Common name:Hen and Chicks
Botanical name:Echeveria X 'Imbricata'

This succulent perennial is very small, growing only 2"-3" high. It produces orange, pink, and red blooms and does best in full sun and moist soil.

Common name:Pyracantha
Botanical name:Pyracantha coccinea

This evergreen shrub will grow about 8'-10' tall and 8'-10' wide. It has small, dark green leaves with white flowers that bloom in the spring and orange berries that are in season during the fall.

Common name:Kangaroo Paws Big Red
Botanical name:Anigozanthos 'Big Red'

Anigozanthos flavidus 'Tall Red' is a perennial with dark green, smooth, swordlike evergreen leaves. It produces spikes of striking, fuzzy, tubular flowers in yellow-green, tinged with red that are curved at the tips. The flowers attract hummingbirds. Flowers bloom from late spring to fall if spent flowering spikes are cut to the ground. It makes for a good cut flower.

Common name:Yellow Moraea, Fortnight Lily
Botanical name:Dietes bicolor

This clumping perennial Iris relative stands 3'-4' high. It has light yellow, iris-like flowers with maroon blotches that are about 2" wide. It performs best in full sun and in soil with good drainage.

Common name:Aeonium cultivars
Botanical name:Aeonium cultivars

These plants are one of the most useful succulents, due to their decorative effects and sculpturesque quality. The branched stems hold a wide rosetta of either light green or purple leaves. The flowers appear in long, clustered form. They need some shade in hotter areas. Prostrate forms are low-growing, and spreading.

Common name:Grosso Long Stemmed Lavender
Botanical name:Lavandula X intermedia 'Grosso'

Long Stemmed Lavender has beautiful violet colored plumes in the summer. It is very drought tolerant and is a great plant to create that Mediterranean effect.

Common name:Giant Bird Of Paradise
Botanical name:Strelitzia nicolai

This clumping evergreen perennial can reach 25' tall fairly quickly, forming a false trunk from the base of the leaves. The leaves are shaped like bananas, reaching 10' long with the widest part reaching 5' . It does best with fertilizer once a month and rich soil. It does not like wet feet so water only when dry. It can be planted in full sun but will do better if it receives afternoon shade. The flowers can reach a size of 10"-12", but plants need to be a few years old before they will flower.

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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