drought-tolerant plants

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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

120181

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

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.

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

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.