How about a dry garden?

Sometimes, when we get a hot summer, it can feel like you spend most of your time in the garden watering, moving sprinklers and desperately trying to keep your lawn from turning into a brown parched dustbowl. If this isn’t your idea of fun, then invest in some drought tolerant plants that can look after themselves in the driest of conditions.

Here at Hyde Hall, we have a whole garden devoted to such plants, the aptly named Dry Garden. It was planted in the spring of 2001, but since its first summer, has received no artificial irrigation. If you want to choose some plants that thrive in full sun, with little or no watering then you need to understand some of the special adaptations that these plants use to survive in the driest of conditions.

Succulent plants are some of the best for a dry sunny area as they have swollen stems and leaves which store water with a waxy covering that render them almost waterproof. Two fine examples of these are Delosperma cooperi, a low growing spreading plant with vivid pink flowers, and Agave americana, which forms stunning rosettes of blue-grey spiky leaves. Plants with small leaves are also often drought tolerant, as the small leaves can shed lots of heat but have few pores from which to shed water, such as Leptospermum scoparium ‘Red Damask’ and Rosemary. Plants with long narrow leaves are also good at shedding heat but not water, such as Phormium and grasses.

A plant that has grey leaves is a good indication that it is drought tolerant, as the colour of the leaves reflects the light and heat, such as Artemisia and Lavender. Plants with hairy leaves such as Verbascum olympicum shade themselves with their own hairs, reducing the heat on their leaves. Plants with waxy leaves have a shiny surface created by a waxy cuticle which reduces water evaporation, especially in windy conditions, often seen in Eucalyptus and Pittosporums. Aromatic leaves contain volatile scented compounds that are thought to cool the foliage as they evaporate and reduce water loss. And finally, quite bizarrely, plants with spikes such as Yuccas and Eryngiums use their spikes as cooling fins to make sure that the plant can lose heat, but not too much water.

Choosing the right plant for the right place is the key to working with your garden instead of battling against it. It is also better for the environment and much better for your water bill. For a dry garden, choose plants that come from dry, sunny places, such as the Mediterranean, Mexico, California and Australia, as these will all have the characteristics required to survive a hot summer and still look their best.

Using drought tolerant plants in your garden means that you can sit in the sun with a cold beer, a sizzling barbeque, relaxing in your garden, rather than running round in a never ending cycle of hoses, sprinklers and watering cans!

RHS Garden Hyde Hall is open daily from 10am. www.rhs.org.uk