Our late 2011 move to a beautiful, albeit neglected, 1.7 acre Southern California property was an eye-opener on water and waste. Five dry years and multiple landscaping redos later, our zone 10 gardens can now be described as sustainable and lush with a touch of whimsy.

Current plants thriving in my garden – in spite of less than half this dry climate’s normal rainfall these past five years and less than half the irrigation used before rationing began three years ago – are listed alphabetically by type below. Plants that failed for one reason or another and have been removed are grouped at the bottom of this post. LAST UPDATED 1/26/17

“The garden that is finished is dead.” — H. E. Bates

SUCCULENT

• Aeonium ‘Berry Nice’
• Aeonium ‘Blushing Beauty’ – Blushing Aeonium
• Aeonium ciliatum
• Aeonium ‘Lily Pad’
• Aeonium ‘Mint Saucer’ – Green Aeonium
• Aeonium ‘Plum Purdy’ – Plum Purdy Aeonium
• Aeonium ‘Pseudotabuliforme’ – Green Platters
• Aeonium Sunspot
• Agave attenuata Kara’s Stripe
• Agave attenuata Nova
• Agave attenuatta ‘Ray of Light’
• Agave Blue Flame
• Agave ‘Blue Glow’
• Agave bovicornuta ‘Reggae Time”
• Agave bracteosa ‘Monterrey Frost’ – Frosted Candelabrum Agave
• Agave ‘Cornelius’ – Quasimoto Agave
• Agave ferdinandi-regis – King of the Agaves
• Agave franzosinii
• Agave gracielae – Slender-leaved Agave
• Agave isthmensis – Dwarf Butterfly Agave
• Agave lophantha ‘Quadricolor’ – Quadricolor Century Plant
• Agave macroacantha ‘Pablo’s Choice’ – Small Black-spined Agave
• Agave nizandensis – Nizanda Agave
• Agave ovatifolia ‘Frosty Blue’ – Whale’s Tongue Agave
• Agave potatorum ‘El Camarón’ – El Camarón Butterfly Agave
• Agave potatorum ‘Cherry Swizzle’ – Cherry Swizzle Butterfly Agave
• Agave striata forma purpurea – Purple Maguey Espadín
• Agave ‘Snow Glow’
• Agave victoriae-reginae – Queen Victoria Agave
• Agave victoriae-reginae ‘Compacta’
• Aloe brevifolia – Short-leaved Aloe
• Agave parrasana ‘Fireball’
• Agave potatorum ‘Kichiokan Marginata’ – Dwarf Variegated Butterfly Agave
• Agave pumila – Miniature Agave
• Agave schidigera ‘Shira ito no Ohi’ – Queen of White Thread-leaf Agave
• Agave ‘Snow Glow’
• Agave tequilana ‘Sunrise’ – Sunrise Tequila Agave
• Agave weberi ‘Arizona Star’ – Variegated Weber Agave
• Aloe acutissima – Blue Aloe
• Aloe arborescens ‘Variegata’ – variegated candelabra aloe
• Aloe brevifolia – Short-leaved Aloe – Watch Chain/ Princess Pine
• Aloe cameronii – red Aloe
• Aloe chabaudii ‘Orange Burst’ – Dwala Aloe
• Aloe ‘Coral Fire’
• Aloe deltoideodonta
• Aloe distans – Jeweled Aloe
• Aloe dorothea
• Aloe elgonica – Mt. Elgon Aloe
• Aloe greenii
• Aloe Hercules
• Aloe lolwensis – Lake Victoria Aloe
• Aloe Marlothii
• Aloe nobilis – Gold Tooth Aloe
• Aloe nobilis ‘Variegata’ – Variegated Gold Tooth Aloe
• Aloe pluridens – French Aloe
• Aloe reitzii – Reitz’s Aloe
• Aloe rubroviolacea
• Aloe schelpei – Shelpe’s Aloe
• Aloe speciosa – Tilt-head Aloe
• Aloe x spinosissima – Spider Aloe
• Aloe ‘Tropic World’
• Aloe vaombe – Malagasy Tree Aloe
• Aloe variegata – Partridge Breast Aloe
• Aloe ‘Verity Nice’
• Aloe wickensii – Geelaalwyn
• Beaucarnea recurvata – Bottle Palm
• Beschorneria albiflora – Trunking Beschorneria
• Cephalocereus senilis – Old Man Cactus
• Cereus forbesii ‘Spiralis’
• Cereus peruvianus “Monstrosus” – monstrose apple cactus
• Cleistocactus strausii – Silver Torch aka Snow Pole Cactus
• Crassula arborescens ssp. undulatifolia ‘Blue Bird’
• Crassula arborescens subsp. Undulatifolia – ‘Blue Wave’
• Crassula lycopodioides aka muscosa
• Crassula muscosa Variegata
• Cylindropuntia sp.
• Crassula Perforata Variegata – Variegated Necklace Vine
• Dasylirion wheeleri
• Deuterocohnia brevifolia
• Deuterocohnia lorentziana – Abromeitiella
• Dudleya brittonii
• Echeveria agavoides ‘Ebony’
• Echeveria agavoides ‘Lipstick’
• Echeveria agavoides “Corderoyi” crest
• Echeveria agavoides ‘Prolifera’ – Carpet Echeveria
• Echeveria ‘Blue Dude’
• Echeveria Cante
• Echeveria ‘Dondo’
• Echeveria elegans – Mexican Snowball
• Echeveria Gary’s bronze crested
• Echeveria gigantea
• Echeveria imbricata – Blue Rose echeveria
• Echeveria ‘Lady Aquarius’
• Echeveria lutea
• Echeveria ‘Mahagony Rose’
• Echeveria nodulosa – Painted Echeveria
• Echinocactus grusonii – Golden barrel cactus
• Echinopsis pachanoi (syn. Trichocereus pachanoi) —San Pedro cactus
• Encephalartos lehmannii – Karoo Cycad
• Espostoa lanata
• Euphorbia Ammak “variegata” – aka Euphorbia erythraea forma variegate
• Euphorbia sp. from Huntington
• Euphorbia hypericifolia Diamond Frost
• Euphorbia ingens monstrose
• Euphorbia leucodendron – Cat Tails Euphorbia
• Euphorbia mammillaris forma variegata
• Euphorbia pillansii
• Euphorbia resinifera – Moroccan Mound
• Euphorbia trigona f. “Rubra”
• Euphorbia tirucalli ‘Sticks on Fire’ – Red Pencil Tree
• Ferocactus gracilis colorato or acanthodes
• Furcraea macdougallii – Macdougall’s Furcraea
• Gasteria bicolor
• Graptopetalum paraguayense
• Graptopetalum paraguayense ‘Pinky’
• Graptopetalum pentandrum – Five Stamen Graptopetalum
• Graptopetalum ‘Vera Higgins’
• Graptoveria ‘Fred Ives’
• Kalanchoe beharensis – Velvet Elephant Ear
• Kalanchoe grandiflora – Yellow Kalanchoe
• Pachyphytum ‘Bill Baker’
• Hesperaloe parviflora – Red hesperaloe
• Mammarillia #1
• Mammarillia #2
• Mammarillia #3
• Myrtillocactus geometrizans crest
• Pachycereus schottii f. monstrosus – Totem Pole Cactus
• Pedilanthus bracteatus – Tall Slipper plant
• Pilosocereus pachycladus
• Portulacaria afra – Elephant’s Food
• Senecio anteuphorbium – Swizzle Sticks
• Senecio cylindricus – Narrow-Leaf Chalksticks aka Senecio Vitalis
• Senecio mandralisceae
• Senecio serpens – ‘Mini Blue Chalksticks’
• Yucca desmetiana ‘Blue Boy’ – Yucca aloifolia ‘Purpurea’
• Yucca Linearifolia
• Yucca Rostrata ‘Sapphire Skies”

“A garden is never so good as it will be next year.” — Thomas Cooper

SHRUB

• Acacia cognata ‘Cousin Itt’
• Acacia iteaphylla – Willow Wattle
• Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ – Wormwood
• Baccharis pilularis ‘Pigeon Point’ – Dwarf Coyote Brush
• Callistemon ‘Jeffers’ – Purple Bottlebrush
• Ceanothus ‘Ray Hartmann’
• Ceanothus Yankee Point
• Coleonema pulchellum ‘Sunset Gold’ – Golden Breath of Heaven
• Coprosma kirkii ‘Variegata’
• Coprosma repens ‘Marble Queen’ – Dwarf Variegated Mirror Plant
• Coprosma repens ‘Plum Hussey’ – Plum Hussey Mirror Plant
• Euphorbia cotinifolia – Caribbean Copper Plant
• Helichrysum petiolare – Licorice Plant
• Hydrangea quercifoliam ‘Snow Queen’ – oakleaf hydrangea
• Lavandula ‘Goodwin Creek Grey’ – Goodwin Creek Lavender
• Ligustrum japonicum – Japanese Privet
• Leucophyta brownie – Cushion Bush
• Melianthus major – Honey Bush
• Myoporum parvifolium ‘Fine Leaf Form’ – Fine-leaf Groundcover Myoporum
• Myoporum parvifolium white
• Ozothamnus ‘Sussex Silver’
• Pisonia umbellifera ‘Variegata’ – Map Plant
• Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Marjorie Channon’ – Variegated Kohuhu
• Pittosporum tobira ‘Variegata’ – Mock Orange
• Pittosporum undulatum – Victorian Box
• Plumbago auriculata ‘Imperial Blue’ – Blue Cape Plumbago
• Rhaphiolepis umbellata ‘Minor’ – Dwarf Yeddo Hawthorn
• Rhagodia spinescens – Creeping Australian Saltbush
• Rosa ‘Iceberg’ – White Shrub Rose
• Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Boule’
• Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Tuscan Blue’ – Upright Rosemary
• Rosmarinus prostrata
• Salvia leucantha ‘Midnight’ – Purple Mexican Sage
• Tibouchina heteromalla – Silver leafed Princess Flower
• Westringia ‘Wynyabbie Gem’ – Coast Rosemary
• Westringia ‘smokey’

“Earth laughs in flowers.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

PERENNIAL

• Agapanthus praecox orientalis Queen Mum – Lily of the Nile
• Asparagus densiflorus ‘Myers’ – Foxtail Fern
• Clivia cyrtanthiflora
• Neomarica caerulea – Walking Iris
• Phormium ‘Guardsman’ – Guardsman New Zealand Flax
• Phormium ‘Wildwood’ – Berkeley Purple Flax
• Plectranthus argentatus – Silver Plectranthus
• Plectranthus Blue Yonder – Blue Spire Plectranthus
• Plectranthus ciliatus ‘Dredge’ – Spur Flower
• Strelitzia reginae – Bird of Paradise
• Teucreum charmaedrys
• Tradescantia ‘Greenlee’ – Pale Puma Spiderwort

“God almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.” –– Francis Bacon

TREE

• Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’ – Purple Fernleaf Acacia
• Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’
• Agonis flexuosa ‘Jervis Bay Afterdark’ – After Dark Peppermint Tree
• Arbutus ‘Marina’ (Low branched) – Marina Strawberry Tree
• Arbutus ‘Marina’ (Standard) – Marina Strawberry Tree
• Chamaerops humilis var. argentea
• Cordyline banksii Electric Pink [‘Sprilecpink’] – Electric Pink Grass Tree
• Cordyline banksii Electric Star – Electric Star Grass Tree
• Cupressus cashmeriana – Kashmir Cypress
• Eureka lemon
• Jacaranda mimosifolia (Standard) – Jacaranda
• Magnolia grandiflora ‘Little Gem’
• Olea africana – African olive
• Olea europaea ‘Fruitless’ – Fruitless Olive
• Olea europaea ‘Wilsonii’
• Quercus agrifolia – ‘Coast Live Oak’

“No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.” — Thomas Jefferson

VINE

• Bauhinia Yunnanensis – Climbing orchid vine
• Bougainvillea ‘Orange King’
• Clematis armandii – Evergreen Clematis
• Jasminum angulare – South African Jasmine
• Pandorea jasminoides ‘Alba’ – White Bower Vine
• Rhoicissus capensis – Evergreen Grape
• Rosa ‘Royal Sunset’
• Thunbergia grandiflora – Blue Sky Flower

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” — Audrey Hepburn

GRASS-LIKE

• Chondropetalum tectorum
• Cordyline Design-a-line Burgundy
• Dianella tasmanica ‘Variegata’ – White Striped Tasman Flax Lily
• Miscanthus transmorrisonensis – Evergreen Eulalia

“A gardener learns more in the mistakes than the successes.”– Barbara Doyle Borland

TRIED & FAILED (died, struggled, were unappealing, or took too much water for the effect)

• Acer palmate ‘Sango Kaku’
• Adenanthos sericeus – Coastal Woollybush
• Aeonium Zwartkop
• Agapanthus ‘Getty White’
• Agapanthus ‘Tinkerbell’ – Dwarf Variegated Agapanthus
• Agave celesii
• Agave ‘Crème Brulee’
• Agave salmiana ‘Green Giant’ – Giant Agave
• Agave ‘Joe Hoak’
• Agave weberi – Weber Agave
• Aloe ‘Jenny Lind’
• Aloe maculata ‘Jack-O-Lantern’ – Orange Soap Aloe
• Aloe ‘Moonglow’
• Aloe plicatilis (Fan Aloe)
• Aloe striata – Coral Aloe
• Alyogyne huegelii ‘Santa Cruz’ – Blue Hibiscus
• Arcotis ‘Magenta”
• Arctostaphlos ‘Sunset’
• Beschornia yuccioides – Mexican Lily
• Bougainvillea ‘Rosenka’
• Calothamns villousus
• Camellia ‘Silver Wave’
• Campanula gold
• Carex glauca
• Ceonthus ‘Dark Star’
• Ceanothus griseus horizontalis ‘Diamond Heights’ – Carmel Creeper
• Ceonythus ‘Snow Flurry’
• Cercis Canadensis – Red Bud
• Citsus Sunset
• Convolvulus sabatius
• Coprosma ‘Fireburst’
• Coprosma ‘Inferno
• Correa ‘Ivory Bells’ – White Australian Fuchsia
• Crassula capitella ‘Campfire’ – Campfire Crassula
• Crassula corymbulosa
• Cyrtomium falcatum – Japanese holly fern
• Dianella caerulea King Alfred – Blue Flax Lily
• Dichondra Silver Falls
• Dondonea ‘Purpurea’
• Echium fastuosum
• Echium wilpretii
• Echeveria Fire & Ice
• Elaeagnus pungens ‘Variegata’ – Variegated Autumn Olive
• Erodium
• Escallonia ‘Iveyi’
• Euphorbia clandestina – Volstruisnek
• Euphorbia myrsinites
• Grevillea ‘Austraflora Fanfare’
• Grevillea nudiflora ‘Medusa’
• Heuchera ‘Crimson Curls’
• Helichrysum petiolare ‘Limelight’ – Limelight Licorice Plant
• Helictotrichon sempervirens – Blue Oat grass
• Kalanchoe pumila – Flower Dust Plant
• Kniphofia
• Lavender Otto Quast
• Lavendula heterophylla
• Loropetalum chinense ‘ Plum Delight’
• Loropetalum chinense ‘Purple Majesty’
• Mangave ‘macho macho’
• Metrosideros excelsa – New Zealand Christmas Tree
• Myrsine Africana – African Boxwood
• Nandina domestica ‘Gulf Stream’
• Nepata Fassenii ‘Walker’s Low’
• Phlebodium aureum – Rabbit’s Foot Fern
• Phormium ‘Pink Stripe’
• Pittosporum crassifolium – Karo
• Pittosporum ‘Silver Sheen’
• Plecostachys serpyllifolia – Cobweb Bush
• Portulacaria afra ‘Prostrate Form Variegata’ – Dwarf Elephant Food
• Polygala x dalmaisiana – Sweet Pea Shrub
• Prostanthera ovalifolia ‘Variegata’ – Variegated Mint Bush
• Pultenea
• Rosa ‘Polka’
• Sarcococca – sweet box
• Scaeveola ‘Mini’
• Senecio haworthii – Woolly Senecio
• Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’ – Golden Sedum
• Sedum blue spruce
• Senecio crassissimus – Vertical Leaf Senecio
• Senecio jacobsenii – Trailing Jade
• Silene uniflora ‘Variegated’
• Sollya heterophylla – Australian Bluebell Creeper
• Strobilanthes gossypinus – Persian shield
• Tagates
• Tradescantia pallida ‘Purple Heart’ – Purple Spiderwort
• Westringia fruticosa ‘Morning Light’

“A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all, it teaches entire trust.” — Gertrude Jekyll