Over three weeks without rain now, and the sun has been very strong as well, so the grass is looking pretty frazzled… it crunches when we walk across it!
A lot of the garden has just shrivelled up in the heat, but some plants are amazingly resilient. This Ononis spinosa (Spiny Restharrow) for example…
And the Russian Sage of course, which has just started to bloom…
Which plants in your garden are most resilient to drought?
Words and Herbs 
Perovskia is one of the best for drought although it won’t necessarily flower so well if there are drought conditions for too long. Most of my plants are pretty tough as most beds aren’t irrigated. The grass still looks quite green!
We had a little rain this evening…. not sure it was enough to save the grass though! Even my hated weed ground elder has shrivelled up in the sun!
I like the blue and red shades.We water our garden and also a friend´s garden (on holiday).
The only things I usually water are my pots of flowers, herbs and vegetables. The flowers have to survive on their own! This year though we have been watering a small piece of lawn near the house as well, as it was patched up with new turf in the spring. Hope you are surviving the heat Uta. 😀
I am person who loves warmth 🙂 Temperatures arround 30°C I call nice and warm (not hot). But for nature it´s getting difficult. For the forrests we have Fire Warning Level 5 which means the highest.
I love the spiny restharrow! I’ll find out which ones are resilient to drought when I get home I reckon as no ones been watering the front of my house! Lavender is always a winner in a drought I find.
Yes, my lavender has done very well, but is a bit burnt from the strong sun now. I hope your front garden hasn’t suffered too much Anna. It will be glad to see you return!
Hope you get some rain soon!
We had a little this evening Jason, but really we need a good downpour all through the night… we’ll see!
Sounds similar to the weather we’ve had over the same period but no doubt your temperatures have climbed higher Cathy. I can hear that grass protesting from here but it will no doubt perk up when the wet stuff arrives. We had some this morning and hope that there’s more to come and that it becomes less humid. Hope that you do not have to wait for long. Drought is not something I usually consider when planting but the thymes and day lilies seem happy enough 🙂
I am actually amazed at how many plants survive with barely any water. I had to cut back our large clump of fern today though as it had burnt AND flopped! 😦
Oh dear. Your poor garden! The grass indeed looks tired. I heard a rumour yesterday that it should rain tomorrow night, let’s wait and see 😉
Your source was right Simone – we had a bit of rain. Not much though!
Its unusual for us to have a drought and heatwave over here although our first rain for weeks came last night. The Munstead lavender looks fantastic this year, but i think the Stipa grasses are enjoying it the most. Your grass looks a lot better than mine!
I have a few grasses, but must plant more. And I’ve already decided to put in more lavender, since it does so well here too. I hope your grass recovers – ours is looking even worse today…
Haven’t come across spiny restharrow before, but it looks lovely. It doesn’t seem right to say this after weeks of wishing for good weather, but I hope you get some rain for the garden soon!
I hate complaining too, but this was extreme heat on a south-facing rockery, so my poor plants have been put to the test! We have now had a drop of rain, but I would love a lot more!
I’ll send you some of our rain. Do you want it to arrive promptly at 3 pm with a pop-up rain storm like the ones we have been having lately?
That would be very nice thank you Mary. So I can take my washing in before it starts. LOL!
Pretty Pretty!
Hot hot! Thanks Eunice. Have a lovely day!
I can almost feel the strength of the sun in the first picture. Ononis spinosa is unfamiliar to me but attractive and the purplish blue flowers go so well. Hope you get some showers soon. Our heavy rains have stopped.
Thanks Susie – a shower this evening with some gusty wind cooled things down a bit here. The weekend forecast is more heat and humidity though… not my kind of weather at all!
Do you believe in climate change lol! We too have been having increasing longer heat waves. Springs are hotter and fall last longer. This is the first year a crepe myrtle bloomed and tomatoes were harvested in June. What next!
Wow, tomatoes in June! Yes, climate change here means generally all the weather is concentrated into extremes…. very dry periods, floods, extreme heat, extremely cold winters… I also wonder “What next”!
My grass is more dried up than your grass! We’ve had not a drop either. I find the Nepeta very drought resistant and of course very attractive to bees and other pollinators. I think it is my most showy drought resistant plant.
That would surely do well here too. Thank you for your comment – I shall put Nepeta on my wish list!
Among my summer flowers just now I like so much my “Verbena bonariensis”(Argentinisches Eisnkraut). It seems to be very resilient to drought and – bees and butterflies love it too.
Our grass looks like yours. In the early morning hours blackbirds are picking and picking into the hard and dry ground seeking for worms… poor, poor birds! Hope we´ll finally get rain today…
Verbena is such a lovely plant, especially when it sways in the breeze. The rain we had will hardly help I fear… perhaps we’ll get some more in the night. Lovely to hear from you Elisabeth!
The Ononis looks beautiful, Cathy. Got Perovskia too, they look great for ages. Also good: Nepeta, Stachys, Helichrysum, Rosmarinus, Pennisetum, Miscanthus, Allium sphaerocephalon…and many more. How do your dogs cope with the heat? We swim in the river with ours every evening to cool down 😉
I definitely need more grasses, like pennisetum and miscanthus. Our big old doggie seeks the shade immediately we go out, but the little one will sunbathe until it gets too hot for her! Neither of them swim, and a few years ago we tried a doggie pool – it was used more by us than the dogs! 😀 How lovely to swim with your dogs Annette. 😀
Hi Cathy, Your area is starting to look where I live! We have had the hottest summer on record and only a handful of days under 100 F. We have irrigation canals though since it is typical to have hot, dry summers. Love the Ononis, I’ve not seen this flower before… I don’t have Perovskia because where I live it is used tons in commercial plantings. I find many artemesia’s are very drought tolerant and also blanket flower and sedums.
Sedums are great. They look good all year round. I don’t know blanket flowers, but I will have to look into Artemisias. Thanks Andrea!
Sorry to hear about the dry conditions…we had a week of dry and then a bit of rain and then a few dry, cool days and the weather has stabilized to low 80s and rain on and off…but I am sure it will all change again…good to see the drought tolerant blooming.
I am glad that so much IS surviving, and a few newer plants have received a drink from the hose…. Enjoy your weekend Donna! 😀