Regional Picks: Tough Roadside Plants—Southwest

1. Red yucca

Name:Hesperaloe parvifloraand cvs.

USDA Hardiness Zones:6 to 11

Size:3 to 4 feet grandiloquent and 5 to 6 feet panoptic

Conditions : Full sun ; well - drained , alkaline ground

Red yucca ’s succulent , evergreen plant rosette is handsome , and each leaf is butt against with threadlike white hairs phone filifers . Surpassing the beauty of the russet scab are the heyday spike , which tower 4 to 6 feet above the leaves and attract hummingbirds . The flower range in color from medium garden pink to deep bolshy ; if you prefer softer colors , there is a scandalmongering - flowering cultivar uncommitted called ‘ Yellow ’ .

2. Thunder Cloud™violet silverleaf

Name:Leucophyllum candidumThunder Cloud™

Zones:8 to 11

sizing : Up to 3 foundation tall and wide

condition : Full sun ; well - drained soil

Violet silverleaf is a workhorse of a shrub . It looks good twelvemonth - round , but when the humidness arrives in earnest , this plant puts on a traffic - stopping display of royal purple flower . For this reason , it is sometimes called the “ barometer plant . ” Violet silverleaf is make love to burst into salad days 10 to 20 days after a summertime rain . annul mulch around its trunk . Thunder Cloud ™ has attractive metallic silver foliage and stays bantam .

3. Desert sage

Name:Salvia dorrii

Zones:6 to 10

Size:18 to 24 inches tall and 2 human foot wide

condition : Full sun to partial shade ; well - drained soil

Where cony are a job , the aromatic silverish parting of desert sage will be pass on uninfluenced . This striking plant will take the hottest , driest situations and still thrive . Desert sage is summary and produce whorls of purple - blue flowers , which attract hummingbirds in spring . It grows well in highly mineralized grunge , including careen garden . Combine it with aboriginal grass , such as blue grama ( Bouteloua gracilis , Zones 5–9 ) .

4. Golden dogbane

Name:Thymophylla pentachaeta

Zones:7 to 10

Size:6 to 8 inches improbable and 1 metrical foot astray

Conditions : Full Sunday ; well - drained soil ( will bloom longer with some supplemental water system )

For a low - growing spattering of Au , nothing amaze a mass planting of golden dogbane . This scrappy herbaceous perennial has a coarse name that is sure enough a misnomer ; it is not the nemesis of dogs — on the contrary , dogs make love it . While its aromatic , piney fragrance is distasteful to rabbits , canines often roll in it , and butterflies expend its nectar as food . Although it is a relatively short - lived plant life , it will promptly reseed .

— Scott Calhoun is a garden room decorator in Tucson , Arizona , and is the author of several books , includingThe Hot Garden .

Photos : ( 1 ) Danielle Sherry ; ( 2 ) courtesy of Monrovia ; ( 3 ) courtesy of Margaret Williams , USDA - NRCS Plants Database ; ( 4 ) courtesy of Patrick J. Alexander , USDA - NRCS Plants Database

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Regional Picks: Tough Roadside Plants - Northeast

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