Calandrinia spectabilis

This beautiful succulent-y member of the Portulaca family is quite popular in Southern California but mysteriously still fairly unknown up here in the North. Growing in my narrow 1'-across parking strip with inpenetrable clay (bad drainage) only one foot down, this almost everblooming bright and shiny perennial not only thrives, but looks great despite being walked on and smashed by curbside garbage can calamities. Bluish grey-green succulent leaves form a totally dense spreading mound to 1' tall and 3' across that successfully suppresses weeds - yay! From April thru Fall (and year around in So. Cal), it produces a plentitude of silky, glowing cerise blooms to 2" across atop very long stems - to 30" tall. Happily bobbing around with the breeze, they certainly capture attention and make this Indestructible very popular in our display gardens. Fast and easy breezy to grow, the thick basal stems root along the ground and are simple to cut back to any size. I cut the whole thing back to the bottom stems in Winter to keep it pretty as a picture each new season. Heat and drought tolerant, it will put up with no Summer water but occasional water and a bit of compost each Spring will make it one of your favorite plants!

Annie Hayes
Owner

Sun/Afternoon sun. Avg/Low water.
Perennial USDA zones 8-10

Aeonium spathulatum var. cruentum

When I found this plant behind a nursery (not our nursery!) in the "death pile" it was a shriveled up stick in a 2" pot. It had not received any water in months and months. Astounded that it was still alive, I took it home and put it not in a large, accommodating space, but in the smallest pot I could find. The plant doubled in size in a short time anyways, though I gave it barely more than a bit of water every once in a while. The more neglect I bestowed on the plant, the more interesting it became - during drought, the plant closed its rosettes into little balls, with harsh, hot sun, and little water, it turned a marvelous red-orange. It lived happily in this too-small pot for years before I put it in a much more generous pot, whereby it promptly grew to its full size - 2'x2'. With regular water in rich soil, it will make a pleasing, fine textured shrubby mound of green, but I have to say, my recommendation is to withhold the kindness of perfect soil, or average water. The plant doesn't mind, and is so much more interesting!

Claire Woods
Propagator

Full Sun/Part Sun. Low/Avg. water. Succulent.
USDA Zones 9-11

Cotula lineariloba
'Big Yellow Moon'

Tested Super Tough! I put this cute little plant in a "dead zone" under my cherry tree - this was a place where a great many plants had gone to die, and I did not have high hopes for its success. Astoundingly, it took off. In fact, it thrived, and this despite the rigorous abuses of both dogs and children. My two daughters love to run their fingers along the blooming stems and pop the little yellow button heads off of the flowers (the decapitated flowers apparently make a delicious flower button soup) and my dog is extremely fond of napping right on top of the plant's dense foliage. Does the plant care? Not a bit. It stays evergreen, and sends up more blooms all the time without complaint. Our plant receives the minimum of water. And I've cut back it a few times when it wandered into the garden path, but that's about it. Did I mention that it's also being crowded by numerous other plants? (FYI: Grows to 4" tall, up to 3' wide, and if planted in full sun, the plant is not as drought tolerant.)

Elayne Takemoto
Marketing Coordinator

Sun/Part Shade. Avg water. Perennial
USDA zones 9-10

Oenothera tetragona

Five years ago I planted a 4" Oenothera tetragona straight into a recently cleared parking strip and have not been disappointed with the plant since. Every year it has faced repeated abuses and neglect, and has despite this produces tons and tons of lemony yellow blooms that contrast in a striking way with the bronzed and red tinted stems. The parking strip receives infrequent, and very inconsistent water, and the soil beneath is solid clay. The area was at some point mulched with grapeseed compost, but that was a very, very long time ago. This primrose does not seem to care either way. Every year it reseeds politely, so I've gotten a few extra plants over the years, but it is not an aggressive or invasive reseeder. Blooms reach about 2', and the plant is just about 1' in width.

Kelly Kilpatrick
Nursery Manager

Full sun/Part Shade. Avg./Low water. Perennial
USDA zones 3-10

Papaver atlanticum
'Flore Pleno'

Now here is a plant so tough and low maintenance, it would literally be happy growing out of the crack in your sidewalk! From hot and sunny Spain, this tough as nails PERENNIAL poppy forms an attractive, almost flat soft green rosette 6"-8" across from which arise a continuous supply (Spring thru Fall) of upright 18" stems topped with pale (non-clashy) peachy, semi-double crepe-like blooms 3" across. Heat, neglect, poor soil, no water, too much water, deer, dogs, cats, or kids, this Poppy will prevail and will self sow for many free new plants you can give to your friends who say that they kill everything. If you buy it in the dry season you'll have to water it once in a while at first but after that, it's self reliant to the extreme. Now me being me, I have to tell you that you'll get more blooms with some watering and nice soil but hey, that's how I do it. I cut back the spent stems too, to keep it blooming but that's all. Perfect for neglected areas, pots you forget to water or folks that go on a lots of vacations, hee-hee! All you need is sun.

Annie Hayes
Owner

Sun. Avg/Low water. Perennial.
USDA zones 5-10

Salvia argentea
"Silver Sage"

Though all literature available on this species makes the claim that this downy leaved Sage is a biennial, or a short lived perennial at best, mine has stood the test of time. For 11 years (yes, really that many!) it has inhabited a small plot of regular, unamended light clay soil. Since being planted in the fall of '98, it has received absolutely no supplemental water or any extra nutrition. Every year I allow it to bloom fully, and I even collect seed from the spent spikes. Every year I strip the leaves when it goes deciduous and assume the worst: surely this will be the plant's final year, but (so far) the plant refuses to die. Occasionally I find snails hiding under the large soft leaves, but they don't do damage to the mature plant (you should protect the new plants). Since it is right along the sidewalk in the parking strip, I must assume that it faces all manner of extra challenges when I am not around - dogs, car exhaust, kids with sticks, and certainly plenty of heat. Perhaps this is the trick to the plant's long life: less is more.

Anni Jensen
Propagator

Sun. Avg./Low water.Perennial.
USDA zones 5-10