advice/recommendations for plant needing little water

[Steve In Leicester]

I'm looking for advice/recommendation please.
My wife and I have a house with a concrete garden/yard, which would benefit greatly from some greenery.

We're usually there for 3 or 4 weeks and then back in the UK for around 6 to 8 weeks. I have no one to water them whilst I'm in the UK. Therefore, I'm looking for some plants that can be grown in pots, and can go without water (other than rainfall) for a few weeks.

The house is in the mountains north of Granada, at 3,000ft so there would be an occasional frost. The garden faces west so gets the sun from after lunch until close to sunset.

I have a single grape vine which seems to be doing surprisingly well, albeit not from a pot, so I guess the lack of water needn't be too much of a problem. I just want something to take away from the greyness of the concrete. Climbers would be OK, or shrubs that would grow to around 3ft.

Any ideas/recommendations would be appreciated

Thanks

[Mariacristina]

Dear Steve in Leicester

I think this is one of the toughest gardening questions I have seen. You are going to need some tough , almost thuggish plants to deal with those extremes.

I can't think of many flowering plants that will cope with your conditions but it's worth trying Jasmine, Bougainvillea, Bignonia, Buddleia, Lavender and Rosemary. They are all very hardy, will live in pots and will give some colour. Mesambryanthemum Ruskia is a nice trailing succulent that will happily live in a pot and will survive quite a while without water providing you can tuck it in somewhere where it doesn't get blasted by the afternoon sun. It has such nice lush green leaves and a long flowering period with daisy like flowers. I have some with red flowers and some with yellow flowers and I have seen a pink variety.

You can get some nice variegated greens in your garden with Hedera, Agaves, Aloe Vera, Bay, Myrtle, Thyme and Yucca.

Check out neighbouring gardens to see what thrives and keep your eyes open in the campo - that's the best source of things like Thyme and Rosemary. Maybe Cistus and Retama would be worth a try too.

Hope you get some interesting replies to your question as we all need to be as economical with water as possible and plants with low water needs are going to benefit us all.

You can add even more colour by painting the pots!

[Trigger]

We just dug up a few of the different cacti that grow in the campo near our village. Took them back and put them in a few pots and they have been growing well for the last three years. Our village is at 2000ft above sea level so not quite so high, but we are only there to tend them three or four times a year.

[telboy]

We also live 970m NW of granada, you would find it very difficult to grow anything in pots especially during the Summer months but Cacti and Aloe seem to do just fine. Our English neighbours are at their house only 3 or 4 times a year, they have never requested us water there plants, they have Rosemary, Lavender, Cats Claw (Higo del Mar), Bellybutton (Aptenio), growing in the ground though.

We ourselves have Oleanders, Angio (Tansparente), Star Jasmine (trachelospermum), Bamboo, Spanish Broom, Potato Vine (Solano). Some of these plants would suffer if you got a stiff Winter breeze blowing from the Sierra Nevada of lower than -4 degrees C. We have never had any success with Bougainvillea even planted in the ground, they need well established roots, and a couple of years of mild Winters

Or, get an angle grinder and make some holes in the concrete for planting.

[anis]

Tellboy, I am glad you posted about the potato vine Solano. I have been wondering for 3 years about the wonderful climbing shrub I have that covers my pergola and needs no help, no water, just cutting back each winter to stop it getting to overgrown. I didn't know it's name until you posted.
It has potato - like flowers but is much prettier - it looks fragile and delicate but in reality, it is tough as old boots. It grows very quickly and loves to ramble and climb, will quickly cover an ugly wall with all year round greenery and flowers of blue and white.
So I can highly recommend this one for your place, Steve, and the oleanders and cactii.
The deep pink oleanders grow wild in our valley and yellow gorse and still survive the ravages of summer without water.
Dame de noche doesn't seem to need much water either and lantana can take it or leave it - please note that many of these are native plants to Spain.

[Martin Page]

I had a brilliant plant once ... it never needed watering at all.
Eventually it died !