The leathery leaves of the Elaeagnus resist drying out well. The fleshy leaves of the Hylotelephium allow the plant to store moisture to help it cope with periods of drought.
The carpeting Nepeta and Hylotelephium will help protect the soil surface from erosion and reduce moisture loss from bare soil. The ground cover plants will also make it harder for unwanted plants to seed into bare patches of soil.
Additional organic mulching, preferably with homemade compost, can improve soil moisture retention and weed suppression. Mulches should be spread when the soil is already moist, to help trap some of that moisture before it dries out in summer.
1 - Cytisus × boskoopii 'Boskoop Ruby' is a small, rounded deciduous shrub with abundant, deep crimson flowers on upright shoots in late spring and early summer.
2 - Genista ‘Porlock’ is a semi-evergreen, medium-sized shrub with small leaves and a profusion of fragrant, bright yellow flowers in spring.
3 - Elaeagnus × submacrophylla 'Gilt Edge' is an evergreen shrub with dark green leaves edged in yellow. Small, fragrant, silvery flowers form in autumn and are sometimes followed by orange berries.
4 - Cytisus × praecox 'Allgold' is a bushy, dense, deciduous small shrub with small leaves that are silky when young. Plentiful bright, deep yellow flowers are produced in late spring.
5 - Salvia ‘Blue Spire’ is a small, upright deciduous sub-shrub with white stems bearing deeply divided, aromatic greyish leaves and large, plumy spikes of small violet-blue in late summer and autumn.
6 - Hylotelephium ‘Ruby Glow’ is a herbaceous perennial forming a low, spreading clump of deep red stems, with fleshy purplish-green leaves and flat clusters of starry deep crimson flowers.
7 - Nepeta ‘Blue Dragon’ is a spreading perennial with bright green, aromatic foliage and short spikes of large, blue-violet flowers from midsummer to early autumn.