Advice & Guides

50 days without rain and counting

We put this sign up in the Gravel Garden a few days ago and visitors immediately began to comment. 50 days of no rain: and the Gravel Garden still looks beautiful. 

 

Ahead of its time, Beth's gravel garden was initially planted over 27 years ago as a gardening experiment to discover which plants were truly drought tolerant in her dry, sandy soil, in an area of very low rainfall and never artificially watered.

 

Once this picture went out on social media, the questions began to come in: how does it survive? Which plants have endured the drought the best?

 

Below is a list of the plants that are doing pretty well in the Gravel Garden despite the harsh conditions. Some are available to buy from our nursery.

At this time of year (July), stock levels aren't at their highest but if you would like to avoid the affect the drought has had on your garden in future, please do click to be reminded when they are back in stock: we will be busy propagating and you'll then be first on the list of people contacted about their availabillity.

OR to ensure you choose the right plants for the right place, you might like Beth's Drought-resistant Plant Collection. It comes with a planting plan and guide to planting.

Plants that are still doing well:

Agapanthus

Allium carinatum subsp. pulchellum

Dianthus carthusianorum

Gaura lindheimeri

Euphorbia segueriana

Eryngium bourgatii and E. giganteum

Hylotelephium (particularly H. ‘Autumn Joy’)

Lavandula 

Origanum 

Romneya coulteri

Stipa gigantea, S. splendens and S. tenuissima

Verbena bonariensis 

Yucca

 

50 days without rain and counting

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