If your site is not shaded by plantings, is well lit by the sun, has light, sandy soils, then drought-resistant plants will feel best on it. They grow well in the sun, easily tolerate a lack of moisture in the soil, while maintaining a decorative effect. Their range is quite large, and compositions with sun-loving and drought-resistant plants can be very diverse.
Essential ground covers
First of all, drought-resistant plants include numerous ground cover or cushion-shaped "alpine" perennials for rocky gardens. They, as a rule, are undersized (15-35 cm), form dense growing curtains, feel great in the bright sun. For the growth of "alpines" light, well-drained soils are suitable.
young(m.roofing, m.cobweb, m.offspring, m.hybrid) form compact rosettes of shortened and pointed thick green or purple leaves. In summer, they bloom with rather large flowers on long peduncles of yellowish-white, dirty pink, red flowers.
Numerous varieties sedum also apply to sun worshipers. They form extensive curtains, blooming from June to August with yellow, pink, white, orange, crimson small flowers, collected in loose inflorescences. Stonecrops have a variety of leaf shapes - pointed, oval, rounded. They can be colored in green, purple, yellow, have a white border around the edge of the sheet. The most popular are: o. bent, o. caustic, o. Evers, o. Kamchatka, o. false, o. rocky, o. white and many others.
Heat-tolerant plants include a variety of varieties carnations- herbs and carnations are grayish-blue with bluish stems and leaves with simple or double flowers of white-pink or raspberry-red colors. They form "pillows" up to a meter in diameter and require pruning after flowering.
In spring, white and pink arabis turn into colored “rugs”, phlox subulate with white, pink, lilac, purple flowers, obrieta (lilac and dark pink flowers), sunny yellow rocky alissum.
Alpine aster, which belongs to dwarf shrubs, blooms in June with simple flowers of pink, lilac, white color.
Completely drought tolerant and sun loving different kinds undersized bells with blue, white, purple flowers: K. Carpathian, K. Oshe, K. Spoon-leaved, K. Kholmovy, K. Gargansky, K. Portenschlag, K. Pozharsky.
Ordinary blooms in July with lilac small flowers, attracting a large number of bees and bumblebees, spreading out in vast curtains. If you step on the plants, the air is filled with a pleasant aroma.
Yaskolka felted with white stars of flowers and whitish-gray foliage is able to cover large areas, as it forms underground stolons.
Loving the sun
There is a fairly large assortment of medium-sized perennials, flowering and ornamental, which prefer a sunny location, easily tolerate a lack of moisture in the soil. Usually they reach a height of 40 to 100 cm. These plants can form small curtains or occupy large spaces.
There are many varieties of geyher - plants that form compact rosettes of rounded or serrated leaves of green, purple, yellow, silver colors. Such rosettes have a height and diameter of about 30-40 cm, and peduncles with small red or white small flowers collected in a brush rise to a height of 60 cm.
Some stonecrops (o. visible, o. tenacious) form rounded bushes 40-60 cm high with bluish, bright green, variegated (white with green), purple foliage, blooming in mid-summer and autumn with pink, purple, yellow, white flowers collected in flat inflorescences.
Diverse look spectacular decorative bows .
Most of them are real sun worshippers. These are dwarf (not higher than 30 cm) onions Moth with yellow wax flowers and Ostrovsky's onions with dark pink inflorescences, Karatavsky onions with wide leaves and dirty pink spherical inflorescences, blue onions with bright blue heads, Christoph's onions with huge lilac balls of flowers (up to 20 cm in diameter).
Liatris spikelet has spike-shaped inflorescences of lilac or white flowers 50 cm high and in July adorns the middle plans of flower beds.
The famous edelweiss, a symbol of the Alpine mountains, forms a low loose rosette of silvery stems with whitish flowers.
Some drought-resistant plants can grow strongly and occupy large areas in flower beds. Perennial sage with bright blue flowers tolerates drought well and adorns compositions with flowering for a long time.
Yarrow (cultivars and wild species) forms whole thickets of stems 60-70 cm high with yellow, pink, purple and white flowers collected in flat inflorescences.
Anafalis - a low plant (about 40 cm) with silvery stems and leaves, has white flowers with a yellow center, similar to yarrow. A variety of wormwoods (for example, p. Steller, etc.) have different shape leaves and height, but usually silvery foliage.
It tolerates the sun and drought well, woolly and Byzantine chistets - plants with pubescent grayish leaves and tall peduncles of small purple flowers.
Of the annuals that love a sunny and dry location, one can name seaside alissum, umbrella iberis, large-flowered purslane, krinumotsvetkovy mesembryanthemum, hybrid gazania, salvia (annual species and varieties), seaside cineraria, pinnate celosia, California eschscholzia, globular gomphrena, notched kermek.
Of the shrubs, various types of spirea, chaenomeles (Japanese quince) are considered the most sun-loving and drought-resistant, but with a lack of moisture, they quickly fade.
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Most conifers (with the exception of thuja) prefer a sunny and dry place. The most hardy pines, horizontal juniper and others, blue views ate.
Not every plant is able to fully develop and grow without sufficient moisture. They can react to its lack in different ways: some slow down in growth, others lose leaf turgor, and others dry out completely. But what if in hot, dry weather there is no way to often water the flower garden? In this case great solution the problem will be the selection of drought-resistant plants for the design of the flower garden, which, even with insufficient moisture, do not lose their attractiveness, delighting others lush bloom and wonderful aroma.
When making flower beds from drought-resistant plants, you can adhere to standard schemes plantings, in which the foreground is filled with undersized flowers, and tall handsome men are planted as a background in the background.
Decorative flower beds are able to act as a spectacular decoration of the site and serve as a source of aesthetic pleasure for their owners.
When creating a flower garden that will decorate the site for more than one year, a number of points must be taken into account:
- Place of arrangement. Drought-resistant flowers feel comfortable on depleted soils. But they do not tolerate swampy soils, where there is no sufficient outflow of moisture. On flooded soils, they simply rot and die. Reliable soil drainage is a prerequisite for the arrangement of flower beds. When laying out flower beds, the illumination factor of the site is also important, because some drought-resistant flowers love sunny areas, while others love shady places.
- Plant combination. When selecting compositions, it is important to take into account the conditions for growing a particular species. Plants with different moisture needs may not feel comfortable in close proximity. And with such a combination of plants, the grower may have difficulty with watering.
- Creating conditions for growth. For the arrangement of reliable drainage, a sufficient amount of gravel and sand must be introduced into the soil. Watering is desirable to carry out only in the morning, thereby reducing the loss of moisture in the daytime.
It is necessary to plant plants at a sufficient distance from each other, leaving room for the free growth of their aerial parts.
Since most drought-resistant plants naturally grow on depleted soils and nutrient-deficient soils, it is best to limit the amount of organic fertilizers when preparing a flower garden.
The opinion that drought-resistant plants look inconspicuous against the background of their sun- and moisture-loving counterparts is erroneous. Among the drought-resistant plant species, you can find many bright and showy decorative flowers. Beautifully flowering drought-resistant perennials are unpretentious in nature and are able to grow even on depleted soils.
Many flower growers love drought-resistant plants, not only for their unpretentiousness and beauty. Around the beds with these plants, a pleasant aroma always hovers, attracting insects that pollinate the flowers.
But even among the variety of beautiful drought-resistant plants, clear favorites can be distinguished, which, even with insufficient care, can delight with lush, unique flowering throughout the season.
Using tall and short drought-resistant grasses in the design of compositions, you can even create real masterpieces of landscape art.
Plants that are unpretentious in care can feel comfortable both in sunny and slightly shaded areas. Periwinkle, wormwood, spurge, arabis, stonecrop and yarrow grow beautifully between stones. They are indispensable for the design of dry slopes, as well as for arranging and.
Among the ground cover and low-growing drought-resistant flowers, the most decorative are: styloid phlox, gaillardia, alissum, saxifrage
Lilac lavender bushes, planted along garden paths and exuding a magical aroma in the area, can literally transform the territory of the site
Irises, beloved by many flower growers, are also not particularly demanding in their care. Most of them bloom in the spring for 3-5 weeks, but some varieties bloom again with the onset of autumn.
Irises - amazing plants, numbering in tens of thousands of varieties, amaze the imagination with an exquisite flower shape and a variety of colors
Echinacea is also great for decorating dry areas. native warm countries interesting with bright inflorescences of pink, yellow, burgundy and purple hues.
In addition to decorative appeal, miniature "suns" can also have a healing effect: they help boost immunity, as well as cure colds and flu.
The original texture of the garden will help to give the Byzantine cleaner. The plant, popularly referred to as the "ears of the lamb" is interesting due to the silver foliage, which has a velvety texture.
Byzantine Chistets is a herbaceous perennial with a height of 30-40 cm. As it grows, it creates elegant soft “pillows” with a silvery sheen
Crocosmia - extraordinary beautiful plant, numbering about 50 species, is of South African origin. The aroma of its flowers is somewhat reminiscent of saffron, widely used in cooking.
Crocosmia, decorated with spikelets with star-funnel-shaped flowers, is famous for its abundant and long flowering, which can last from mid-summer to late autumn.
This drought-resistant plant looks great in open flower beds.
Among the tall, drought-resistant beauties, one can distinguish mallow, miscanthus, and decorative onions. Reaching a height of two meters, they are able to create elegant screens that will act as a bright decoration of the site throughout the season until the first frost.
Graceful stems of stock roses can decorate about a dozen semi-double or double flowers of various shades, from snow-white, rich yellow to dark purple and burgundy.
These showy plants ideal for low maintenance gardens. It is enough just to sow the seeds in the ground at a distance of 50 cm from each other on fertile and well-drained soil - and after a year or two you get the opportunity to enjoy the amazing flowering of mallow from June to late autumn.
Allium or decorative bow deserves special attention. Throwing out flower-bearing arrows 80-170 cm high in spring (depending on the variety), he dresses up in spherical inflorescences of stunning beauty.
Large balls of allium inflorescences, smoothly swaying on thin arrows, are strewn with star-shaped flowers of white, pink and light purple shades.
In addition to aesthetic appeal, due to the specific "onion" smell, allium is able to protect against harmful insects not only themselves, but neighbors in the flower bed.
drought tolerant herbs
When designing a flower garden, a special place should be allocated to drought-resistant herbs. The most attractive among them are: gray fescue, dvukistnik and elimus.
Compact bushes of gray fescue, whose height does not exceed 20-25 cm, outwardly resemble sea urchin with bluish needles
Such "hummocks" look spectacular against the background of reservoirs, in rocky gardens. Gray fescue grows best in sunny areas with a fertile, well-drained substrate.
Dvukistochnik - a rapidly growing ornamental grass that forms high "pillows" collected from white-green variegated grass
Attractive for its pointed bluish-gray leaves and ornamental grass elimus.
Since elimus grows quickly and behaves somewhat aggressively towards neighboring plants, it is better to plant it in a flower garden, limiting the roots with a container without a bottom.
Ornamental trees and shrubs
The beautiful barberry shrub is a clear favorite due to its unpretentiousness and drought tolerance. Its thorny stems, which grow up to 1 meter high, are decorated with elegant yellow, pink-brown and bright red leaves.
Among the variety of barberry varieties, Golden Ring with red small leaves in a yellow border and Rose Glow with pink-brown leaves with a fancy pattern in the form of white strokes and droplets are the most decorative.
Branched barberry shrubs love the sun, but can also grow in slightly shaded areas. Some varieties of barberry also delight with edible bright red fruits by autumn.
Euonymus - a bright and unusually beautiful shrub is attractive with a beautiful openwork crown and small elegant foliage.
The plant, whose foliage has a rich dark green color in the summer months, with the onset of September, is covered by an "autumn fire", turning into orange, purple and violet hues.
The pinkish fruits, strewn over the euonymus stems, open as they ripen, and bright red-orange seeds peep out of them. Amazing spectacle! But it is worth remembering that ripened fruits, like all parts of the plant, are poisonous.
The silver goof shrub is no less decorative. He feels most comfortable on very depleted soils, enriching and improving them with nitrogen.
The branches of the shrub, decorated with silvery foliage, are covered with miniature flowers during flowering, spreading a pleasant aroma, due to which they are widely used in the perfume industry.
In place of flowers, fruits are later tied, which by autumn grow into yellowish berries with astringent sweetish pulp.
Flexible branches of an evergreen shrub are decorated with tiny needles and scaly needles, spreading a pleasant resinous aroma around them.
An amazingly beautiful forest dweller, who can withstand adverse conditions, with his person is able to transform any place on the site. It will act as a spectacular addition to a rocky garden, a multi-level flower garden, a mixborder, and framing a garden path.
Drought-resistant plants - ideal for decorating a garden and flower garden. They take root well and serve as a worthy decoration of the site.
In the scientific world, drought-resistant plants are called xerophytes. It is they who have adapted to life in such conditions.
Primorsky Armeria has adapted to live and develop normally in conditions of water shortage,a photo
Some of them develop a powerful root system extracting life-giving moisture from the deep layers of the soil. Others, with the help of various morphological changes (increasing the protective layer of the cuticle on the leaves, dressing them in dense pubescence, modifying them to thorns and scales) have adapted to use water sparingly, storing it for a rainy day in parts of the body. And ephemera, ephemeroids generally reduced their life cycle, managing to complete it before the onset of the dry period.
Areas with water deficit are especially attractive in spring, photo Therefore, a dacha in a dry area may well become a source of beauty and inspiration if you choose the right plants for its decoration.
a photo
And there are many such plants:
- bows;
- and others.
Antennaria dioecious, or cat's foot
Antennaria dioecious (Antennaria dioica) is a semi-evergreen creeping gray-green perennial, 5 cm high and 45 cm wide.
The flowers are small, white to light pink, in pubescent corymbs; bloom in mid-summer.
Decorative varieties:
- "Nyewoods" - 20 cm wide, dark pink flowers;
- "Rosea" - pink flowers.
Antennaria dioecious "Nyewoods". Photo from ru.pinterest.com. Antennaria dioecious "Rosea". Photo from vestnik-cvetovoda.ru
Beautiful dense curtains of a cat's paw will look spectacular in rockeries and in a drought-resistant mixborder. It is good to occasionally loosen the soil, and after rains -. Propagate by division in spring or early summer.
Armeria maritime
In summer, rockeries in dry areas of the dacha are decorated with bright inflorescences of armeria on low peduncles.
seaside armeria,a photo
seaside (Armeria maritime) - herbaceous perennial, up to 20 cm high, up to 30 cm wide; forms effective pillows. Spherical inflorescences are collected from pink, white, red flowers; bloom in May-June.
Decorative varieties:
- "Bloodstone" - dark red flowers;
- ‘Vindictive‘ - 15 cm high, pink flowers.
Armeria seaside "Bloodstone". Photo from ru.pinterest.com. Armeria seaside "Vindictive". Photo site timothyinder.homestead.com
AT middle lane Russia in cold snowless winters can suffer. Propagated by seeds, cuttings.
You can choose seeds and seedlings of armeria in our catalog, which combines the offers of large garden online stores. .
What else to watch on the site about asphodelin:
A discreet background plant: its silvery color pleases throughout the growing season, and the tart aroma intensifies on a hot summer day.
a photo
Italian immortelle (Helichrysum italicum) is an evergreen shrub up to 60 cm high, up to 1 m wide. It blooms in summer with yellow small baskets collected in shields.
Italian immortelle - flowering, photo
Winter-hardy, but in the first year of planting it is better to cover it with dry leaves, spruce branches. Propagated by cuttings in October-November.
What else to watch on the site about Italian immortelle:
St. John's wort calyx, or calyx
Luxurious during the flowering period, abundantly scattering the "gold" of its flowers.
St. John's wort,a photo
Hypericum calycinum is an evergreen shrub up to 60 cm high. The only negative is insufficient frost resistance, so I can’t recommend it for central Russia, but the plant is so beautiful and drought-resistant that I decided to include it in this article.
What else to watch on the site about St. John's wort:
Iberis evergreen
On our site, he finds more and more admirers.
Iberis evergreen,a photo
Iberis evergreen (Iberis sempervirens) is a shrub with small leaves that persist in winter, up to 30 cm high, 40 cm wide. Small white flowers, collected in small dense apical brushes, bloom from April.
Iberis evergreen 'Snowflake'. Photo site 123rf.com. Iberis evergreen "Weisser Zwerg". Photo from google.ru
Decorative varieties are difficult to distinguish from each other; the visual difference lies in the compactness of the bushes:
- "Snowflake" - 25 cm high, 60 cm wide;
- "Weisser Zwerg" - 15 cm high and 25 cm wide.
Choose varieties of Iberis with different flower colors in our catalog, where offers are collected large online stores seeds and planting material. .
The flowers are white, light pink, fragrant, collected in small inflorescences; bloom in April or May; pruned after flowering. Prefers calcareous soils. In central Russia, it is grown as an annual. Propagated by seeds.
lavender angustifolia
When you see the mesmerizing lavender bloom in highlands Crimea, it becomes obvious: here it is - an ideal plant for dry areas.
a photo
Parameters of narrow-leaved lavender (Lavandula angustifolia): height up to 1 m, width - up to 1.2 m.
Decorative varieties:
- "Hidcote" - up to 60 cm high, 75 cm wide, dark purple flowers;
- "Jean Davis" - light lilac flowers;
Lavender narrow-leaved "Hidcote". Photo courtesy of windyridgegardencentre.ie. Lavender narrow-leaved "Jean Davis". Photo from loghouseplants.com
- "Loddon Pink" - compact, up to 45 cm in height, 60 cm wide, light pink flowers;
- "Munstead" - 45 cm high, 60 cm wide, bluish-purple flowers;
Lavender narrow-leaved "Loddon Pink". Photo courtesy of potterandrest.co.uk. Lavender angustifolia 'Munstead'. Photo courtesy of highcountrygardens.com
- "Nana Alba" - 30 cm high and wide, white flowers;
- "Twickel Purple" - 60 cm high, -1 m wide, bright purple flowers.
Lavender narrow-leaved "Nana Alba". Photo courtesy of growsonyou.com. Lavender narrow-leaved "Twickel Purple". Photo from burncoose.co.uk
It is good to loosen the soil around more demanding varieties, and after rains - mulch.
You can choose seeds of various varieties of lavender in our catalog, which combines the offers of large garden online stores.
Leaf modifications
1. What does ecology study?
Ecology is the science of the interactions of living organisms and their communities with each other and with the environment.
2. What environmental factors can affect the plant?
The following environmental factors can affect the plant: humidity, lighting, temperature, air, wind, etc.
3. Remember the differences between dandelions growing in the open with a lack of moisture and in the shade on well-moistened soil.
In a dandelion that grows in an open place, i.e. there is a lot of light and at the same time the leaves of a dandelion will be 15-20 cm, and a dandelion that grows in the shade will be 2 times, or even 3 times longer.
Questions
1. Is it possible to appearance to distinguish between plants of wet places and dry areas?
The leaves of dryland plants are small and have adaptations to reduce evaporation. This is a dense pubescence, wax coating, a relatively small number of stomata, etc. Some plants, such as aloe, agave, have soft and juicy leaves. They store water.
2. Prove that the structure of the leaf is related to the living conditions of plants.
In marsh and coastal plants, the leaves are wide and succulent (calamus, marigold), in aquatic plants they contain air-bearing cavities to float on the surface (water lily, arrowhead). In steppe plants, the leaves are pubescent or covered with a wax coating, narrow or small, in order to reduce the evaporation of moisture. In plants of semi-deserts and deserts, the leaves are either thick, succulent, storing moisture (young, stonecrop), or turned into thorns (cacti, euphorbia). In plants of the upper tier, the leaves are lighter, while in the shady ones they are dark green, because they contain more chlorophyll due to a lack of light.
3. Why do floating leaves aquatic plants stomata are located only on the upper side of the leaf, but do the leaves immersed in water have no stomata at all?
Stomata can only be on the side of the leaf that is in contact with the air. Otherwise, water would flow through them into the leaf, and it would rot.
4. What is the significance of modified leaves in plant life? Give examples of such leaves.
In the process of adapting to conditions environment the leaves of some plants have changed because they began to play a role unusual for typical leaves. For example, in barberry, part of the leaves has changed into thorns. Turned into thorns and leaves of cacti. They evaporate less moisture
and protect plants from being eaten by herbivores.
In peas, the upper parts of the leaves are turned into antennae. They serve to keep the stem of the plant upright.
Think
Why in the crown of one tree the light leaves are similar in structure to the leaves of plants open spaces, and shady - with leaves of shade-tolerant plants?
These leaves are similar because similarly adapt to the lack of light.
Tasks
Consider a few indoor plants. Try to determine the conditions under which they grew in their homeland. On what basis did you draw your conclusion?
Monstera is a plant of wet habitats, because. leaves are large, large quantity stomata.
Aloe is a plant of dry habitats, because. the leaves are soft and juicy (water is stored in them).
Cactus is a plant of dry habitats, because. the leaves are converted into thorns in order to evaporate less moisture.
Not every plant is able to grow and develop normally in conditions of lack of moisture. But there are those that tolerate rare watering and sunny flower beds well, without losing either their decorative effect or fragrance. What perennial drought-resistant flowers are suitable for decorating a flower bed - you will learn from our article.
Flowers for the dry garden
Such unpretentious flowers as periwinkle, spurge, yarrow, arabis, indispensable for decorating rock gardens and rockeries, feel great in sunny and slightly shaded areas.
Feels great in arid flower beds - bright and unusual, with pink, yellow, purple or burgundy inflorescences and an outstanding core. By the way, it is often Echinacea that can be found as a drought-resistant flower for a cemetery, where care and watering are not carried out too often.
The South African flower also adapts well to dry conditions. At the same time, it pleases the eye with its decorative effect and has a delicate aroma of saffron.
If you're looking for tall, drought-resistant flowers for a sunny garden bed, consider miscanthus, mallow, and ornamental onions. They can reach up to two meters in height, making the perfect backdrop for shorter plants.
Drought tolerant shrubs for sunny locations
Thunberg's barberry, euonymus, common and Cossack juniper, silver sucker, horizontal cotoneaster, mountain pine and other shrubs will diversify the garden in a wonderful way and will withstand any test of the sun and drought.
