
Very Drought Tolerant Plants

Our Top Plants for Sonoma County section, and the Sonoma Superstars plant list contain some great low water and drought tolerant plants. With the newest water shortage that's upon us, we thought it a good idea to "dig deeper" and identify a short list of plants that are most drought tolerant--xeriscapic if you will--ones that can exist with absolutely no supplemental summer water once established. While these uber-drought tolerant plants can survive with no water, some will do a bit better with some supplemental water, and others can tolerate water in a mixed irrigation setting. This is why in the main Top Plants list, for example Acca sellowiana is listed as low water, or Wisteria as occasional, but are nonetheless on this "zero water" list. Note that * indicates that these plants would be best in part shade.
Some fine shrubs that meet this criteria are:
- Arbutus Unedo
- Acca sellowiana
- Baccharis pilularis
- Buxus*
- Callistemon spp.
- Cistus spp.
- Correa
- Cotinus
Dodonaea viscosa * - Elaeagnus pungens*
- Garrya elliptica*
- Grevillea spp.
- Heteromeles arbutifolia*
- Juniperus
- Lepechinia spp.
- Luma apiculata*
- Mahonia*
- Nandina
- Nerium oleander
- Phlomis spp.
- Prunus spp.
- Rhamnus californica
- Rhus Integrifolia
- Rhus Ovata
- Rosmarinus
- Sarcococca*
- Symphoricarpos albos*

A list of no-water perennials is:
- Acanthus mollis
- Achillea
- Artemisia spp*
- Ceratostigma plumbagino
- Eschscholzia californica
- Euphorbia
- Helleborus
- Iris
- Kniphofia*
- Leonotis leonurus
- Monardella spp.
- Origanum
- Salvia
- Santolina
- Senecio
- Yucca

And four vines that can tolerate a faucet shut-off are: