As our summers get hotter, with droughts and hosepipe bans becoming more frequent, it’s a good time to consider planting drought tolerant plants, if you have a sunny spot and a well-drained soil.
Drought tolerant plants have evolved over millennia to cope with high temperatures and long periods of drought in summer. They often have succulent or furry leaves, thin leaves or grey or silver leaves. They also often have underground storage organs (bulbs) and wide and deep root systems.
If you have a hot, sunny border with well drained soil, consider switching to more drought tolerant plants. This will cut down on watering and the plants will positively thrive in these conditions.
Annie Godfrey, who runs Daisy Roots nursery in Hertfordshire, sells many hardy drought tolerant perennials. Here, she recommends some of her favourite drought tolerant plants.
Key drought tolerant plants for your garden
Sedums
Now called Hylotelephium, sedums (also known as ice plants) look good for months, with their fleshy leaves and flat, nectar-rich flowerheads which develop slowly over many months. It’s worth doing the Chelsea chop on sedums to prevent them flopping in the middle later in the year.
Russian sage
Perovskia atriplicifolia, now called Salvia yangii, is also known as Russian sage. It has silvery-grey foliage and spires of lavender-blue flowers from July to the first frosts. Cut back hard when the plant comes back into growth in spring. 75cm.
Anthemis
Anthemis are lovely mound-forming plants with attractive, ferny leaves and masses of daisy flowers in summer. ‘Suzanne Mitchell’ is a lovely creamy daisy with a golden eye, grey leaves and low mounding, silver ferny foliage. 'Sauce Hollandaise' has pale yellow flowers that fade to cream as they age.
Salvias
Salvias are excellent drought tolerant and long flowering plants. “Salvia verticillata is a really good doer. It flowers for ages and is great for bees,” says Annie. It forms large mounds, with hairy leaves and small, reddish-purple flowers that are borne in long, dense, spikes on reddish stems in summer.
Santolina
“Santolina (cotton lavender) is also a really good doer," says Annie. People think it’s a bit mundane and boring but if used in association in other plants, it becomes much more interesting.”
Osteospermum jucundum
"Many of these South African daisies, also known as rain daisies, are bedding plants and are not hardy, explains Annie. However but there are a number that are hardy on good drainage, like Osteospermum juncundum. They are nice for the front of a border.”
Nepeta (catmint)
“Nepetas are really good value, both the low mounding ones and the taller ones like Nepeta nuda, which is more upright and to a metre tall,” says Annie. Nepeta are great for attracting bees and butterflies.
Linaria (toadflax)
Linaria are shortlived perennials which will self seed around. They do a great job of filling in gaps,” says Annie. Canon Went has long racemes of pale pink flowers in summer and autumn.
Verbascum
“Verbascum are great,” says Annie. Some are sterile and more perennial – they come back year after year as they don’t set seed. There are also a number that are bordering on annuals in the way they set seed and move around the garden. They add nice verticals to a planting.”
Grasses
Stipa tenuissima
Stipa tenuissima (now known as Nasella tenuissima), is known as the pony tail grass. "It is good for adding animation in a border – it gives a nice bit of movement," says Annie. It produces narrow, arching, feathery flowering panicles from early summer.
Golden oat grass
Stipa gigantea, the golden oat grass, is excellent for adding height to a border, without making it feel dense - it has a see through, veil-like quality.
Stipa ichu
“Like Stipa tenuissima on steroids,” says Annie. “It’s taller and has blonde, almost white flowerheads in late summer. They dance about in the breeze beautifully.”
Annuals
"It’s worth getting going with hardy annuals, especially in new plantings – and they’re self perpetuating as they self seed around, says Annie.
Poppies
"Lots of the poppies do really well on dry soil," says Annie. Papaver somniferum come in a wide range of colours and their flowers are much loved by bees. Shirley poppies (Papaver rhoeas) do really well on sunny, well drained soil, too.
Nigella
“Nigella (also known as love-in-a-mist) does really well on dry soil. It will flower May and early June then go to seed but the seedheads are useful as well," says Annie. "Once you’ve got it, you’ve got it forever.”
Find out more about Daisy Roots at www.daisyroots.com