Climate change is bringing more unpredictable weather to UK gardens. While our gardens may still experience plenty of rain, longer periods of hot, dry weather are becoming a greater consideration for gardeners. At the same time, heavy rainfall and winter waterlogging can create a very different set of challenges.
The good news is that you don’t need to completely redesign your garden to prepare for the future. By choosing resilient plants, improving your soil and changing the way you manage water, you can create a garden that looks attractive, needs less watering and requires less maintenance.
Choose the Right Plants for a Changing Climate
The most important principle for a drought-resilient garden is simple: choose the right plant for the right place.
Look at how much sun an area receives, whether the soil is sandy, clay or chalky, how exposed it is to wind and whether it becomes wet during winter. A plant that is drought tolerant in one situation may struggle in another.
Plants from Mediterranean and other naturally dry regions are often excellent choices. Look for plants with silver or grey-green foliage, leathery leaves, fine hairs or fleshy leaves. These characteristics can help plants reduce water loss or store moisture.
Drought-tolerant plants that can also cope with UK winters
A particularly useful approach is to choose plants that combine drought tolerance with good hardiness, rather than simply choosing plants associated with hot countries.
Good options to consider include:
- Lavender – thrives in sunny, well-drained conditions and is excellent for pollinators.
- Nepeta (catmint) – drought tolerant, long flowering and useful as ground cover.
- Sedum/Hylotelephium – fleshy leaves allow it to store water, while its flowers provide late-season colour.
- Euphorbia characias – architectural evergreen foliage and excellent drought tolerance.
- Elaeagnus – tough shrubs with leathery foliage that cope well with dry conditions.
- Viburnum – useful shrubs that can provide structure and seasonal interest.
- Aucuba – particularly useful where drought is combined with shade.
- Thyme – excellent for dry, sunny areas and can work as a low-growing ground cover.
- Geraniums – many hardy varieties are adaptable and relatively resilient once established.
- Verbena bonariensis – adds height, colour and attracts pollinators.
- Rosemary and sage – useful evergreen herbs for sunny, well-drained areas.
Hillier highlights plants including Abelia, Buxus, Ceanothus, Euphorbia characias and Hylotelephium among drought-resistant choices.
However, don’t assume that every Mediterranean plant will automatically survive a British winter. Check the plant’s hardiness rating and consider the conditions in your particular garden. Cold, wet winter soil can be just as damaging to some drought-tolerant plants as summer drought.
Improve Your Soil to Hold More Water
Your soil is effectively your garden’s water-storage system.
Adding plenty of organic matter such as well-rotted garden compost can improve soil structure and increase its ability to retain water. This is particularly useful for sandy soils, which can drain very quickly. Heavy clay soils can also benefit from organic matter, helping to improve their structure and make them easier for plant roots to explore.
The aim isn’t simply to add more water. It is to make better use of the rain that does fall.
Digging and improving soil before planting is therefore one of the most useful long-term investments you can make in a drought-prone garden.
Mulch: One of the Easiest Water-Saving Improvements
Bare soil loses moisture quickly through evaporation. Covering it with mulch creates a protective layer between the soil and the atmosphere.
Use materials such as:
- Homemade garden compost
- Well-rotted manure
- Composted bark
- Wood chippings
- Leaf mould
- Gravel or grit where appropriate
Aim for a layer of around 5–7.5cm (2–3 inches) and apply it when the soil is already moist. Mulch also suppresses weeds, meaning there are fewer plants competing with your ornamental plants for water.
Reduce the Amount of Lawn
A traditional lawn can still have a place in a drought-resilient garden. Established lawns are surprisingly resilient and will often turn brown during prolonged dry weather before recovering when rain returns.
The key is not to panic and continually water a lawn to keep it green.
Incorporating paving and decorative aggregates can help reduce the amount of lawn that requires maintenance and watering while adding structure, texture and year-round interest to the garden. Features such as patios, pathways and seating areas create practical outdoor living spaces, while gravel, slate chippings and other decorative aggregates can be used to define planting areas and provide an attractive, low-maintenance finish.
Permeable paving and gravel surfaces are particularly beneficial in drought-resilient gardens because they allow rainwater to soak naturally into the ground rather than running off into drains. Decorative aggregates can also help reduce evaporation from the soil, suppress weed growth and complement drought-tolerant planting schemes, creating a garden that is both resilient and visually appealing.
Raise the mower height during dry periods, leave grass slightly longer and allow established lawns to recover naturally. You could also replace some areas of lawn with drought-tolerant ground cover, ornamental grasses, gravel planting or low-growing thyme.
Reducing lawn area can also significantly reduce mowing, edging and other routine maintenance.
Create a Lower-Maintenance Garden
Drought resilience and low maintenance can work extremely well together.
Instead of planting dozens of individual species that all have different watering requirements, create larger groups of plants with similar needs. For example, combine lavender, rosemary, thyme, nepeta and sedums in a sunny, free-draining border.
Once established, these plants can require considerably less intervention than thirsty plants that need regular watering.
Ground-cover plants are particularly useful because they shade the soil, suppress weeds and reduce evaporation.
Avoid filling the garden with lots of small containers and hanging baskets if reducing watering is a priority. Containers have a relatively small volume of compost and can dry out quickly. Larger containers retain moisture for longer.
Water Less Often – But Water Better
When watering is necessary, don’t give plants frequent little drinks. Deep, occasional watering encourages roots to grow deeper into the soil, helping established plants become more resilient during dry periods.
Water directly around the root zone rather than spraying foliage or large areas of bare soil. Early morning is generally the most efficient time because evaporation is lower.
Most importantly, remember that newly planted plants are different from established plants. Even drought-tolerant plants need regular watering while their root systems develop. Planting in autumn can give many plants time to establish roots before the following summer.
Design for the Future, Not Just This Summer
The drought-resilient garden of the future doesn’t have to look dry, brown or Mediterranean. With the right combination of trees, shrubs, perennials, grasses and ground-cover plants, it can be colourful, wildlife-friendly and full of interest throughout the year.
Think about your garden as a complete system: healthy soil stores water, mulch protects it, plants use it efficiently, ground cover reduces evaporation, rainwater is captured and hard surfaces are minimised.
By making these changes gradually, you can create a garden that is better prepared for hotter, drier summers while also requiring less watering and maintenance.
The ultimate goal isn’t to create a garden that never needs water. It is to create one where rainfall is used efficiently, plants are naturally resilient and your garden can look after itself far more effectively.
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