10 Beautiful Waterwise Shrubs for Your Garden

10 Beautiful Waterwise Shrubs for Your Garden

Life is full of trade-offs. However, nothing says you can't have a glorious, lush, and totally interesting garden while also using less water. Shrubs are an ideal place to start. There are plenty of stunners that do just fine with the occasional deep drink. Here are eleven we truly love and recommend.

(This is not just for the droughty Southwest. Planting waterwise cuts down the water bill. Plus, plants that aren't naturally too thirsty saves you from hauling hoses all season, too. It’s all good.)

Grace Smoke Tree 

What: Big feathery summer plumes and dark, dramatic foliage. (Light one is Golden Spirit Smoke Tree.) Zone: 4 – 8

Best Feature: Performs even in rocky, infertile soils! (Full to partial sun)

Scarlet Torchâ„¢ Bottlebrush

Scarlet Torchâ„¢ Bottlebrush

What:  Prolific long-blooming flowers attract hummingbirds to the garden in droves! Full sun. Zone: 8 – 11

Best Feature: Maintains its compact size with little to no pruning (yeah!)

Red Filli Crape Myrtle

Red Filli Crape Myrtle

What: Small shrubby stature that brings the vivid late summer color into containers, beds, and borders. Full sun. Zone: 4 – 9

Best Feature: Extremely cold hardy.

Petite Plum® Ninebark

Petite Plum® Ninebark

What: Striking burgundy-plum foliage and showy pink spring flowers. Partial to full sun. Zone: 3 – 8

Best Feature: Compact form is useful in borders, low hedges, or massed as a color bomb.

Golf Ball Kohuhu

Golf Ball Kohuhu

What: Even-growth and dense habit yield a near-perfect shrub for hedges, parterres, and as edging for walks and entries. Full sun. Zone: 8 – 11

Best Feature: Great sub for small-leafed boxwood in warmer climates.

Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick

Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick

What: Seriously? Check out the gnarled and twisted branches followed by showy greenish-yellow catkins in winter. Full sun. Zone: 3 – 9

Best Feature: Fun, fabulous container plant.

Pink Rugosa Rose

Pink Rugosa Rose

What:  Purplish-red flowers, bright red hips, glossy foliage. Classic for a reason! Full sun. Zone: 3 – 9

Best Feature:  Fine prickly hedge for hot, windy locations; also excellent for seaside planting.

Little Ollie® Dwarf Olive

Little Ollie® Dwarf Olive

What:  A small olive with all the Mediterranean look and feel without the size or the fruit. Full sun. Zone: 8 – 11

Best Feature: Designer’s dream! Formal hedge, specimen shrub, topiary, or single trunk tree.

Blue Balloon® Bluebeard

Blue Balloon® Bluebeard

What: Highly fragrant, rich-green foliage on a rounded shrub that’s smothered in striking deep-blue flowers. Full sun. Zone: 5 – 9

Best Feature: Billows of fall blooms.

Lilac Hibiscus

Lilac Hibiscus

What: When you need a tall flowering beauty that loves hot sun and reflected heat, here it is. Full sun. Zone: 9 – 11

Best Feature: Blooms intermittently throughout the year in warmer areas.

Jazzy Jewelâ„¢ Andorra Juniper

Jazzy Jewelâ„¢ Andorra Juniper

What: Color-morphing conifer! Bright-green and gold-splashed in summer, bronze-and-purple tinged in winter. Full sun. Zone: 3 – 9

Best Feature: Showy and durable groundcover.

Waterwise Lavender

Bonus!

Who doesn’t love waterwise lavender? Here’s how to find the best one for your zone.

Love it? Buy it!

Previous Post  Next Post 
2017-03-19 16:35:00
Dry-Farmed Gardens | Grow Beautifully
[…] winter in droughty parts of the country, but it pays to take the long view.(Bonus! Here are a few more beautiful, waterwise shrubs for you to […]
reply Reply
Liz Marvin
I am putting a new garden together in Geelong 2.5 acres. I intend to plant water wise medium trees on the boundries, with smaller shrubs in between. I have selected Red Filli Grape Myrtle, Pink Rugosa Rose, Liliac Hibiscus, lavender and the Grace Smoke tree. I am looking at keeping it low maintenance but with a bit of colour going for the Flowering Gums and Bottle Brushes. Have you and more suggestions and can I purchase slabs of these shrubs and trees. Thank you
reply Reply
Ruth Pestorius
I'm looking for a peach swirl copper bush. Please tell me how I can get it.
reply Reply
Karin
You list your Petite Plum Ninebark as waterwise and your description of this plant shows that is requires regular watering. Which is it?
reply Reply
Candice Covill
I love the fact that I can now order from Monrovia online. All the nurseries and box stores do carry a lot of the plants I want or the larger sizes. Will be using this site to order my plants. YEA!!
reply Reply
6 Ways to Save Water in the Garden | Grow Beautifully
[…] are 10 totally gorgeous shrubs that sip rather than gulp […]
reply Reply
Frances
I am in zone 9. Several of the plants I like are listed up to zone 8, while other places have them up to zone 9. I know the zones go by the minimum temperature, do they also go by the maximum temperature? Is zone 9 too hot for these plants? (Smoke tree is one of them.)
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