drought resistant shurbs for landscaping

Hey tropical people!

I need some help with a landscaping project for around the borders of the house. Currently I've got some old and ratty hibiscus bushes that need replacing. I'd like to replace them with attractive green shrubbery that will be very drought resistant (there's not much rain here in Aruba).

I've already put in a ton of Jatrophas in the front of the house. I love them - they grow fast and need almost no water - but I would like to try something different too.

Does anyone out there have any good solutions for this? Bonus points for flowers/attractiveness.


Edit: I can't believe I used the word "shurbs" in this thread's title!

This message was edited May 3, 2010 7:44 PM

http://www.floridata.com/ref/p/phot_xfr.cfm

I was totally convinced - it looked awesome, until I got to this part:

"It needs some chilling in winter, and does not thrive in tropical conditions."

That's not going to work for Aruba...

I'm a great fan of the Crown of Thorns, especially the big-bloomed, big-leafed varieties. Very drought tolerant and bloom year round.

some more pictures of my different varieties

another one

last one for today.

Crown of Thorns is pretty common here and they do well and bloom constantly. I've seen them in untended gardens and lots so they aren't getting extra water. We do have a wet season here but it is very dry half the year. They are beautiful, I love the way the blooms grow, very flat and round. Some of the colors are exquisite too.

I know Oleander is pretty common but some of the doubles are very nice and they also bloom all year and do well in dry areas.

My other suggestion would be Desert Rose, they will get large and bloom pretty continuously with enough sun and little water.

My garden area in a Philippine mountaintop has been seriously affected by severe el nino heat. Many of my plants have dried up such as the crotons, miyagus, medinillas, santan, fern trree, AGs, ginger varieties etc. despite regular watering care. But I noticed that my bouganvillas and the forget-me-not plants are doing very well and even blooming, as you can see in the picture. The same is true with my yellow bignonias.

Here are the rather drought and heat resistant yellow bignonias, beside a small nipa hut, which haven't been pruned yet coz I am still enjoying their flowers.

That is Tecoma stans, I believe. Mine is also blooming beautifully. It gets a bit too tall and leggy for my taste.

Wow - thanks for the quick feedback and the great pics! Really appreciated -- I think I'll drop by the garden center and see what I can find.

How big will a well-tended crown of thorns get? And how quickly do they grow?

One more followup question: is there any highly drought resistant shrub that also has sweet-smelling flowers?

The small bloomed (and -leafed) Crown of Thorns stay quite small (2 ft), then there are the medium sized varieties that will reach 3 1/2 or more, and the big ones can get 6 ft or more. Those are sizes that I have seen.
They are not very fast growers.

Hi Dutchlady1,

I thought I got my plant ID wrong again but Tropical Zone Gardening lists Tecoma Stans as also Bignonia Stans or yellow bells.
I decided to follow Metrosideros advice when I posted on DG how to best manage this plant...and he said
" Tecoma trains into a hedge very nicely and flowers nearly year round. New plants can easily be started from cuttings."
I still have to prune mine , though, and train them into a hedge.

I also have some crown of thorns , the big variety as shown in the picture, but I decided to just put them in pots and not use them as hedge because the thorns are awfully horrendous...worse than bouganvillas.

Oh I wasn't intending to 'correct' you - Tecoma stans is in the Bignoniaceae family for sure. I was just giving its alternate name to clarify for those of us who know it as such. I like mine a lot too.

I agree on the thorns of the Crown of Thorns.... pretty spiky, but that makes them very suitable for a hedge IMHO.....

Happy growing, all.