Plants for a Drought-Tolerant Yard

A few days ago, the candidate plants for our front-yard, low-water redo arrived. They lined up like dancers applying for "A Chorus Line":

"I really need this job/Oh, God, I NEED this job":

The Hubby and I liked almost every plant the garden designer selected, because he listened closely to what we asked for. Nothing sharp or spiky (bad for those bulging, vulnerable pug eyes). Hues on the blue-lavendar-pink side of things. Some silvery foliage. Lots of flowering bushes to attract bees, butterflies, and birds. Here are some of the candidates, close up:

Aromatic Salvia:

California Lilac, or Ceanothus. It is only leaves right now, but the flowers are adorable, marble-shaped masses of bright blue:

Burgundy Salvia:

Cherry Gaura, with its unusual, burgundy-colored stems:

Salvia "Allen Chickering":

Polygala "Petite Butterflies," which has a flower that resembles Sweet Peas:

Nestringia "Smoky," which I love for its silvery tones:

This beauty is oddly called "Wallflower":

Lilac Verbena:

Salvia Leucentha:

Salvia Chiapensis:

You'll notice lots of Salvias, right? The genus is one of the largest, with almost 1,000 plants. Many are perfect for a drought-tolerant Los Angeles garden.

For the pugs, we picked some soft, fun grasses they can run through. This is Blue Oat Grass (and Won Ton's butt):

Liriope "Silvery Sunproof":

This is Meuhly Grass. I love its soft, pink seed heads:

This curly stuff is Calex Pansa. Won Ton seems to like it:

Although I like them all, this is one of two plants I'm most excited for--the phenomenally fragrant French Lavender. I plan to harvest some of those flowers to make Lavender-scented cookies and cake:

And this is Salvia Chamaedrys, my hands-down favorite, because of the stunning cobalt shade of its flowers. A deep, saturated blue like this is one of the hardest to find in the plant world.

How lucky am I that this blue-eyed beauty will flourish in our garden!

Even Roosevelt seems to be pleased.