Drought tolerant suggestions??

I need to think of some colorful plants for a stone planter that my mother has in her front yard. They must endure neglect & drought - she's lousy about watering and nearly every thing I plant in there dies during the heat of summer. Any Ideas? I have portulaca, melenpodium, and a lantana already. What else would be good?

Sedums, iceplant, gaura

maybe a grass in the middle for height? my mom kills everything I give her. Bought geraniums for Mothers Day and they are already dead:(

Lol - tiG. Sounds like my mom too. However, she does have a strawberry pot of hens & chicks that's still alive.

Lantana and salvias! They do well here for months without rain. Yuccas are xeric and have attractive blooms. I think Santolina is also quite attractive.

Dave

I'm trying to think of stuff I might have on hand here. I'll do up her planter this afternoon at the Memorial day picnic,... if I can get out between the showers! :( I picked out a couple of zinnias, dichondra, a drought-ish type of pea thingy, a couple geraniums, and a couple petunias. If the rain keeps up much longer I might have to find some bog plants for her planter! At least the soil will be wet enough for these to have a fighting chance and get established before she kills them.

Sue, I would really recomend the ice plant.....It takes neglect and just keeps on going...no need to water or do anything to it.

I agree with Dave regarding Salvias, and they fill out so nicely too. The reseeding of it will have it coming back all the time.

Donna

zinnias and marigolds

aloe vera, small cacti, hearts & flowers. Cacti bloom beautifully.

I recommend purslane. I have a cast cement planter (it is shaped like a basket and is not that big) sitting on a cement patio in full sun. Everything I have ever tried to grow in it has dried up. This year I put a zonal geranium (pelargonium) in the center and planted purslane around it. http://plantsdatabase.com/showpicture/8059/ It worked out beautifully. The purslane has gotten so dense it acts as a thick mulch and I only water every 3 or 4 days. I mixed those gel crystals in the soil before planting it. In a smaller cement planter I put another geranium and a lot of portulaca. That has done well too but has to be watered more often than the purslane.

Vinca has always done well for me when we had a drought.