Plants for Dry Sites

If your plot is prone to excessive drying out the provision of adequate watering together with the use of mulches to conserve water will go a long way to helping new plants and hedges in our dry area list get a ‘foothold’

Drought Resistant Hedging – Difficult dry areas are often associated with the shade under the canopy of much larger plants but can be equally as difficult in full sun. All plants will need to replace water lost through the foliage, however some plants have adapted to minimise this loss by modifying their leaves but do remember that all newly planted trees, shrubs and hedging will need regular watering until they are well established also starting with smaller specimens so that they adapt gradually to the conditions. This is particularly true in dry and shady areas, its also worth managing your expectations of growth at this point. Growth rates given on our website are based on ‘good average’ growing conditions, in dry and difficult areas new hedges will often be significantly slower in growth – but dont let that put you off, they will get there!

Mulches will help to retain moisture in the soil and adding some organic matter can improve water availability, well rotted manure or compost are both excellent for this purpose. Using rootgrow at planting time can also be a big help in giving new hedging plants a good start in harsher conditions.

Many evergreen hedging plants are great candidates as drought resistant hedging, Bay Laurel, Box hedging varieties, Euonymus, Hollies, Sweet Box and Yew hedges are all perfect.

The Daisy Bush or Olearia is another tough shrub also suitable for low evergreen hedging, with the lower growing Olearia Haastii for smaller borders or the more substantial Olearia Macrodonta for taller hedges both having silvery felted underside to the foliage making them eminently suitable as drought resistant hedging.

There are several plants of Mediterranean origin which are most suitable for dry areas as they are native to regions where there is little rainfall. Probably the most popular one would be the Lavenders of which there are numerous varieties for example the Hidcote and Munstead, two of the most popular English Lavenders and of course all the French varieties. If you are looking for inspiration for dry shady areas then please look at our shady plant list for a large selection of plants that will thrive in these more difficult conditions.

If you have any further questions about our drought resistant hedging or any other plants in our range please do call our experienced sales team on 01580 765600.