Plants which can cope with warm, dry weather and a horrible gardener?

[TheSarcasticFringehead]

I'm really hopeless at gardening. Have recently finished clearing our garden which involved a lot of hacking- it was wild, tbh- and now we have a patchy garden with nothing much in it.

Weather wise, it's year round warm, very little rain. In winter, it will be mid 20s usually, in summer, it will be mid to high 30s, up to maybe 40°C or so. There's not much rain and we sometimes have water restrictions, so the plant would have to be hardy. No real shade at all.

I'm also a completely terrible gardener. I really struggle at keeping anything alive (which is a plant, I mean) and all I really want is a pretty/nice looking plant which can do well in our garden and can survive me

In the front, we have Californian lilac. I've been looking stuff up and have been thinking along the lines of Black-eyed Susans, flowers like that? I'm clueless about plants, so need ideas?

Purple smoke tree, oleander and bottle brush plant I think would all suit your climate. Google plants which are hardy and drought resistant.

what is growing in your neighbours' gardens? if a plant is successful there, it may work for you, but you might also want to check how much maintenance it needs.

Spiky leaved plants often do well in that sort of climate - cordilines, some grasses (check carefully because there are thousands of different types of grasses which need different conditions).

If you are looking at UK websites, remember that 'hardy' means able to survive a UK winter ie temperatures below freezing - this does not sound as though it will apply to your garden so you do not need 'hardy' plants in that sense. Drought resistant is the key, as wowfudge says.

Not to stalk, but where do you live? Black-eyed susan flowers year-round where I am, when temps get down to about 4C at the lowest - no frosts.

Some places which are very hot during the day are very cold at night, e.g. desert type climates where daytime heat is not retained, so that may be a consideration.

It sounds quite tropical : winter 20 and summer 40 and dry sun! You don't mention the soil.

You also don't mention how big your garden is.

The reason I mention size is I have recently been musing on the subject of tropical trees. If I had a big tropical garden I would plant a Peepul tree for shade and a Baobab tree for fun and a Tamarind tree and a Bael tree and a mango tree and a Papaya tree for fruit and a Neem tree to keep away mosquitos and Ashoka tree to give good vibes and if I had a really big garden I would plant a Banyan tree.

Then in the mid canopy I would plant Oleander and Gulmohar (which gives nitrogen back to the soil and has pretty scented flowers) and Chameli, jacaranda, frangipani, flowering trees like that. If I wanted honey I would be careful about the Oleander as Oleander honey is poisonous.

The plants you plant in your bed will depend on how you intend to irrigate your hot sunny garden. Will you have balconies with water running down the rails and fountains and ponds as in the Alhambra so that you can plant roses? The sounds of trickling water is always nice. Otherwise I'm guessing succulents and plants like yucca and orchids and canna lilies and hibiscus. Climbers like bouganvillea are always cheery. Mahachok bulbs are white flowering and can naturalise and look pretty.

Then of course you could think about architectural plants, at which i am hopeless and others can advise but there are all sorts of large leaved jungly plants.

Anyway I found this link for you
www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Tropical-Style-Garden

Places with lovely dry tropical gardens are South Africa, Australia, California, India, Thailand and if you google botanic gardens or nurseries in those places you will get lots of plant ideas.

Agapanthus, Mexican sage, rosemary, all sorts of thymes, ipomea, phlomis, anything with silvery/hairy leaves, eg. lamb's ears.

Take a look at Beth Chatto's dry garden plants list, here. Most of these plants will be tough enough to survive the conditions you describe.

I'm in Texas with a similar climate (it's 36C right now, up to 40C or more in the height of summer) and it freezes every couple of years but no lower than about -2C. We have clay soil and the following grow really well so far:
Citrus, avocado, fig and pomegranate trees. We also have plum and peach trees All are fruiting really well. We have a veggie patch in semi shade and are picking tomatoes at the moment. Waiting on carrots and have had strawberries and lettuce too but they have passed now.
Agapanthus, African iris, oleander, bottle brush, lavender, geranium, rosemary, thyme, box (all in pots on the patio)
In flower beds we have roses (love clay soil), buddlea, ixora, lantana, hibiscus, more oleander and hydrangea (in the shade)
We have a number of jasmine and Passion flower vines that smell amazing.

We are lucky to have an incredible nursery that specializes in local plants - they know everything about what grows locally and what doesn't. Maybe you can find a decent nursery locally?