I think a few of those will do great, like flox, day lillies, and a couple of others. I'm willing to experiement with some of these, if I can get my hands on them locally.
Day lilies require abundant moisture, quite prone to flower buds aborting if not kept moist. One thing you have to consider when reading about drought tolerance is that there are two levels that come into play, plants that survive drought but don't look or grow their best and those that come through it with shining colors. In our cool but dry summers here many people do not water much, if at all, yet have moisture-adapted common favorites like rhododendrons live through it. But such specimens are not growing and flowering like they would if watered effectively. Soil texture and exposure will be important, too, a shaded clay soil being significantly less apt to bake in summer.
