Common name:Pride Of Madeira
Botanical name:Echium candicans

Mature specimens of this evergreen shrub can grow to a size of 6'-8' tall and 8'-10' wide. In the spring, spikes of rosy-violet to blue-purple flowers appear. It should receive sun to part shade, with little or no summer watering when established. This plant can be severely damaged by frost below 25 degrees F.

Common name:Mediterranean Tree Mallow
Botanical name:Lavatera maritima

This large, shrubby perennial grows up to 6' and has profuse lavender pink flowers with maroon highlights. From the Mallow family, the flowers are produced year round and are especially showy in the fall.

Common name:Morning Light Silver Grass
Botanical name:Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light'

The 'Morning Light' is also a taller variety, growing to 6'-8' tall with delicate feathery plumes and very thin graceful leaves. This is a variegated form. It should receive sun to part shade, and average to little summer watering. Tall grasses are highly combustible.

Common name:Blue Oat Grass
Botanical name:Helictotrichon sempervirens

The Blue Oat Grass is an evergreen, blue clumping grass that grows 12"-18" tall and wide. Its showy flowers are 1'-2' above the foliage. This plant looks good alone as well as in mass plantings. The blue oat grass likes dry hill sides and is drought tolerant.

Common name:Brown Sedge
Botanical name:Carex testacea

Brown Sedge is an evergreen perennial that reaches 2' tall bearing very narrow, coppery brown leaves splitting to hair-like threads at their tips, and continuing to grow to 4'-8' in length. This plant should be grown in sun with little or no summer watering.

Dealing With Drought

More than half of the water used at your home is for outside purposes. Studies show that on average, half of the water used outdoors is wasted. The leading cause of waste is incorrectly set and poorly managed irrigation controllers. The second biggest cause of wastage is broken irrigation equipment that goes undetected. There are a few basic things you can do to make a big difference in your water use.

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