Pet Burial flowering perennial suggestion needed.

I went to the local nursery yesterday and asked for suggestions, and the salesperson seemed dumbfounded as to what to recommend to me.  Even I thought of Star Jamine, I was just wondering if there is something else that might be better for my location, or even complimented the Jasmine.  

Zone 8a, 105F(ish) for three months of the year and bone dry.  Winter lows around 15F normally.  3,000' high desert.
It's a small area next to a concrete block wall that gives shade in the morning, it is under two palm trees that shade the area most of the day, and it probably only gets a few hours of the hottest sun during the end of the day.

A white flower (with black spots) would be ideal, something that would grow as a vine would be a bonus, a low growing ground cover would also be okay (or both), and I'd like it to flower consistently through the growing season.  Small or large flowers would be fine.

If it had a use other than just flowering, that'd be great too!  Open to suggestions of any type of plant because I really don't have any idea what would make it in a location like that.

I just buried my dog Pippen in the back corner of the yard, and I'd like to have something to mark the area with plant wise.  She was white with black spots.

Thanks

I don't have suggestions for large plants, but my favorite groundcover is the Matchstick plant (also known as frogfruit). In my experience it plays well with larger plants and grows slow enough to keep under control.   It's a magnet for all sorts of bees and smaller butterflies. Once it starts blooming in late spring it keeps going till well into the fall. Abundant tiny white flowers turning into seed heads that look like fat black matches so you get both black and white spots.

It doesn't meet all your criteria, but how about rosemary?

Daylilies would be nice:  https://www.americanmeadows.com/daylilies


This is from that website.  I know they come in white though I could not find a good picture as most websites have orange.


Pandora's Box

I don't have any suggestions but wanted to say sorry for your loss.  I still miss the best dog we ever had and it's been 20 years...

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  

Sorry for you loss as well Sonja.  It's a terrible thing, and my first time losing a dog that was solely raised by me.  

I think I'll try all of your suggestions assuming I can find them.  Thank you again, I like the way they all look.  

I would probably plant Echinacea Purpurea. The blooms last a long time and attract hoards of butterflies and bees. I think seeing all of the butterflies flock to it would be fitting and uplifting.

Plus of course the blooms can be tinctured as well. Not sure if that area gets enough sun but maybe? I started one from seed last year and it had no problem with intense sun/heat all summer plus it produced 20 or so flowers.

I'm so sorry for your loss. We have also buried a beloved family pet in their favorite spot in the garden. Never an easy task. Our climate is much different than yours, and our furbaby (Syrah a long-haired kitty) is under her favorite hostas, they were perfect for her to hide and contemplate to stalking from. I just wanted to throw the suggestion of ground-cover roses, they could provide a blanket of blooms, and should tolerate your growing conditions, for example (ignore the $ I'm sure they are available locally for less, lol) https://www.heirloomroses.com/white-meidiland.html. Kind regards, Dee.

Oh, I'm so sorry for the loss of your pet. And as well really glad you had such a good relationship with a sweet dog. Not everyone gets to have that experience, and you are lucky. Sweet baby pup...

Just as food for thought - what about ornamental grasses? They can throw some beautiful flowering stalks and do really well in that hot, dry, arid climate. I don't know any names except for a large Pampas grass, which would look cool, but those get really big. Showy, and big. We have tons of grasses on our farm and there are ones that stay evergreen and also have showy stalks. We have so many cultivars here (I'm not the botanist of the group - if I can't eat it, I don't tend to remember what it is!) that I can walk around in fall and cut so many seed heads of different cultivars that the wreaths I make out of them look amazing.

The other thing I thought of was Prickly Pear cactus -  would look very pretty and is different and special.  They throw some gorgeous red fruits that are edible but also I think it's just a killer looking plant. Good for drought prone places and spreads well, but can be contained as need be.  Not black and white, though...

Or some white colored lavender. From Purple Haze Lavender farm website in Sequim, WA where they grow white lavender -  "White Spike: 36-40″ Intermediate Lavandin, 16-20″ stems; white blossoms, strongly scented, blooms mid-summer, culinary uses, excellent contrast in landscapes. The color white is a striking contrast in both fresh bouquets and dried arrangements."

Take good care...

I was looking for white with black spots... I found this short lived, self seeding perennial. It grows to 2 1/2 ft tall.

Lychnis coronaria alba aka Silene coronaria alba (Rose Campion) White Form Z3 LycCorW
If the hot magenta of the better know version of Rose Campion is not your cup of tea, this might be. It blooms the same but in white and has the same silver felty foliage. Full Sun. 100+ seed for $1.50. http://www.sampleseeds.com/?page_id=3660

And this sight claims that it is drought tolerant. https://www.gardenia.net/plant/lychnis-coronaria-alba-rose-campion

What about white pansies? It looks like some come with dark purple (almost black) centers. Pansies often bloom a loooong time, especially if you keep pinching their flowers. I even see them blooming in the fall.





They're a perenial, and self-seed, and the flowers are edible (not that you'd probably want to be eating the ones near your burial for a few years).

I'm not sure how pansies do in the heat, though. From what I'm reading, they grow in April and May in the hot areas, and the heat will turn off their flowering. They like the shadier areas. It seems that they might also turn into annuals in very hot places--or maybe people just sew them in the spring and fall for other reasons?

Pansies are purely winter plants here in 8b Texas. We plant them in the fall and expect the plants to live till warm weather in late spring.   I didn't even know they were perennials in other climated.

Thanks again to everyone!  I love the pansies with the dark centers!  Perfect.  Thanks Nicole.

and the Rose Campion is also really nice.  I like the density of them in that second picture.  Thanks Joylynn.

the grass seems like it could be a good idea, and I think Lavender would be really nice too, thank you Lindsey!  I was lucky to have her.

Dee, I just tried the link, but it's broken.  I'll figure it out and take a look.  I have a crazy growing white banks rose that has the trunk of a medium sized tree in another area of the yard, and it's my favourite plant in the yard.  Amazing growth here (in full sun) in four years since I planted it as a twig.  Thanks for the suggestion.

Lucrecia, who doesn't love butterflies!  Thank you, if I can find them I'll give them a try.  

I went to the local nursery after the first group of replies, and did end up buying some creeping rosemary (mainly because it was 50% off, $2 for a decent size plant in a 1 gallon pot).  There were a lot of varieties of the day lilies, but they didn't have the Pandora's Box type (all the varieties they had were orange or red).

I want to try all of your suggestions, and see what "sticks".  There's a mom and pop kind of nursery thirty miles away that I haven't gone to in a while, but they definitely have a better selection of plants (and are much more knowledgeable in general than the local chain  nursery I went to already).  If I can't find them there, I will go the mail order route.
I'm anxious to get started trying them out.


Pippen and I super appreciate all the words!  :)  Thanks!