Plant ideas for bad gardeners

[sonrisa]

Hi!

I am very good and killing plants. What survives drought conditions, bad gardeners, the occasional deer. Extra points for salt water friendly (our back yard goes down to a tidal marsh so the plants at the back of the low fence may get salty? I don't really know. lol. 

My list of plants I can keep alive is short:

some succulents
rosemary
lavender
pride of madeira
our peach tree 

One plant I'm considering is sea lavender since I see that thriving on local public waterfront walkways. They can't need much water or care given where they've been planted. 

[simpsongal]

Looking around you to see what's doing well is always a good way to pick plants. What zone are you?

Other hardy plants that come to mind are black eyed susans, coneflower, butterfly bush. Most people seem to do well will catmint, though I had issues.

Do you need shrubs too? Spirea and abelia are survivors.
Do you need evergreens? Pieris is very forgiving

[pierogigirl]

Hostas are hardy, but deer do love them. Daylilies are also pretty forgiving. I have no idea if they would do well in salty areas. When we go to the Maine coast, we see lots and lots of hydrangeas (so potentially salty), and I've never done anything special to ours to keep them alive.

[deadwing]

My house came with a ton of hydrangeas. I do virtually nothing to/for them and they're massive and gorgeous. I water them only during extreme heat. I prune them only when absolutely necessary. I think I'm in zone 6.

[cmeon]

Find a local nursery, preferably one that specializes/promotes natives. That's where you find "easy" plants specific to your area, because despite FL and CA having extremely similar USDA hardiness zones, we don't share a lot of plants. Lavender and lupines can't handle our humidity, and peach trees never fruit here (we don't get a long enough chill for fruit to form). There are plants that behave politely here that are invasive there, plants that thrive there that are vulnerable to our nematode population, our soil's Ph levels vary- it's different worlds.