Full sun potted plant that needs only minimal watering?

Question

Can anyone recommend one besides a cactus? I forget to water daily and have no shade on my porch and no lawn so I am looking for plants that will survive in just a pot. Thanks!

Answer 1

Hens & chickens...yes it is in the cactus family, but we've had ours since the begining of spring and haven't watered it yet.  It gets full SHADE until 7 pm and then only gets 2-3 hrs of sun.  We have it in a pot, on our balcony, and its perfect for someone who doesn't have a green thumb..like me!

Answer 2

Yucca  !!  They are as tough as nails!!

Answer 3

yucca is a very good plant not that it is tough as nails but you can get in green and variegated.  plumbago is also very drought tolerant.  now if you don't want to really worry about watering try using a product called soil moist, you can get it most retail nurseries.

Answer 4

Depending on where you are,  some of the Aloes are great, and can thrive in sun baked spots, with minimal water.

The Century plant,  Agave americana, comes in a range of leaf colours, blue, green variegated,  and are really ornamental, interesting, as well as flowering - not once a century (hence their name), but more frequently than this.  It's a succulent, so it's a little similar to cacti, but totally different in appearance.  Here are some examples - http://www.plantatlas.usf.edu/plantimage... and http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3091/2321...

Otherwise some bottle brush plants, many of them with amazing crimson flowers, which are really unique, prefer to have infrequent watering, and love the sun.   http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/gnp2/calliste... - this is Callistemon citrinus, the lemon scented bottle brush.  Needs a sheltered site, but is incredible when in flower, usually a main flush in early summer, and sporadically through the summer.  There are other species and varieties too, and Captain Cook is a dwarfer hardier red flowered variety that I can recommend.

As mentioned, Yuccas do really well in sunny, parched spots, minimal watering.

For some flowers, you could have some rock roses, such as Cistus laurifolius,  this is typically white, but there are other coloured rock roses that you could grow too, for variety.  http://www.cistuspage.org.uk/laurifolius...

I grow Euphorbia mellifera in tubs, and these have beautiful honey scented flowers in spring.  Really tolerant of some neglect.  Depending on where you, may benefit from some winter protection - mine are fine in central England.    http://www.thegardener.btinternet.co.uk/...  It's a statuesque interesting plant, with its amazing pervasive sweet honey-like perfume.

You could even have a Buddleia,  commonly known as the Butterfly Bush.  These prefer poor soil,  and really hard pruning each spring time, to get masses of flowers that attract butterflies, and hummingbirds in the US etc.   Will grow in rubble,  and tolerant of watering neglect.  Good varieties include Buddleia davidii 'Adonis Blue', as well as 'Harlequin'.   Harlequin has variegated foliage, and purple flowers,  a really great plant, to around 5' in height.  http://www.californiagardens.com/Plant_P...



Hope this helps.  Good luck!  Rob