First time in this forum - fantastic! I am a garden designer and landscaper (this is my first year in business so it is all a big learning curve) and my major anxiety centres on maintenance after I have 'done' a garden. Often, clients are not prepared or are unable to actually do the necessary work to keep their gardens going so my main emphasis has been on low maintenance designing and planting. Xeriscaping seems like a fantasic way of creating beautiful gardens which practically look after themselves. Again, I am a bit of a novice but I have just started on a really dry garden in East Anglia, UK, using a palm as the main plant, surrounded by drifts of cape daisies, gallardia, gazania, osteospermums and agapanthus - my client is an anthropologist and spends a lot of time in Africa and wanted a garden to be as 'African' as possible. Obviously, the tropical water monsters such as ensetes, aroids, gingers and cannas were not an option as the guy spends time away and did not want to install an irrigation system - in fact the garden had to be as self-sustaining as possible. So, finally, a HUGE thank you to all contributors and looking forward to becoming a regular myself.I would be grateful for any ideas of drought tolerant plants for the UK - I think I am zone 5-6.