The suburban slabs where we live and garden seem to get hotter and drier with each summer. Our water bills tell us something has to give. It doesn't have to be a beautiful garden.

About 50 percent of residential water is used outdoors to water lawns and gardens, says the American Water Works Association. We can, however, still have healthy, attractive landscapes and use 47 percent less water.

No, not by buying plastic plants but by making smarter choices when selecting plants and watering.

If we each saved one gallon of water each day, we would save almost 10 million gallons of water a week, says the Hampton Roads Water Efficiency Team, an educational group of public utilities and public information professionals representing area cities, counties and military installations.

To save water and plants around your landscape:

* Water outdoors early in the morning to reduce evaporation and to prevent fungal diseases on plants.

* Mulch your plants to conserve moisture and prevent weeds.

* Sweep or blow your driveways clean instead of hosing them off.

* Put a nozzle on your hose; don't let the hose just run.

* Select plants that do well with little or no water in dry seasons.

* Consider native plants that adapt to our environment as it happens.

* Limit water-loving plants to small areas.

* Zone plants in the landscape according to their water needs.

* Use drip or soaker hoses to apply water slowly and directly to the soil around plants. This method prevents loss to evaporation and diseases caused by wet foliage.

* Use timers on hoses to conserve water.

* Enrich sandy soil with compost so it holds water; loosen clay soil with organic matter so it absorbs water better and reduces runoff and erosion. Deeply preparing the soil, 6 inches or more, helps a plant develop good roots quickly, thereby reducing the time it needs lots of water from you to establish itself.

* Use a mulching mower so grass clippings can decompose and return nutrients and moisture back into the lawn.

* Position sprinklers to water plants and not the driveway, sidewalk and street.

* Measure your waterings. If there is no rainfall, plants need only an inch a week in a single watering. Place tuna cans in the lawn and gardens to measure your waterings or invest in an inexpensive rain gauge.

* Place perforated plastic sheeting under the planting spaces of shallow-rooted plants to keep moisture from leaking out into the surrounding dry soil, suggests Marc Cathey in his book ``Heat Zone Gardening.''

Remember, water-saving landscapes need to be thrifty, not thirsty, says the Norfolk Department of Utilities.

TOUGH PLANTS

Plants that like hot, dry sites:

Perennials: Rudbeckia, yarrow, butterfly weed, tickseed, coreopsis, coneflower, Joe-pye weed, candytuft, goldenrod, sedum, sunflower, Stokes' aster, verbena, lantana, cannas, daylilies, most herbs, torch lily.

Trees/shrubs: Junipers, nandina, butterfly bush, Japanese aucuba, Japanese barberry, glossy abelia, forsythia, dwarf yaupons, needle, windmill and sago palms, pyracantha, pittosporum, fatsia, Indian hawthorns, Chinese hollies, beautyberry, crape myrtle, redbud, goldenraintree, ginkgo, lacebark elm, Japanese black pine, Eastern red cedar, live oak.

Annuals: Purslanes, scaevola, salvia, Gloriosa daisy.

Vines: Purple hyacinth bean, Carolina yellow jessamine, coral vine, Lady Bank's rose.