Common name:Lavender Cotton
Botanical name:Santolina chamaecyparissus
This ground cover/small shrub will grow to 3' tall and has small, grayish/silver leaves with yellow flowers that bloom in the summer.
Common name:Early Sunrise Coreopsis
Botanical name:Coreopsis grandiflora 'Early Sunrise'
The 'Early Sunrise' is a wonderful cultivar and showy, southern U.S. native. Golden yellow double flowers on 2' bushy plants bloom from June to September in full sun and average to dry soils.
It makes for good cut flowers, and pruning keeps the plants abundant with blooms. -Holland WIldflower Farm
Common name:Whirling Butterflies White Gaura
Botanical name:Gaura lindheimeri 'Whirling Butterflies'
White Gaura is a profusely flowering perenial for all zones that grows 2-4ft. high. It has pink buds that open to showy white flowers in spring and summer. It needs full sun and is drought tolerant.
-Cornflower Farms
Common name:Moonshine Yarrow, Milfoil, Sneezewo
Botanical name:Achillea 'Moonshine'
Long, straight stems with pale yellow flowers are striking on the mats of green to grey-green leaves of this plant, which are flatter and less divided than those of the Achillea millefolium. This Yarrow propagates easily from rooted cuttings or divisions which should be performed in the early spring or fall. Following bloom, one should dead head the plant and divide the clumps when it appears crowded. Introduced by Alan Bloom in the 1950's.
Common name:Powis Castle Artemisia
Botanical name:Artemisia 'Powis Castle'
This mounding shrub reaches 3 ft. high and up to 5ft. wide with fine silver foliage. - Cornflower Farms
Common name:Leather Leaf Sedge
Botanical name:Carex buchananii
This orange/bronze ornamental grass/reed is 2-3'H x 1-2' W and does best in full sun to part shade.
Common name:Border or Garden Penstemon
Botanical name:Penstemon hybrids selection
This perennial plant will reach 3' high and has medium-sized, glossy dark green leaves with red, pink, lavender or purple flowers that bloom in summer and fall. It needs a bit extra water in the summer and no water in the winter. Hummingbirds love the flowers. This plant is great for cut flowers and color borders.
Common name:Chinese Wisteria
Botanical name:Wisteria sinensis
While the sinensis is similar to the floribunda, it bears more rounded, full clusters of strongly fragrant flowers which open more or less all at once. There are usually 13-15 leaflets per leaf, and they require full sun and average to little watering.
It comes in many colors in the blues, whites and purples.-Monterey Bay Nursery
Common name:Mexican Bush Sage
Botanical name:Salvia leucantha
The Mexican sage is a bushy shrub that grows 3-4 ft. tall and wide. It has hairy white stems, gray-green leaves and velvet like purple flower spikes that bloom summer through fall. This shrub tolerates sun, light shade, little water, and is hardy to 15 degrees F. The Mexican sage is drought tolerant and attracts hummingbirds. -Cornflower Farms
Designer: Terri Nichols
Photographer: GardenSoft
Practice grass-cycling by leaving short grass clippings on lawns after mowing, so that nutrients and organic matter are returned to the soil.
Remove irrigation water and fertilizer from areas where you don't want weeds to grow.