Common name:Santa Barbara Daisy, Mexican Daisy
Botanical name:Erigeron karvinskianus
This low mounding perennial, with fine leaves and white to pinkish, daisy-like flowers, is an excellent asset to rock gardens.
Common name:Catmint
Botanical name:Nepeta X faassenii
Nepeta faassenii makes soft, gray green, undulating mounds that are 1.5' high when blooming. The small leaves are attractive to cats. This perennial has lavender blue flowers in late spring and early summer.
Common name:Tom Thumb Dwarf Flax
Botanical name:Phormium 'Tom Thumb'
Tom Thumb Flax is an excellent accent plant for the garden. Evergreen leaves are long, narrow, and grow upright. Clusters of flowers grow on spikes above the foliage in late spring and summer. 'Tom Thumb' is the greenest variety, with very narrow, red bronze edges on the leaves. Leaves are small, and plant grows to 18" tall.
Common name:Whirling Butterflies White Gaura
Botanical name:Gaura lindheimeri 'Whirling Butterflies'
'whirling Butterflies' is a profusely flowering perenial for all zones; it grows 2'-4' high. It has pink buds that open to showy white flowers with a pink flush in spring and summer. It needs full sun and is drought tolerant. -Cornflower Farms
Common name:Lamb's Ears
Botanical name:Stachys byzantina
This tiny, herbaceous shrub will grow less than 1' tall and has medium sized, grayish green leaves with blue and lavender flowers that bloom in the spring.
Photographer: GardenSoft
Maintain a two to four inch layer of mulch on the soil surface to reduce weeds, infiltrate rain water, and reduce compaction.
Apply as little fertilizer as possible.
If you use fertilizer make sure it stays on the landscape, and carefully water it in so there is NO runoff.
Develop healthy soil for plants that are vigorous and naturally pest-resistant.