It was a gruelling summer this year – nothing in comparison to what is happening in some parts of the world, but the fierce combination of extreme heat and a lack of rain has taken its toll. It has been interesting from a cold science point of view – gut-wrenching and desperate from every other – to see what’s managed to cope, appeared to die and then miraculously started to recover, or just very sadly frazzled into oblivion. There have been a few surprises – I’ve found that roses have proven to be tough and resilient plants in the face of the drought, Heucheras and Daylilies are doing fine too, whereas – in my garden at least, the Phlox wilted miserably and Japanese anemones that I often recommend for patches of dry shade, frazzled and failed to flower.

What can we do to help our gardens get through another drought? Should we be planning to replace plants with those from the Mediterranean? Maybe, but the problem with that is that our winters can also be very wet, some of us garden on heavy clay too, which makes for a lethal combination if you are a lavender plant. The best thing that we can do is to try to help our plants to be resilient. This means understanding a bit more about the conditions in our gardens – the soil and the microclimate, and to learn a bit more about our plants – to know which part of the world they came from originally, and – in theory at least, the conditions they should be able to cope with. We can do a lot to improve the structure of the soil, both helping it to retain moisture and improve the drainage. We can collect rainwater and recycle our washing up and bathing water, and when it comes to protecting and feeding, apply organic management techniques rather than chemical. We may also be able to provide shelter from wind and the worst of the winter weather, to be generally more watchful and notice what is going on in the garden.

The Latin name may also give you clues to the habit of the plant and sometimes its preferred location – so Clematis alpina comes from around the Austrian Alps, Nicotiana sylvestris is a woodland plant and Salvia argentina is a silver leaved sage – and silver or grey leaves are an adaptation to scorching sun. Once you get the hang of looking for clues to a plant’s habit or origins in its name, choosing the right plant becomes a little easier – it might not stop you from buying it, but it may give you a clue as to why it turned up its toes.

The newly planted and, sometimes, the very oldest trees and shrubs are the most vulnerable, so it’s important to make sure that woody plants especially are looked after in their first few years. This will mean extra watering each summer, not letting weeds or grass compete and generally keeping an eye out for signs of stress or attack from pests. Shorter lived herbaceous plants are usually quick to establish, but if they don’t like where you’ve planted them they will often move home – seeding themselves into a better position somewhere else in the garden or disappearing completely. 

Some plants just seem know where they want to grow – and, although it’s frustrating when something like Verbena bonariensis (a short lived perennial from Buenos Aires) prefers the cracks in your paving to the nice tidy flowerbed you’ve kindly made, it is sending you a message that it prefers free draining soil and would rather slum it in the path than be smothered in compost or wet clay. Plants want to survive and occasionally (thankfully where this gardener is concerned) benign neglect can foster resilience – providing the conditions are favourable and the wind’s in the right direction.

Join Jo for Garden Design Courses at her garden in Woodchurch, Kent 07923 969634 hornbrookmanor.co.uk