Plants that Cope With a Drought

When you have sandy soil, every year is one of gardening in a drought. It doesn’t seem to matter how much I mulch, by August things are looking decidedly sad.

This year, with the unprecedented high temperatures and lack of rain, it’s been even worse and far earlier. We are forecast to have some rain this week. Will it happen? Who knows. Will it be enough? Definitely not. We need weeks of steady downpours to properly water ground that is parched.

The first thing to show up any lack of water is always the grass and this season is no exception. I’m not too worried about this as it will soon recover and, anyway, I have other things that need my attention.

With water butts now on empty, watering is being limited to what a friend described as “the needy and newly planted”.

Among the needy, I count vegetables and anything in a pot. Some things have just had to be abandoned for this year – depressingly some of the annuals I grew from seed that were supposed to fill gaps in the borders. There’s only so much you can do.

However, there have been things that are thriving despite the heat – definitely good choices for plants in a drought.

Pelargoniums are an obvious winner and these, decorating a flight of steps, are adding a touch of the Mediterranean to the garden.

Echinops is having a wonderful year. It’s full of flowers – which in turn are full of bees – and the leaves are still green and healthy.

I grow a lot of erynium as it copes with my soil. I also love the colour. These two have been covered in flowers for weeks and are another favourite with bees.

Achillea is a great plant in a drought. This was new to my garden last year (bought from Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants) and starts off a deeper yellow that gradually fades to cream.

Geraniums are always tough plants but I’ve been surprised at how well this variety has stood up to the dought, especially as it’s under pleached hornbeam. It’s similar to ‘Rozanne’ but doesn’t sprawl as much.

Plants that take care of themselves are always a winner with me and perovskia is one that fits perfectly. It’s in a particularly dry bed and just turns up every year with little attention from me.

I hadn’t expected this to do so well in the drought but, apart from sprawling, it’s flowered with no real signs of stress. Another purchase from Hardy’s.

I’ve added more hardy salvias over recent years as they are also good on dry soil. This is my favourite so far – I love the velvet-like flowers. I do cover it in winter if we get a very cold snap but should take cuttings as a backup.

I often use herbs in my borders and those from the Mediterranean are perfect for my dry conditions. This was bought in a sell-off of plants from one of Cotswold designer Paul Hervey-Brookes’ RHS Hampton gardens. Once the flowers have faded, it will be cut back to neat mounds of foliage.

Of course, some of the best plants for a drought are those that have chosen your garden. Evening primrose has self-seeded all over the place and has to be thinned. It’s always worth leaving some though – great for pollinators and lovely to have some flowers when so much else is flagging.

You can read more posts about my garden here.

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