Enjoy these ultra-easy, low-water plants in your garden.

Enjoy these ultra-easy, low-water plants in your garden.

Enjoy these ultra-easy, low-water plants in your garden.

Plant Select Winner 2012 Delosperma Fire Spinner® is an astonishing sight in full bloom. In late spring, its vibrant tri-colored flowers cover the tight evergreen mat of succulent foliage. A heat-loving groundcover, this ice plant is best in full sun and well-drained sandy-loam soil. Fire Spinner is perfect for use in raised beds and in waterwise landscapes to plant into and cover gravel mulch. Good for Firescaping. Flat of 32 plants will cover 40-48 square feet when planted together.

Red Birds in a Tree is a rare, native shrub that blooms all summer with spires of small red, white-lipped flowers that resemble a flock of red birds.

36-40" tall. Dinnerplate Dahlia ‘Manhattan Island’ features bold reds with hints of yellows. These huge blooms (8-10” across) are true showstoppers. Blooming from summer to fall they are a parade of color. Cold hardy in zones 8-10. In colder zones lift the bulbs in fall and store in a cool place over the winter.

2005 Plant Select Winner 24-36" tall x 18" wide. This is a wonderful selection, valued for its tightly branched, upright growth habit and profusion of dark red flowers beginning in early summer and continuing through the fall. Culturally undemanding, this plant tolerates a wide range of soils requiring only that they be quick draining. Just a bit of extra water during dry spells encourages more flowers. Although one of the most cold hardy Salvia greggii cultivars, (Furman's Red) will…

24-36" tall x 30" wide. This is such a versatile plant, being equally at home in both the xeric garden and traditional perennial border. Not fussy about its growing conditions, it has showy rose-red flowers that are continuous from late spring through summer. Prefers a well-drained garden soil. Cut back in the spring. (seed propagated)

4-5" x 6-8" wide. Sempervivum Commander Hay is an smaller growing Hen and Chick with nice bicolored red-tipped green leaves and flowers in shades of soft yellow and pink.

Nerine Lilies, also known as Guernsey Lilies, are easy to grow. These exotic looking, red-blooming flowers, sometimes known as Red Spider Lilies, are held aloft on tall stems with minimal foliage support.

24-36" tall x 24-36" wide. An improved hybrid Yarrow, ’Red Velvet’ is one of the very best. Its deep rose-red, flat-topped flower heads are fade resistant and hold their color. With deep green, fine textured foliage, this Yarrow is sure to attract butterflies wherever it's planted. Here’s a tough, easy-to-grow, long blooming plant for your xeriscape. Most Soil Types Including Clay. A sterile variety. Deadhead for re-bloom; Prune Basal Growth in spring. Plant with Agastache, Salvia. Drought…

Wow! Fabulous color impact – even from a distance. Huge raspberry flower clusters completely engulf the smoky blue-grey, wide mounds of foliage. One of the earliest fall-blooming Sedum varieties. Part of the SunSparkler Series, these enticing beauties are selected for their dazzling flower and foliage hues. Foliage colors are retained from spring through fall. Compact habit forms a solid mat of foliage. Excellent as an underplanting or lovely cascading down a slope and for use on green…

1-2" tall x 3-5" wide. A gloriously showy bloomer, Dudleya cymosa has short multi-flowered spikes of brilliant red-orange flowers in late spring. The highly succulent foliage grows in the form of superbly sculptural silver rosettes. This higher elevation ecotype, discovered by native plant expert Tim Hanis of Salt Lake City, has exceptional cold hardiness! Use it in the rock garden planted on a shaded north or northeast facing crevice or rock face where it appreciates protection from the…

4-6" tall x 12-15" wide. This incredible native wildflower has been a work in progress for chief horticulturist David Salman for many years. “I first found the original colony at the summit of Poncha Pass near Salida, Colorado on a drive from Denver back to Santa Fe. Here, growing on the roadside, was a huge group of plants with deep red colored seed heads. Thrilled by the display and pleased to find ripe seed, I gathered a paper lunch bag full. By the next spring, I had plants growing in…

18-24" tall x 18" wide. ‘Red Riding Hood’ has an abundance of huge, coral-red flowers from late spring through summer. A Dutch hybrid developed from Penstemon barbatus, ‘Red Riding Hood’ is a very showy, cold hardy Penstemon that grows well all across the mid-section of the country (not just the western US).

Castilleja coccinea (Indian Paint Brush or Prairie Fire) is a wildflower of the eastern US. This species blooms with showy scarlet-orange flowers in the late spring and summer. It is best seeded directly into the garden next to Little Bluestem grass (Schizachyrium) and Beardtongue (Penstemon) whose roots the Paintbrush needs to parasitize. Biennial. Plant for two years running to keep it coming back. USDA zones 4-8.