In North Carolina, where I'm from, gardens are lush and verdant. They glisten with dew every morning and fairly steam with humidity all afternoon. This summer, we visited a fancy hotel with a gorgeous courtyard garden in Greensboro, NC. Most of the plants wouldn't stand a chance in Dry Denver, but some of the hardier shrubs would do well here.

What impressed me most was the design of this particular garden. There was no grass, as the hotel visitors would have trampled it in short order. Instead, they'd used pavers to create a lovely, symmetrical courtyard. In each corner there were compact trees, giving the garden shade even in the hottest part of the day. A cool fountain trickled in the middle of the place, and tiny wrought iron tables and chairs were scattered about. Almost all of the plants along the border and in the center of the garden were in containers.

Now, this is a garden my dogs wouldn't kill, I thought. No grass to ruin, no low flowerbeds to run through and destroy. Even Huckleberry would have a hard time digging up the bushes in those pots.

Back in Aurora, I began collecting pots. I found some great blue pots on Craiglist and got them for a song. Inspired, I found another set of cement planters, also on Craigslist, and dragged my husband with me to collect them. We found ourselves in a trailer park of dubious security, the pots waiting curbside and guarded by a pair of enormous, angry canines. The pots weighed about 100 pounds apiece and were coated with slime on the inside. My husband muttered.

This time, no willy-nilly planting. After researching what will grow in our thirsty state, I carefully planted the hardiest perennials I could find. From Nick's, I bought a few trays of healthy, drought-tolerant plants. I paired purple penstemons with silver artemesia, shasta daisies, and dainty dianthus. I grouped black-eyed susans ( rudbeckia) with yellow coreopsis and gaillardias.

So far, the artemesia ('Silver Brocade') is thriving, and the dianthus ('Spotty Pinks'), also flowerless now, are still green. I think the blooming season has come to an end for that group; I wish I'd planted them earlier to enjoy all summer long. However, they are perennials, so if I don't kill them, they'll be back next year. The penstemons ('Shadow Mountain'), took a beating from the hail. They no longer wave like Miss America; they seem to be swooning over the edge of the pot. But they're still green and appear healthy, and yesterday I counted more than a dozen little buds.

My shasta daisies haven't fared too well, and I'm not sure why. They are perhaps a little less drought-tolerant than the others, although we've had an awfully wet couple of months. The coreopsis, on the other hand, look like they've drowned, though they are still hanging in there in a wilty way. I'm thinking for my next pot I need to be sure to keep the most drought-tolerant guys together and the water-loving plants alone so that it's easier to control water levels.

The black-eyed susans and gaillardia bloomed for a while and then quit, but both have a few buds remaining and I do believe they are going to burst into bloom again.