In this post we share photos of year-round interest plants that enhance a permaculture effort based in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 9.
Plant selection criteria
Selecting plants that compliment spring and summer blooms is key to establishing a year-round interest in your landscape. We recommend finding plants that are:
- Perennial
- Evergreen
- Heat tolerant
- Disease resistant
- Deer and rabbit resistant
- Attractive to birds, bees and butterflies
Key terms
Evergreen – Flora with apparent green leaves year round. The plant may not flower during colder months but does not go fully dormant.
Permaculture – A way of seeing method to gardening that incorporates landscaping, watering, incorporation of the wildlife and the surrounding nature.
Perennial – Flora continually recurs; it does not have to be planted year-over year, unlike annuals (plants that flower and die in one season).
USDA Plant Hardiness Zones – A standard to determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a given location based on the average annual minimum winter temperatures, divided into 10-degree Fahrenheit zones.
Xeriscape – Low water landscaping.
Spectabile sedum – Stonecrop in “Brilliant”
Muhlenbergia capillaris / Pink Muhly Grass
Agapanthus africanus – Lily of the Nile in “Deep Blue“
Liriope muscari – Lirope Grass in “Big Blue”
Tulbaghia violacea – Society Garlic
Agastache hyssop – Hummingbird Mint in “Blue Fortune”
Phormium tenax – New Zealand Flax in “Amazing Red“
Westringia fruticosa – Coastal Rosemary
Pelargonium x hortorum – Geranium in assorted colors
