Plants that thrive without water

So, while I don't have a real water issue - I'm a rather lazy person and don't like to spend my evenings watering the garden. So I was looking for some plants that would be happy even if rain does not fall so much during the summer.

Here are a few of my selections, planning to have them in my yard next year:
Lavender - looks great (blue color0, smells great, and it will make everyone want it in their gardens( http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/herb/lavender/)

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Lavender.htm

Yarrow ("coada soricelului" - achillea) - various colours, and can be easily grown, and it's also a perennial (http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/perennial/yarrow/)

Agastache (desert sunrise) - orange bloom, with pink and lavender tints; but beware - it wants a lot of sun and dried land

Sundrops - yellow bloom, but it looks like it can be quite aggressive in the garden...
Russian Sage (http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/perennial/russian-sage/) - tall plant, with lavender like colour and silvery foliage
Salvia - bush/meadow/mojave sage - yes, the aromatic version as well, seems to be a great plant for the dry gardens
Lamb's ears (urechi de iepure) - grows quickly, and can be quite invasive - but looks really great, in pictures at least
Pine-leaf penstemon - looks like a great one, with its scarlet red flowers and almost ever-green.
Blanket flower (gaillardia) - in blooms quite a lot, and looks really great with its bright shadows of yellow and red.
Purple coneflower (echinacea purpurea) - mauve-purple blooms the whole summer, and a perennial as well.
Amsonia (amsonia tabernaemontana) - looks like an unknown plant, although amazing through its blue colour, and the yellow shades in autumn.
Sedum - pure pink flowers in autumn... although there are many other types of sedum that have different colours as well.

So plenty of options - now I need to choose which ones to pick... tough one indeed!

P.S.: The photos on the page have been taken from web, so if you own any of those and want them removed - please let me know.

What is mulching?

I've just started gardening this year - and I must confess: I'm completely blind in this area, so I need a lot of coaching/training/education about what to do and how to do in order to get the perfect looking garden.

Here is my first big question mark: what is mulching?

So, organic mulch can described as: shredded leaves, dried grass clippings, cocoa shells, buckwheat hulls, shredded bark or wood chips, and finished compost.

These guys here have a complete guide on mulching. Here are the mulch types they describe:

• shredded bark
• leaves
• grass clippings
• straw
• compost
• pine needles
• pine bark nuggets
• wood chips
• cocoa hull mulch
• gravel or river rock.

I just realized that I've bought some foil that could do just fine for mulching (at least for my hedge) - but did not use it, as I could not see its utility. Now it looks like it could be the solution to all the weeds that have grown around...