By Chris Winslow

 

As we enter the parched summer months, gardener’s thoughts often turn
to plants that can make it through a drought, and many folks who come to
visit my nursery are often seeking some guidance on this matter.

The booklet Native and Adapted Landscape Plants is a good place to
start. This is a free City of Austin guide that you can pick up at any

nursery. It covers trees, shrubs, perennials and turf grasses. It’s important
to remember that while xeriscape plants are indeed tough,  they still need
a helping hand to get their root systems established. So water for a few
weeks after planting, and also give them water during very dry conditions.

Here is a selection of  some the of the yuccas, agaves  and other plants that
I consider my bullet-proof xeriscape favorites:

Red yucca  Low-growing, reaches 2 feet in height, 4 to 6 feet in width,
making it an excellent groundcover. It is evergreen and blooms from spring
to summer with tall coral red spikes. Hummingbirds love them!

Softleaf yucca  Grows to six feet with soft foliage and beautiful spikes
of white to pale green flowers.

Blue yucca or Palmilla  This can reach over 10 feet and its blue tinged
foliage makes it a striking addition to any xeriscape garden. It blooms in
late spring to summer with showy white flowers born on spikes.

Beaked Yucca  Tall,  with beautiful white flower spikes. Their trunks
make for a very attractive landscape addition.

Texas Sotol   Has light green leaves with sharp edges, short trunks,
and fabulous white flower stalks that can reach 15 feet. There is also a
silver leaf option called Wheeler’s Sotol.

Century Plant  This great desert plant can attain massive size and comes
in an array of colors from green to silver, and blue. Known also as maguey,
it has a spreading rosette of leaves and can attain a width of 8 feet. Its flower
spike can reach over 15 feet. After flowering, the plant dies. The average
life expectancy is 15 to 20 years, and during this time the century plant will
produce a number of offspring. Tequila is produced from a similar plant
called the blue agave or Agave tequilana. There are a number of cultivars of
this plant which have striking variegated foliage (white striping along the centers
or margins of the leaves).

Queen Victoria Agave  A great choice for someone who doesn’t have the
room to plant the larger agaves. Queen Victoria only gets to 1 foot by 1 foot.
The foliage has beautiful white markings on the leaves (see photo above).

Artichoke Agave Grows to 3 feet and has the appearance of an artichoke. They
make gorgeous specimens in the landscape and are extremely heat tolerant.

Happy xeriscape gardening everyone!  [© Chris Winslow 2010]