West-Of-The-Driveway Bed
About two years ago I put in one of my newer beds. It’s situated between the crabapple tree on the north and the sidewalk on the south. A thin strip of lawn separates the bed from the driveway to the east, and on the west is the neighbors’ lawn. Though it gets a bit of shade from the crabapple, this bed gets a lot of hot afternoon sun and is probably the driest of all my flower beds.
I wanted this bed to be no more than 3′ tall and wildlife-friendly. All of the plants attract pollinators, provide seeds for birds, or both.
Plants I have used here includes the following:
Species Tulips (Tulipa praestans ‘fusilier’ and others). As I’ve written before, I love species tulips. Much more perennial than hybrids, the bulbs are smaller and easier to fit into a perennial bed.
Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum). This prairie native forms a drought-resistant, low-growing ground cover. Unique pink flowers in early spring mature into wispy seedheads.
Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia). Harebell is a North American native Campanula. The small, blue, bell-shaped flowers bloom pretty much from early summer to frost. Harebell looks dainty but is actually pretty tough, and can get by without much water. I grew both Harebell and Praire Smoke at the front of this bed along the sidewalk.
Lanceleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata). Long-blooming yellow daisies on a 2′ tall, undemanding plant. Mine tended to grow a bit taller and needed staking.
Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue’). Scabiosa is one of the few non-native plants in this bed. However, with deadheading the blue pincushion flowers bloom all summer and into the fall. Another easy care plant, I combine it with Coreopsis along the east side of the bed.
Starry Solomon’s Plume (Smilacena stellata). Starry Solomon’s Plume grows only about 18″ high and does well in dryer soils. This North American native has small bunches of white, star-shaped flowers in spring and interesting striped berries in fall. Birds are fond of the berries. This plant spreads by rhizomes, but I find it does not grow thickly enough to really make a good ground cover. An undemanding plant, I’ve got it in the center of the bed.
Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium). One of the best Asters because it stays relatively compact (about 3′) and is not overly aggressive. Also it has many, many small blue-violet flowers in mid- to late-fall.
Anise Scented Goldenrod (Solidago odora). A wonderful (2-3′) compact goldenrod that plays well with others in the garden. I combine this plant with Aromatic Aster towards the back of the bed.
Prairie Dropseed (Sporobulus heterolepis). I planted these along the west edge of the bed. This is a low-growing warm season grass of the prairie. Takes a few years to get established, so in the meantime I’ve filled in with ‘Orange Profusion’ Zinnias. The Dropseed is starting to look good, though.
I’m also trying to grow Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea) in this bed. So far it’s just limping along, but I hope it will grow into more robust shape. I also had planted some Carolina Rose (Rosa carolina) along the west edge. This was a mistake. Carolina Rose spreads very aggressively. It’s also extremely thorny (ouch!). So last fall I pulled it out and replaced it with various Salvias. We’ll see how it looks next year.
What are your favorite plants for dry, sunny spots?
gardeninacity 
More plants for my dry beds list…thank you!
I need all the help I can get with this.
Jen
I didn’t think you would have a dry bed out there in rainy British Columbia!
You’re welcome … hope they work for you.
I really like the goldenrod paired with the aster! What a striking combination! This bed is lovely and does double duty with being wildlife friendly and beautiful! And species tulips are amazing!!! I’m adding this one to my list as well!
Enjoy! I hope they do well in your garden!
Goldenrod and aster are a classic combination. Tulips need some cold in winter, will they grow in your area?
They all look so lovely. Do you use some kind of special fertilizer? Many of my flowering plants do not produce as much blooms. Others produce a lot. So, I am thinking that perhaps I need to provide fertilizers to them. Not sure what are my favorite dry flower plants as I don’t know much about flowers and I don’t water them. All my water are reserved for my veggies :-). My flowers are my neglected children.
These plants don’t need fertilizers. I don’t water them either, unless there is a severe drought. Perhaps the ones you have that are not blooming well would do better in a different sort of spot, or maybe they just need more time.
I loved walking through your garden. The photos were both enjoyable and very informative. I am always looking for ideas on plant selection and color. This was very helpful. Thank you.
You’re welcome. Glad you found it useful.
You have so many nice ones in your dry spots. Good job 🙂 I love the one with the berries. I haven’t really addressed my dry spots but for one I was thinking of planting this wild lilac that needs little or no watering. I will have to re-consult your list when I do decide to address them though.
The Wild Lilac is Ceanothus? I’ve seen pictures, it is beautiful! Not something we can grow here, though.
Jason, you’ve got all these very simple in growing plants, I love them too. The most the tulips and cariopsis.
They are all prairie plants. I wonder if there are similar flowers on the Russian steppe.
The tulips are from closer to your part of the world, of course!
Some wonderful inspiration for my dry rockery! Thanks! The Geum is now on my wish list (love the name “Prairie Smoke”) and I will also look out for more compact asters, as they look pretty in combination with grasses. I have several different hardy geraniums in my driest spot. They are so resilient and some spread (fine by me, but you have to watch them!). Another jewel is Lychnis coronaria – it fills in small spaces and seeds itself, but can easily be uprooted if it spreads too much. It adds a splash of colour or light – I have both red and white ones.
I’m not familiar with the Lychnis, but I’ll look it up.
Love your border bed and your plant choices. I have mostly cottage type garden beds with a variety of coneflowers, daisies and day lilies in a sunny area that doesn’t get much water. They do extremely well here in the New England weather.
Your beds sound lovely. I have a bunch of daylilies, they are so easy to grow. I have grown lots of coneflowers, I love them but aster yellows has become such a problem I am pulling them all out.
Thanks for warning me that Prairie dropseed takes a while to establish. I was about to purchase several to fill in a slope where nothing much is going on, but I think I need more immediate gratification.
Another example of how patience is a virtue in gardening, though I don’t have much of it. I’m definitely into immediate gratification as well.
I have each plant you have except for Starry Solomon’s Plume and Prairie Dropseed. I pulled out Prairie Smoke because of how it preformed, but do have another Geum. I have mentioned this before, but we have almost identical plantings.
I find that reassuring. We must have a very similar taste in gardens.
Hi Jason, I like Osteospermum for dry sunny spots, though we have to be careful here to pick the hardier varieties – the purple ones tend to be the hardy ones but looking at the ones I have in the garden, they’re not looking very happy. It’s just as well they take reasonably easily from cuttings.
Здравствуйте Джейсон .Как прекрасно какую красоту вытворите и видите.Приятно встречать людей с одинаковыми мыслями.привет из России.
Ya nye govorit PaRusski! But thanks for commenting!
I also grow dalea and just added dropseed grass to my rain garden last year. It’s in a spot near the french well that gets water but drains quickly. It’s still tiny. Dalea wants a hot sunny spot with well drained soil. It will gladly take a bit of compost and needs to be cut back by half to fill out. It’s a slow grower that doesn’t like to be crowded by other plants. I planted mine as bare roots and it took a while to figure out that I didn’t plant them deep enough. I just posted a bunch of my favorite plants for dry spots, too. 🙂
I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I won’t be surprised if the Dalea doesn’t make it. Could be it is too crowded by other plants.
I don’t have a lot of dry, sunny spots in my garden. But there is one spot where I’m thinking of doing a planter full of succulents this summer. I can’t wait! Does the Geum need full sun or will it grow in partial shade? It’s a graceful plant, and I’m thinking I might try it. I’m a big fan of Goldenrod. So many people still think it causes allergies, but usually it’s the Ragweed near it that causes their problems. In any case, Goldenrod is an excellent cut flower, too. Great selections!
Thanks. I have several types of Goldenrod, mostly short versions, but there’s a couple of areas I let the taller species grow.
You have beautiful colors there, that red tulips look like it is from the hot tropics, very loud red!
Yes, the red ‘Fusilier’ is my favorite.
Was it you who planted Prairie Smoke for your wife? If it was native to my garden, that plant would be on my short list!
Yes, that was me. I think Prairie Smoke would look at home in your garden!
The grass is a nice accent among the sprawlers.
Yes, the Prairie Dropseed eventually makes a nice size clump.
Great plants and many natives in your garden bed….I also grow catmint and lavender in dry sunny spots.
I have not tried lavender but I have lots of catmint.
Penstemon: so many varieties. Bloom seasons vary by species from early spring to full-blown summer. Vary in color from white/pale blue through purple, gold, and scarlet. Attract hummers. Some are semi-evergreen or have attractive rossettes that perisist through winter. Hands down… Penstemon.
The only Penstemon I’ve done well with is P. digitalis. I planted P. grandiflorus in this west bed, but I didn’t mention it because it hasn’t done well.
Really well thought through bed. It’s nice to see the ‘plan’ in pictures now, although I know your bed is not DRY in the same way my garden is in summer. Christina
I love lavender in my dry sunny spot! It does beautifully and smells divine.
The combination of Aromatic Aster and Anise-Scented Goldenrod must make for one delicious smelling flower bed!
These are nice ideas for a planned sidewalk garden (between sidewalk and street) outside our place on Chicago’s South Side. I think the drainage is poor though so I might have to build it up a bit. Although this is supposed to be my “no-worries” garden! Whereabouts are you?
On the southwest side of Evanston. Are there shade trees on your street?
Yes, but the patch I want to plant is south of them (maples) and in full sun a lot of the day–a place where there is grass that just dies. I dug in a few alliums (in balmy January), and there were some roots but not too dense. We shall see!
I used raised beds to plant the parkway between the sidewalk and street. Here’s a link about one of those beds.
https://gardeninacity.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/many-hands-pick-good plants