Cottage Garden Plants for American Climates: Heat & Drought Tolerant Selections

American cottage gardens can match English charm—informal wonder, curving borders, natural materials—but few U.S. regions support traditional English plants. With widespread drought, the solution is plants that thrive in heat and low water. Work with nature, not against it!

Our favorite cottage garden plants (Latin and common names), most heat/drought resistant, many blooming all summer:

Perennials

• Yarrow (Achillea) – yellow, pink, white all summer
• Purple Coneflower (Echinacea) – July onward
• Boltonia – late summer
• Perennial Sunflower (Heliopsis/Helianthus) – all summer
• Coreopsis – all summer
• Zing Rose Dianthus – all summer
• Globe Thistle (Echinops) – late summer
• Gaura – all summer
• Gloriosa Daisy (Rudbeckia) – midsummer on
• Ornamental Grass (Miscanthus/Pennisetum)
• Daylily (Hemerocallis) – 'Stella D'Oro' reblooms
• Lavender (Lavandula) – late spring/early summer
• Blazing Star (Liatris) – late summer/fall
• Mallow (Malva) – all summer
• Catmint (Nepeta) – early summer
• Evening Primrose (Oenothera) – all summer
• Beardtongue (Penstemon) – all summer
• Russian Sage (Perovskia) – late summer
• Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata) – spring
• Lamb's Ear (Stachys) – grown for silver foliage

Shrubs & Vines

• Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) – midsummer to fall
• Lilac – spring
• Blue Mist Shrub (Caryopteris) – mid to late summer
• Honeysuckle
• Shrub Rose – landscape types like Flower Carpet, Knock Out

Annuals

• California Poppy
• Cleome
• Sweet Alyssum

Note: All plants need regular water the first year for root establishment. Afterward, these are drought-resistant and beautiful. I grow most in my high-desert garden (100°F summers, occasional sub-zero winters).

Kathy Woodard – home/garden writer, author, consultant, LifetimeTV.com expert. More at TheGardenGlove.com, TheBudgetDecorator.com, Women-on-the-Net.com.