Life After Lawn: Statice adapts well to drought

This is one part in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Arboretum’s “Life After Lawn” series – 45 can’t-fail, easy-care, low-water plants well-adapted to our region and ideal for drought-tolerant landscapes.

Shrubby statice

Limoniastrum monopetalum

Size: Up to 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide.

Bloom season: Small pink-lavender flowers cover the dense foliage in spring and summer.

Exposure: Full sun

Pruning needs: None

Water needs: Low water; once established, irrigate deeply once or twice a month.

Snapshot: This interesting shrubby, evergreen plant is native to Mediterranean coastal areas where it is adapted to prolonged drought. In California, this plant is relatively new to horticulture, but ideal for the Central Valley climate. Flattened, gray foliage twists upward in an attractive pattern. In spring and summer, it’s topped with clusters of tiny pink-lavender blooms, attracting bees and beneficial insects. In test gardens at UC Davis, this evergreen has proved to be cold hardy and unharmed by frost the last few winters, but it has yet to be tested by extreme freezing.

For more on “Life After Lawn,” click on arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Life After Lawn: Statice adapts well to drought."