Drought Tolerant Planting

After the heatwaves this year and the year before, your garden may be looking a little worse for wear and the heat and dryness has clearly take in toll.

When and How to Change

Time to Adjust

While your planting may have been suitable when you first planted-or inherited-it, our climate and weather patterns are changing and they are changing, fast. So, it may be time to re-think a few things in your garden. With Autumn on its way, it’s the best time of year to get planting and re-thinking your borders.

Make a few adjustments now so you don’t have to worry that you can’t water during a heatwave or if you go on holiday. That in itself will make for a lower maintenance garden generally. For plants that tolerate hot sun and dry soils but will still keep blooming bright all through the summer, there are a few fail-safe options out there.

Plants You Can (Almost) Neglect

Drought tolerant plants pretty much take care of themselves; most provide nectar that bees and butterflies love and all without compromising their floral display. A low maintenance garden doesn’t mean no plants, but the right ones that are suited to our changing conditions. Plants all need water at some point, some are a lot less demanding than others.

All lavenders are tolerant to drought, it’s a low maintenance shrub and flowers late spring through to summer and for a less traditional shrub, what about trying Salvia ‘Hot Lips’? Salvia as a genus are all drought resistant and ‘Hot Lips’ is a striking variety, which produces masses of red and white flowers from July to October. It too, is much loved by bees and butterflies and is easy to grow.

Sedums are drought-resistant succulents that produce domes of starry pink, ruby or white flowers in late summer and autumn. Taller sedums may flop, but ‘Matrona’, (a favoured variety here at The Garden Design Co.) stands well, with the glaucous foliage turning a rich purple when water is scarce, like all succulents, its plump leaves are where its water conserve is stored.

Steady but Sure Steps

Climate change is happening, and we need to learn to adapt to our gardens. As a start try switching out a few plants in your current borders and you will notice a huge difference in your floral performance without barely lifting a finger to look after them. You might actually be able to go on holiday without fear of all your plants suffering as a consequence.

Did you know our Aftercare Packages offer holiday plant care? Call our team today on 0116 210 0760 for more info.