The table calls it a tie: Russian Sage and Catmint share the crown at 92 and 92 of 100, a gap smaller than the data can honestly split.
A drought page that starts where the hose ends: admission requires full sun plus a documented drought-tolerance record from an extension source. The ranking then separates true dry-soil species from the merely tough, and rewards bloom that keeps coming on rationed water.
The picks
The flowers that won
The top score, plus the qualifier that asks least of you.
Dry gardens are deer country5 / 10no published rating
The protocol
How the score is built
4 rules, 100 points, no opinions. Every line reads one field of the table.
Takes hungry dry ground too30 pointsdocumented for both sandy and poor rocky soil 30; sandy only 22; poor rocky only 14; neither 7; no data 12 Read from: stress tolerances.
Care while it grows25 pointslow upkeep 25; middling 14; demanding 4; sources disagree, we average the range; no rating 12 Read from: how much upkeep extension guides report.
Bloom on rationed water35 pointseight or more months 35; six to seven 31; four to five 27; three 17; two 9; one 4; no bloom data 9 Read from: the months it is in bloom.
Dry gardens are deer country10 pointsRutgers A, rarely damaged 10; B 7; C 3; D, deer candy 0; not rated 5 Read from: the Rutgers deer rating.
Not ranked here: not a full-sun plant; no extension source documents drought tolerance.
The full method ↗
The leaderboard
The top ten
The 10 highest of 42 that qualified. Tap any score to open the lines behind it.
Not qualifying is a verdict too: the table simply says this question is not theirs.
no extension source documents drought toleranceRoses, Tulips, Peonies and 28 more
not a full-sun plantHydrangea macrophylla, Anthurium, Azaleas and 9 more
The winner's badge
Generated by the ranking above, and re-scored whenever the table changes.
Russian Sage
The badge is generated by this ranking, not awarded by hand. When the
table changes, it re-scores itself.
How we rank
We keep one table of 85 flowers,
with 25 documented facts each, drawn from university and extension sources. Every ranking is
a published formula worth 100 points; tap any score and it unfolds into the lines that made
it. A flower that does not fit the question is not scored lower: it is excluded, and the reason is
shown. When the table changes, every score and stamp updates itself.
The full method ↗
