AUGUST 2026

Well as some of you may have noticed it has been a little dry of late, but I don’t wish to spend this month’s Diary bemoaning the lack of water. Instead I’d like to highlight some of those plants have thrived on no water or very little water. 

I won’t include things like Agaves and Aloes, which I love, however though they may undoubtably enjoy our current conditions they will be deeply unhappy when winter arrives.

Many of the shrubs and trees are doing well, having the benefit of deep root systems, but doing especially well are the Roses. In Britain we are at the edge of their natural habitat, and they can often struggle with disease or flower collapse when we have damp summers. By contrast in hot and dry conditions the roses are able to remain upright, and the flowers are kept crisp. 

Unsurprisingly small herby shrubs such as Lavender, Bay and Rosemary have coped well.

Of the herbaceous plants there are several that you’d expect to be doing well such as the Sedum telephium, Echinacea purpurea, Kniphofia, Verbena bonariensis, and Pennisetum alopecuroides. 

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These are all well adapted to dry conditions; the Pennisetum or Fountain Grass has narrow leaves that lose very little water, and have a fairly dense centre, which helps to direct any water to the middle and then keeps a moist microclimate around their roots.

The Kniphofia are more fleshy and larger plants, but they have a similar shape and adaptations to the grass, and originating in South Africa they are used to warm temperatures.

Both the Echinacea and the Verbena have fairly tough, rough stems, and leaves. The leaves are small and close to the ground, both of which help in preventing water loss, and their flowers are small but numerous to prevent having to use nutrients and water in the need of building and sustaining larger structures. 

As for the Sedum, well they are essentially succulents, one which will survive our wet and cold winters, but has fleshy leaves to store water through the summer. 

Others that have thrived include Perovskia, Gaura, Fennel, and Asparagus.

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I’d highly recommend the Perovskia, which can grow to over a metre. It is like a herbaceous Lavender, though I don’t think related. It will happily branch outwards, but keeps a pretty upright shape, and its strong stems make for good winter structure also.

The Gaura has small leaves much like the Verbena bonariensis, and en masse creates a wonderfully romantic billowy form. Sadly unscented, but such a good plant for mixing with others, it just keeps on flowering through the summer. 

The Fennel and Asparagus are most usually grown as crop plants, but they both cope well in hot conditions so I would encourage you to use them with other planting too. The Asparagus should ideally stay in the same place for a good 10-20 years meaning that several spears can be harvested in the spring and the rest left to grow through summer, This will replenish and feed the crowns of the plant for next year’s crop but also make for a great foliage plant intermixed with others. 

Fennel plants will set seed readily, when young they can be harvested for cooking and eating, but they can also be left to naturalise through a planting scheme making for bold colour at this time of year and winter structure later on. Just remember to remove any seedlings that you don’t want.

I will also add onto here Agapanthus, but specifically hardy Agapanthus, those with the narrow leaves. The non-hardy varieties certainly love the sun, but they won’t survive the winter so have to be protected, preferably indoors. Great colour and great structural shape, who doesn’t love an Agapanthus!

Many of the climbing plants are doing well, but I can’t help wishing that two might slow down and stop growing: the Vine and Wisteria plants. In all cases except one of the Wisterias each plant is almost entirely surrounded by hard landscaping, and yet they keep producing copious numbers of new shoots, flowers and fruits, and show no signs of wilting. Useful plants for filling large spaces, growing where others would struggle, and for creating shade allowing more susceptible plants to endure. 

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