Plants for hot dry spot

Hi all

I have two main flower beds in my small back garden. Both have the same soil, both get the same treatment of chicken poo pellets for fertiliser, in fact both get the same treatment in every way.

However, in one of them, stuff will grow. In the other, stuff struggles. In the 'bad' bed, if anything does flower, it will flower late and for a very short period. The bad bed runs alongside a dreaded Leylandii hedge, but I chopped off many of the Leylandii roots on my side, and put extra manure (3 sacks of farmyard manure in addition to the usual treatment I give both beds). I also mixed in some water retaining gel crystals. The soil is moist and fertile, but still nothing does well there.

I've been studying my garden of late, and have figured out a possible cause. The 'good' bed is gets dappled shade during the warmest part of the day from some nearby trees, whereas the bad bed is in full sun pretty much all day. My garden is a bit of a heat trap, being surrounded by hedges and being on the south facing valley side, so when the sun comes out the bad bed dries out very quickly indeed (it could pour down with rain, but within a couple of hours of the sun coming out the surface becomes a dry powder). I suppose you could say I have a extremely localised mediterranean microclimate right up in north east England

So, that's the background. Now I'm looking for suggestions for stuff that will do well there. If this gives any clues, Yarrow absolutely laps it up. It is the only plant I've ever put there that really loves it. I'd be particularly interested in plants with slightly unusual foliage colour (anything that stands out from the usual shade of chlorophyll green). Flowers would be good, but I mainly want the garden to look lush, and with some colour contrasts.

Any ideas?

Cheers

 

Would rosemary work there? A bit dull I know...maybe think along the line of Mediteranean style growing.

 

Good thinking. I forgot about poor Rosemary. Yes Rosemary does really well there. I had my Rosemary in there until last years bindweed blitz, when I lifted her out and put her in a patio planter because I couldn't face zap her with round-up. So that's Rosemary and Yarrow that thrive there. My old Rosemary bush is a bit too big to go back really, but I might get a couple of new ones to go in there.

 

How about mesembryanthemum- Livingstone daisy. It loves a hot dry spot and can have amazing flowers.

Hope this is of some help

 

Is the area too big to make into a mediterranean style herb garden? Thyme, Oregano, lavender would all do well there and there must be more.

 

Thanks for the tip. I've just googled that long word. Looks like a good candidate. The wife will love the flowers, and I like the claim that it spreads to form a carpet, although I can't see how it would have time to do so being an annual. Does it self seed easily or something?

A med herb patch might be a good idea. I once grew golden Oregano in a different part of the garden, then a similar looking weed grew near it so I didn't dare use it in the kitchen in case I accidentally used the weed instead Thyme is ace, but being short and needing full sun, I found in my previous herb patch it is not fonding of sharing its ground with taller plants. I'll ponder that though, because I'm sure I could come up with an arrangement that works, and I do like Thyme for its evergreen nature, and the fact it is completely covered in flowers in late spring to early summer.

All good ideas so far, keep em coming

 

Livingstone Daisies spread out over summer and open up for the sun in a charming manner, but they don't self seed to my knowledge.

Loads of different types of thymes you could go for. Just been to look at my herb book and amongst those good for full sun are - Bergamot (vibrant red flowers), Caraway, Coriander, Basil, Hyssop (lovely purple flowers with that one), Juniper, Borage, Sage (comes in yellow, purple, variegated, etc), Savory, Borage, Fennel, Lemon Balm.

Could this bed handle being made into a slightly raised herb garden? Not really high, just a couple of bricks height. Add a few evergreens for winter interest and you might be onto a winner. You can always mix a few annuals or grasses - I always think pure herb gardens can look a bit weedy sometimes, but a mix of flowers and herbs is effective and promotes bee activity.

 

I had an area like that in my last garden Clueless.

The plants that loved it were
roses, nasturtiums, Acanthus (they were spectacular) Fuchsia Magelanica (flowered from May til first frost).
I'm sure you can find something to do well there.

 

It is worth being aware of the general principes that allow plants to tolerate hot and dry conditions. To reduse water loss they often have small or narrow leaves - ie reduced surface area. Many have silvery foliage, caused by hairs on the leaves. The hairs reduce the airflow close to the surface and hence reduce the water loss by transpiration. And some have thick shiney fleshy leaves. Many are also aromatic, which is now thought to be another mechanism for reducing water loss from the leaves.

To increase the ability to find water, many have tap roots (a long thick root that goes straight down). This means that they can draw water up from a considerable distance below the soil surface, but these have the disadvantage of being almost impossible to divide or move as you are likely to break the tap root rather than dig it all up.

First on my list would be Centranthus rubra (Red Valerian), which has a tap root. It is very drought tolerant, in fact it is often seen growing out of walls several feet up. But the reason I like it so much is that it flowers for a very long time - up to 5 or 6 months. Cut it back in July when the first flowers are over and it will regrow and be back in flower again in as little as three weeks.

For foliage, Artemesia would look nice - very silvery. Perovskia (Russian Sage) is another silvery plant but much more delicate. Sedum has thick fleshy leaves. S spectabilis is the normal green one, but S telphium has purple foliage. I think 'Purple Emperor' is a very dark variety, much darker than the species.

There are loads of other suitable plants - to name a few :- Eryngium, Catanache, Echinops, Agapanthus, Lavender, Limomium, Lychnis, Linaria, Verbena, Nepeta (Cat mint), Origanum and many Salvias such as S greggii and S microphylla (both small shrubs really).

 

Don't forget the euphorbias, there's such a variety of them available these days.

 

Thanks folks. Lots of suggestions there, I'll google those names and find some pics.

 

Clueless from reading your first post the problem seems to be your leylandii hedge cutting the roots back is a start but you then need to put a barrier to stop the roots re-growing into the ground you so generously fertilized,this will stop the ground drying out and then your not limited to what plants you can grow.

 

I may have unwittingly already provided such a barrier as a byproduct of another job.

The garden next door to mine is full of bindweed, and it creeps into my side. Last year I blitzed all my flower beds with Round-Up to get rid of the bindweed on my side. Then with a blank canvass, I excavated all the soil in the bed next to the leylandii, and made a barrier of weed control fabric to stop next door's bindweed getting back in. My intention was to lay the weed control fabric on top of the leylandii roots, and curl it up over so it came up out of the ground by about a foot all the way along the bottom of the hedge. It was while I was implementing this plan that I decided to introduce the leylandii roots to my mate Stanley (the saw), and my tree loppers. So now, about a foot or so under the flower bed, but above what's left of the leylandii roots, is a layer of weed control fabric. Do you think this will do the trick for the leylandii roots?

 

No not strong enough,something like paving slabs would be more like it.

 

Clueless,

La la la... lavateras! The annual type grew ravingly last summer under similar conditons (then again, last summer wasn't very er... mediterran up here), this year I bought the shrubs. Loads of lushness and flowers all summer. The second la is obviously lavender, a bit grannyish but attractive and evergreen (evergray?). Also Rosa Rugosa will tolerate anything and is absolutely lovely, no-frills rose. It has character.

Good luck with the Leylandii, just don't get carried away, I'd hate to read in the Chronicle you were arrested after being caught redhanded inserting sulphuric acid into the trunks with a syringe. (This wasn't a hint. Never. And it wouldn't work, just old wives' tales. Honestly. )