What is a drought tolerant plant?
Drought tolerant plants versus drought thriving plants
When people talk about plants not needing much water, there are some common descriptors that people use. Often the words native, drought tolerant, and low water are used to describe these types of landscaping plants. In this article I will discern what these terms mean so everyone can have a better idea of what is right for their garden.
Some refer to certain plants as drought tolerant. What this means is literally the plant will tolerate some drought conditions. If you forget to water or like to keep your irrigation low, they will still live, and hopefully not die. Drought tolerant plants do need water to live, and they will need more water to produce flowers, fruit and offspring. Each drought tolerant plant is different in how much dryness it can stand before it croaks. Some drought tolerant plants can only withstand a small amount of dry condition, some more. This greatly depends on where in the world that plant is from.
Drought thriving plants are not spoken of, but the term separates the two distinctly. A drought thriving plant grows wild in deserts or other dry places. It doesn't need water to flower, fruit or reproduce itself. Drought thriving plants such as cactus, small shrubs and some succulents will look good with no water for over a month. Often times they are from parts of the world that receive little to no rain per year.
Native plants, in general, doesn't define much. Native plants to San Diego, perhaps means that the plants grow here and have for some time. Historically speaking, a plant that grew here before human intervention would be properly titled as endemic. Natives can be endemic plants and anything introduced after that, which grows here without additional input. Some plants need special bugs for pollination to propagate themselves, some need additional rainfall and some need unique nutrients to survive. These plants would die off before being called natives.
Low water is a less helpful description than native. Low water is a description which is being compared to something undefined. Low water can mean any plant. Generally speaking, if a plant is low water it should be able to flower with water once per week or less, but most plants sold under this description don't meet the threshold.
Be careful when designing your garden is the point of this blog. Some people have a native garden installed but really wanted big beautiful flowers all year round. Some folks want low water plants that have a tropical, lush coverage. Some people buy low water plants and then never water them expecting better results. The most common question I get as a fruit grower is what are low water fruit trees. Better to know the end result before you spend much money.