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karen_mickleson

Your favorite colorful frost & drought hardy plants...?

Karen Mickleson
10 years ago

Hard frost hit my microclimate (Fairfax, CA--SF Bay Area) this last winter with over 15 days below freezing weather. I lost a lot, and assume others did too. (for example, lost 2 citrus patio trees and a large abutillon which normally do fine here.) This, along with the drought, has me planning a re-do using some mix of what I think of as 'high desert'--cold winter plants that get cut back in the late fall, like salvias, agastache, lavenders, nepenthe, flowering ground covers, and such.

I love complementary colors and favor some mix of blues-purples, oranges (like poppy orange), yellows, and vivid raspberry-magenta.

I thought I'd ask people here about their favorite frost & drought tolerant perennials (with hybrid name if relevant) to consider--ranging from ground covers to short mounding types up to 5' types. Those which bloom for a long time and return faithfully would be favored. I may post this also in perennials forum, but thought I'd start here.

I frequent Annie's, so have some inspiration there. But input from those who went through this last bad frost and had flowering plants survive would be great. Or, if you think a different forum might yield more results, let me know.

Thanks,
Karen

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