Beautiful garden need not be high-maintenance

Temperatures reached triple digits recently, and so did my water bill.

Isn’t now a good time to plan a drought-tolerant, low-maintenance, more cost effective and environmentally sound landscape?

There are many perennials that will give the garden a lush look throughout the hot, dry summer, and beautiful flowers that don’t require deadheading.

Choose plants that can survive, once established, with our average annual rainfall of 17.5 inches. Some carefree, water-wise candidates to consider are:

Anacyclus depressus, or Mount Atlas Daisy, is low growing with ferny foliage. Its white daisylike flowers close in the evening to show off red petal undersides.

Callirhoe involucrata, commonly called wine cups, sprawls along the ground adorned with upward-facing magenta goblets, July until frost.

Coreopsis “heaven’s gate” has stunning 1 1/2-inch pink flowers with dark rose-colored eyes and yellow button centers. It grows 20 to 24 inches.

Delosperma, or hardy ice plant, is a low-growing succulent that flowers profusely from early summer until frost. It flowers in vivid, bright colors and loves to bake in the sun. Hardy to Zone 5, cultivars to try are: D. “Starburst,” D. “Cooperi” and D. “Table Mountain.”

Seek out one of the many new cultivars of purple coneflower. Echinacea “Fatal Attraction” has dark, vivid rose-colored petals with a red central cone. E. “Harvest Moon” has apricot yellow flowers with a rich gold cone. E. “Sunrise” has pale yellow flowers.

E “Sundown” looks as though it’s brushed with apricot and rose. E “Fancy Frills” has multiple rows of rose-colored petals around a central cone. Seed heads, if left intact, add winter interest.

Helianthemum blooms profusely in spring over tidy, gray-green foliage. There are attractive double red and apricot cultivars available.

Lewisia cotyledon “Regenbogen” forms low rosettes of foliage topped with early summer, warm-toned flowers. Try Lewisia in celebration of the anniversary of Lewis and Clark’s trek west.

Investigate the double-flowering pulsatilla “Papageno.” Its spring blooms are spectacular, boasting large, jewel-tone double flowers.

Spent blossoms give way to an impressive display of fluffy seed heads.

Catmint, evening primrose, guara, hyssop, ornamental oregano, peony, poppy, penstemon, sage, rudbeckia, ornamental grasses and so many others will make any garden lovely in the dog days of summer.

Combine these perennials with drought-tolerant trees and shrubs, and you’ve just achieved a garden that is gorgeous, lower maintenance, environmentally friendly and less expensive to sustain.

Don’t forget to mulch and irrigate regularly the first two years after planting.