There aren’t many parts of Britain that haven’t had to contend with extremely dry soil this summer. Parched lawns, hosepipe bans, farmers desperately worried about their crops…it’s been a worrisome few months for many.
Lots of garden plants can shrug off such conditions and we’d like to recommend a few to you, in case you’re guessing that climate change might demand a re-think of your patch…
I never actually water my flower garden – no point in giving the strugglers false hope if more summers like this are on the horizon! If I have new purchases acquired over the summer, they stay in their pots, watered and nurtured until the autumn-planting season. Here are some of my plants that have stayed smiling in the heat:
Hibiscus is more than up to the task. While abutilons and callicarpas are puffing and gasping like old ladies on Senior Service ciggies, all the hibiscus bushes are looking fresh, green and full of flower. Hibiscus is in fact a really large group of tropical and subtropical species, but mine are all H.syriacus in whites and pinks and purples. Fab for colour in high summer and a cinch to look after – you just give them a hard prune in late spring. You may even get away with them in colder parts of the country if you give them a cosy mulch around their roots in autumn.
Hyelotelephium (do you keep thinking of it as sedum like I do?). Their succulent foliage and fleshy flowers relish a good baking. The butterflies and pollinators are all over them, and the darker-leaved kinds like ‘ Karfunkelstein’ and the flower-shades of ‘Red Cauli’ provide rich splashes of colour lower down in the borders in August and September.
Agapanthus Here’s a sun-worshipper if ever there was one. Its pedigree as a heat-loving South African means that it can happily flaunt its lovely starburst flowers in arid sunny conditions. (If you are able to give them some water, they flower even more eagerly. Certainly if you are growing them in a pot, make sure they don’t go thirsty early in the flowering season).
It’s not been a total drought down here in the South East, the occasional downpour has kept the lawns green and washed the dust from plant leaves, but there are clear winners and losers in the borders. It’s definitely time to apply a bit of botanical science to our planting choices.
So anything with a deep taproot that can access water from lower down is going to fare well – think of umbellifers related to cow parsley such as fennel, angelica or wild carrot. Many eryngiums also have the same deep central root.
Plants with succulent leaves (so Elaine’s sedums and agapanthus) use the water stored in them to get over a dry snap. In the wild, grasses occupy habitats like prairies and steppes that are too dry to support trees, so they’re another good choice.
As well as plants falling into these general categories, there have been some outliers in my garden that have relished the hot dry summer …
Erigeron – The little Mexican fleabane, Erigeron karvinksianus, is the gardening equivalent of a cockroach and would probably survive a nuclear attack, but I have only just discovered its much taller sister Erigeron annuus, an equally doughty self seeder which has looked fresh and gay throughout the heatwave.
Oleander – The award for the pluckiest pot plant goes to the oleander, which has flowered beautifully over a long period in a tiny pot with only the occasional slurp of grey water. I have noticed large oleanders being planted outdoors now in the posher new urban housing developments down here in the south. So, more evidence of climate change as a plant we only used to see on Spanish holidays is going mainstream in the overheated UK.
Billardiera longiflora – My third choice is a little left of centre and will no doubt cement my sisters’ opinion that I am not quite normal, but a couple of years ago I planted this obscure climber Billardiera longiflora (a native of Tasmanian rain forests) in a tiny planting pocket at the foot of a creosoted telegraph pole in a hoggin driveway in a rain shadow of the overhanging ledge of our woodshed…..and it is absolutely thriving …..
There are other shrubs, bulbs and climbers that have earned their spurs in the heatwave so we’ve have compiled a list of those that have been tried and tested in our gardens. We’ve also added some great readers’ suggestions to the list and come out with the Growbags’ drought tolerant kite mark – the link to our Climate Change Rescue Package is at the end of the blog.
Well, well, the horticultural hares have come a cropper while this north-based tortoise has her day in the much damper Highlands. We’ve had a lovely sunny summer but Mother Nature has sent us at least a decent shower most nights. I’ve so enjoyed irritating my sisters with daily videos of my gurgling drainpipes and patio puddles, but to be fair my quickly-sodden roses are proof that every weather pattern has its challenges.
I do have though some insight into drought-loving plants, because at its summit my vertiginous garden is as dry as the Serengeti Desert despite the rainfall. So here are my recommendations:
Lavender – gifted to me by Laura, it’s thriving at the very top of my steps. It has the place to itself because being very poor soil and as dry as a cork, nothing else (not even my endemic ground elder!) is very keen to grow there.
Nepeta – or cat mint to me. I’m tempted to carpet all my higher ground with it, given that it’s over-achieving in nothing more than dry powder. It requires so little moisture or care, it seems almost epiphytic (are you impressed? Basically it means it can grow on nothing but air). It’s a motivational TED talk in its own right.
Potentilla – slightly dull the rest of the year, this one (Mango Tango) is currently keeping its end up for the third month in succession with zero attention. Yes, these little shrubs, with their plethora of tiny leaves, aren’t a favourite with local authority roundabouts for nothing, they’re perfectly equipped for a dry future (I’m not by the way 🍷 ).
If you would like to see the list we’ve put together of plants we have found to do well in hot, dry conditions, click this link to our Climate Change Rescue Package.
A charming grass that will happily soften your paving or blockwork. It’s Louise’s Great Plant this Month and here’s why…
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These adorable little pots – complete with drainage holes and matching saucers, make the absolutely perfect thank-you/birthday/congratulations gift. They don’t cost much and we even have a multi-buy deal on three (which grouped together, make a smashing table decoration – just sayin’).
Despite sisterly misgivings, Caroline opened her garden to the public last weekend – along with 19 others in her Highland village of Strathpeffer. Here’s what happened at her house (with starring roles from Laura and a lot of friends!)
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One reply on “What plants survive best in a drought?”
Thanks for this. I moved to a very sunny dry garden in Edinburgh and have had to rethink quite a few things. Echinacea, helenium, rudbeckia have all had to go – I’ve been surprised by the things that can’t take it.
I’ll explore your list with interest.