Drought Tolerant Plants for San Diego
San Diego’s Mediterranean climate is perfect for gardening. However, then there’s reality. Continual severe drought mixed with plentiful, expensive fresh water has fueled interest in drought-tolerant plants. These plants commonly survive on less than half the water typically required for thick, traditional plantings. In some cases, these plants will quite literally wither and die if or when the water is shut off – they are designed for dry conditions. A summary of the best plants for San Diego gardens follows. The list could be doubled, tripled or, quite frankly, quadrupled, so the key to the best is very subjective.
Understanding San Diego’s Climate
San Diego’s climate is warm and dry in summer and mild and wet in winter. Our average annual rainfall is close to 10 inches, most of which falls between November and March. For most of the year, gardeners in San Diego must water to maintain their landscapes. Given our growing attention to water conservation during times of drought, we should choose drought-tolerant plants.
Drought-tolerant Plants are specially planted plants that have adapted to grow with minimum amount of water .Such plants often have some features like deep root sweeps, small or waxy leaves and also can store water in their stems or leaves.Using drought-tolerant plants in your garden can help saving water , further reducing your consumption and use of water deliverance and cut-off the percentage of water consumption.
Benefits of Drought-Tolerant Landscaping
First, there is a broader reason for caring about any of this: drought-tolerant landscaping saves water. But before moving to the plants that offer the most bang for San Diego’s buck, it might be useful first to lay out some basic principles.
Water Conservation
The most obvious advantage is that you will use much less water. Drought-tolerant plants need far, far less water than the typical plants we grow in our gardens. Water is a precious commodity, and in regions where it is limited, one of your responsibilities as a gardener is to reduce your garden’s water use.
Cost Savings
Lower means lower utility bills. Saving water on your water bill can translate into savings on your maintenance costs as well, since drought-resistant plants generally need less fertiliser and fewer pesticides, making them ultimately more economical.
Environmental Impact
As a result of your lowered watering, your use is nudging down the demand on local supplies, which is vital during drought years. The healthy plants that result are also often drought-tolerant natives, which are important sources of food for wildlife and contribute to biodiversity.
Low Maintenance
Drought-tolerant plants are fairly undemanding. They tend to be less susceptible to pests and diseases and, because they tend to be woody, they do not need to be pruned or deadheaded very often. They are therefore the plants of choice for those who want the beauty of a garden but not to spend all their time on maintenance.
Top Drought-Tolerant Plants for San Diego Gardens
Armed with the arguments for drought-tolerant landscaping, let’s consider some plants that frequently capture my eye in my visits around San Diego, plants that will bring you and your garden beauty and diversity all while being tough when water’s only allowed on the landscape every few
1. California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
The state flower of California, the California Poppy, is a great choice for San Diego gardens. The bright orange blooms are showstoppers, and this native species is rugged and extremely drought-tolerant, doing best in poor, dry soils requiring little (if any) additional water after being established the first year. It blooms in spring and early summer, attracting pollinators that eagerly come for nectar, including bees and butterflies.
2. Succulents
Should it be a succulent? The succulent is often the first plant that comes to mind for a person who is considering a new, drought-friendly garden. These are my favourite plants – and they’ve become very popular with other gardeners. They’re able to store water in a remarkable way – in their leaves, stems, or roots – and, based on what I’ve observed of plants in nature, these same structures can continue to function when the community dries out and water becomes scarce. San Diego has relatively cold, wet winters (although now less so with climate change) and hot, dry summers (currently the second-driest summer in the contiguous United States after Las Vegas). There are many different kind of succulents:
Aloe Vera (Aloe barbadensis miller): It is a medicinous succulent plant It is easy to grow, so much so that if you have one plant it will start sending out shoots of its own. Trim them off and replant them – this ensures that you soon have a large indoors forest! It needs virtually no water, and you can take your pick of the succulent leaves as needs be.
Agave (Agave spp): The spiky, brawny forms of agave make them stand out in many gardening styles, but they are especially suited to groups of plants that tolerate severe drought.
Echeveria: There are a lot of species under this genus, but they all have rosette-like leaves with beautiful pastel colours.
3. Lavender (Lavandula spp.)
Lavender is a Mediterranean herb that enjoys hot, dry, sunny conditions, which make it a good fit for San Diego. It features fragrant flowers and variegated foliage, and is easily shaped as a hedge, border or component of a rock garden. It also attracts pollinators, making it a welcome addition to any garden. Lavender planted in the early part of the 20th century is still flourishing here.
4. Ceanothus (California Lilac)
Ceanothus, with its showy blue, purple or white flowers and drought tolerance, is a showy California native drought-tolerant shrub that’s suitable for dry sites exposed to full sun with no or little water once established. Ceanothus works well as a ground cover, hedge or focal point in the garden.
5. Manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.)
Manzanita, a native shrub that thrives in arid conditions, sports thin, red bark and tiny, bell-shaped pink or white flowers. It’s a no-nonsense shrub, low-maintenance, tolerant of drought and pests.
6. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
A perennial with clumps of small flat-topped flowers – white, yellow, pink or red – yarrow is drought-tolerant, and forgiving in poor soils. It is a good culinary herb, and a popular medicine. Yarrow is good in naturalistic or meadow-style gardens.
7. Coyote Bush (Baccharis pilularis)
Coyote Bush, a native evergreen shrub that also grows well in dry landscapes, is drought-tolerant, sometimes used as a ground cover, and even as a hedge. Coyote Bush is so resilient that it grows in poor or rich soils, gravelly ground, slopes or meadows, making it a perfect choice for San Diego gardens.
8. Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea, a tropical vine native to Brazil, is a good choice for gardens in warm, coastal San Diego, where it covers walls, fences and trellises and sends out its colourful, papery bracts (modified leaves) in pink, purple, red, orange and white across the landscape. Bougainvillea is drought-tolerant after establishment.
9. Mexican Sage (Salvia leucantha)
Mexican Sage (Salvia leucantha) is an evergreen shrub with long spikes of purple and white flowers. It’s drought-tolerant and prefers full sun, making it a good plant for San Diego gardens. Mexican Sage is named for its attraction to hummingbirds and butterflies.
10. Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia uvaria)
Red Hot Poker(Photo by Liesje Claassen/Flickr)Red Hot Poker (the beautiful Torch Lily), AKA ‘Knifelog’,is a tall producing spikes of red, orange and yellow blooms. It’s very drought-tolerant and dramatic in the garden. Plant in full sun in well-drained soil.
Tips for Creating a Drought-Tolerant Garden
Choosing the correct plants is only part of the picture when it comes to growing a garden that thrives with less water. Here are some more tips to help you design and maintain a water-wise landscape in San Diego.
1. Soil Preparation
Drought-tolerant plants are happiest in well-draining soil. Before planting, amend your soil with lots of organic matter to improve its structure and drainage. Raised beds or gravel may be necessary to prevent water pooling around the roots of your plants.
2. Mulching
The best way to use water efficiently in your garden is to mulch your plants. Layer this over the plant to a depth of two to three inches. Doing so will ensure plenty of moisture in the soil. It will also help to slow down evaporation so you avoid having to re-water your plants regularly. It also provides a nice home for worms and suppresses weeds. To create an excellent mulch garden in order to conserve water, use an organic mulch such as wood chips, bark or straw.
3. Efficient Irrigation
Even xeric plants need water to get established, though. After getting your plants established, you can switch to deep but infrequent irrigation. Deep is important in order to encourage roots to grow to the lower soil strata, which are drier and thus more drought-tolerant. And frequent is bad because it encourages the growth of shallower roots that would otherwise die under drier conditions. Drip irrigation systems are highly efficient for drought-tolerant gardens because they deliver the water exactly where it needs to go, into the root zone, and only to the root zone, eliminating the vast excesses associated with conventional above-the-ground spray irrigation.