One of my favorites for a dry garden: Ballota pseudodictamnus and Ballota hirsuta. Anyway that’s what garden centers will sell them under even though apparently they should correctly be called Pseudodictamnus mediterraneus and P. hirsutus – who cares.
Both are very similar and fascinating in appearance. Ballota pseudodictamnus is native to the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean regions like Greece and Egypt, as well as to Turkey, while Ballota hirsuta is native to the western Mediterranean and North Africa and its leaves have a bit more of a frosted, felted appearance.
Both plants are evergreen and form a well-shaped mound that can be made even rounder and more regular by trimming after flowering. The small pink-white flowers in May and June appear each in its own cup-shaped calyx, ordered in whorls around the stem above a pair of thick and circular silver-green leaves with a soft, felted texture.
Both are very drought-tolerant (code de secheresse 5) as well as frost-tolerant (down to -10℃) and need dry, well-drained soil in full sun. Both also have allelopathic properties, meaning that weeds and other plants mostly won’t grow right next to them.
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