EACH YEAR plant brands release exciting new cultivars to market, the results of years of breeding, selecting, trialing and propagating. New plants are bred to enhance traits that make them stand out against comparable cultivars—and in your garden. On these pages we’ll take a look at new options with notable tolerance of drought. Bear in mind that drought-tolerant plants do need regular water while getting established in the garden.
Note: Although all these plants will be sold at retail in 2024, their availability may be limited because they are new. Keep an eye out for them reaching your area in the future if you can’t find them yet.
EL NIÑO DESERT ORCHID
CHITALPA ‘NCXC1’
Dr. Tom Ranney of North Carolina State University worked with species of two genera to breed this unique new plant. Crossing desert willow () and catalpa () resulted in a rugged shrub that stands up to many challenges and provides fragrant pink orchidlike flowers. It performed quite well in plant trials at Louisiana State University; while drought killed many other plants being tested in 2023, El Niño was noted to
