Betty Sanders, our May speaker, taught us some techniques for maximizing the water when we have it, and minimizing plant damage when we don’t have it, by adapting our gardens to our climate. She explained how to determine when to water and the proper way to use mulch.

Use of native plants was recommended and the list of native perennials she recommended are:

Native Perennials
(From the handout distributed by Betty Sanders at her
May program on “Water Smart Gardening”)

For Sun
Amsonia tabernaemontana ‘Blue Star’
Arimcus Goatsbeard
Aster
Baptisia australis Wild Blue Indigo
Boltonia asterides
Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’
Helenium
Monarda ‘Jacob Cline’
Penstemon smallii
Rudbeckia ‘Herbstone’ ‘Goldstrum’
Solidago ‘Little Lemon’

For Shade
Astilbe
Chelone
Dicentra Exima
Heuchera
Mertensia ‘Virginia Bluebells’
Tiarella
Zizia