We are passionately committed to making the right decisions for the environment and want to help you do the same in your garden.
As our climate changes, it’s more important than ever to think about ways we can create a thriving and colourful garden with less emphasis on water consumption.
An effective way to achieve this is by introducing drought-resistant plants to keep your garden looking lively and vibrant without the need for additional watering Browse our selection of best-ever drought-resistant plants to add to borders, pots, and containers in your garden.
Use this guide to discover our best drought-tolerant plants. Simply click on each image to find the product on our website.
drought-tolerant plants
BEST OF...
© Sarah Raven 2023
LAVANDULA hidcote 1
The most floriferous of the compact lavenders, with purple-blue flowers. Incredibly reliable and rich in pollen and nectar for much of the summer, so bees and butterflies love it.
Lavender flowers are edible and can be used to add flavour to cocktails, syrups, sorbets, and salads. They can also be used in baking to flavour biscuits and cakes.
TYPE : Shrub
SPECIES : Angustifolia
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : June-August
SOIL: Well-drained
HEIGHT + SPREAD : 60cm (24”)
CARE TIPS : Cut back flower spikes in the autumn, but do not cut into the woody stem. Do not overwater, as Lavender dislikes having soggy roots.
ALSO FEATURES IN THIS COLLECTION
Click here for information on how to bring
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pollinators into your garden
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Line a Path Lavender Mix
A famous duo of lavenders - one purple (Vera), the other blue (Hidcote), both easy to grow from seed and look good in any sunny situation for years.
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PELARGONIUM attar of roses
This looks fabulous in pots, growing in the border or as part of a flower arrangment. It has a delicious scent and flavour to make cordials, and is hugely popular as a herbal tea, good to help ease anxiety and stress before bed. Passionately recommended.
TYPE : Perennial
SPECIES : Scented Leaf Type
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : June-November
SOIL: Well-drained
HEIGHT + SPREAD : 45cm (18”)
CARE TIPS : Water and feed plants well in summer and deadhead to encourage a second flush of flowers. Lift the plants and pot them up inside before the frost, cutting the top growth back by one third as you do so.
ALSO FEATURES IN THIS COLLECTION
Click here for more varieties of pelargoniums
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Scented Pelargonium Collection
I’m obsessed with these four, scented-leaved pelargoniums. I pick the foliage for very long-lasting arrangements, use the edible flowers to decorate puddings, and harvest the leaves all the time to use as flavouring (see our website for recipe ideas). PLUS, they look fantastic.
190100 ‘Pink Capitatum’
190098 ‘Attar of Roses’
190360 ‘Sweet Mimosa’
190361
190452 ‘Prince of Orange’
ERYNGIUM picos blue
One of the bluest of the beautiful sea hollies, with delicate whorls of spikes around the central egg. Bees and butterflies love them.
TYPE : Perennial
SPECIES : Bourgatii
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : July-August
SOIL: Well-drained
HEIGHT : 60cm (24”)
SPREAD : 30cm (12”)
CARE TIPS : Choose a planting spot with fairly dry, well-drained soil that is poor to moderately fertile. Full sun is essential. The seedheads are a valuable feature so leave a few to use over winter. Avoid root disturbance.
OTHER POPULAR VARIETIES
Click here for more varieties of eryngiums
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3
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Eryngium x zabelii ‘Violet’
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Eryngium alpinum
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Eryngium x zabelii ‘Big Blue’
4 LIMONIUM dazzle rocks
One of my favourite trips as a child with my botanist Dad was to the coast of Norfolk near Blakeney, where sea lavender swathes the flats with delicious mauve through summer. More of us should grow it, and particularly this compact form, small enough to thrive in a perennial pot or front of the border which lasts – and dries, a truly beautiful shape.
TYPE : Shrub
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : June-September
SOIL: Well-drained
HEIGHT : 45cm (18”)
SPREAD : 30cm (12”)
CARE TIPS : In the autumn cut back any stems not needed for vase or drying to the base and apply a mulch around the crown to protect from winter wet and cold.
Click here for more varieties of
and
limoniums
salvias
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5 SALVIA caradonna
One of the earliest varieties which produces some of the longest spikes to add minarets to your borders.
TYPE : Perennial
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : June-October
SOIL: Well-drained
HEIGHT + SPREAD : 60cm (24”)
CARE TIPS : Cut back in early summer to encourage later flowering.
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OTHER POPULAR VARIETIES
GAURA lindheimeri (syn. Oenothera) 6
TYPE: Perennial
SPECIES: Lindheimeri
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS: June-August
SOIL: Well-drained
HEIGHT: 1.2m (4ft)
SPREAD: 60cm (24”)
It’s hard to find a better plant than Gaura for lining paths and adding froth to flower beds, and I pick it as an upper storey in arrangements. It’s a classy alternative to gypsophilia for arranging too, and lovely in a cloud on its own.
CARE TIPS: Gauras are easy as long as you remember that they are prairie plants from a warm place. Mulching will help protect from severe winter weather. Mature gauras do not move well. The dark spots that appear on their narrow leaves are normal.
Click here for more varieties of gaura lindheimeri
157018
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‘Flamingo Pink’
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‘Whiskers Deep Rose’
510737 ‘The Bride’
511815 ‘Sparkle White’
Click here for how to grow verbena 510222
7 VERBENA bonariensis
A haze of purple flowers at head height from late summer to autumn, which is a confetti of butterflies the moment there is a glimpse of sun.
TYPE: Perennial
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS: June-November
SOIL: Well-drained
HEIGHT: 1.8m (6ft)
SPREAD: 60cm (24”)
CARE TIPS : Leave the dead stalks until spring which helps protect from cold wet weather and because seeds may be appreciated by finches. Protect with a layer of leaf mould or compost mulch in autumn.
Thank you for taking time to look at our first ‘best of’ series. Next month, the top plants for pollinators. For more information picking the perfect drought-tolerant plants for your garden, please visit here. sarahraven.com 0345 092 0283 join us online
Photography by Jonathan Buckley ©
