ALPINES & PERENNIALS FOR DRY GARDENS
On 12 August, Grayshott Gardeners heard an informative talk from Tim Ingram, owner of Copton Ash Garden, a family-run garden and specialist nursery in Faversham, Kent. Open for the National Garden Scheme, the garden and nursery specialise mainly in alpines and drought-tolerant plants—a particularly relevant subject because of this long, dry summer.
Tim is also a long-standing member of the Alpine Garden Society and Copton Ash belongs to Plant Fairs Roadshow, a co-operative of small, independent specialist nurseries that organise plant fairs across the Southeast.
Tim began by discussing the changing climate, with wetter winters and springs and increasingly dry summers. He showed a chart noting that Faversham recorded a temperature of 38.5°C in August 2023, when the area had even less rainfall than this year.
Tim presented a slideshow featuring a wide range of plants suited to dry climates, including succulents, Mediterranean plants, bulbs, alpines, silvers and umbellifers.
Cyclamens – especially the hederifolium are valuable plants for dry over rooted shaded areas as they can flower in completely parched soil. They are also suited to woodland areas.
Campanulas, together with primula marginata, daphne, aubrietia and many other plants, grow well in dry conditions. Silver-leaved plants are also well suited to dry gardens. Tim recommended two books on the subject: Mrs Desmond Underwood’s Grey and Silver Plants and Robert Nold’s High and Dry.
Various bulbs, such as crocus, fritillaria, muscari, tulips and muscari grow well in dry soils. Iris reticulata and gladiolus communis are good as meadow plants but can suffer if it is very dry.
Mediterranean plants, including lavender and other herbs, euphorbia, yucca and salvia, grow well in dry soils. Tim also recommended Olivier Filippi’s book Planting Design for Dry Gardens, which covers a wide range of plants suitable for Mediterranean-style gardens.
Tim touched on the Umbellifers which grow well in dry gardens, his favourite being Ligusticum lucidum, a tall short-lived herbaceous perennial which has fine airy green foliage and white flowers in the summer.
Tim then went on the describe some of the many cacti and succulents you can grow in the garden. Cacti can be grown in very shallow containers and in various wonderful constructions (as shown on the slide show).
Tim said that Britain’s Hottest Garden in Ventnor, Isle of Wight was worth a visit as was Tom Stuart-Smith’s The Surge Hill Project which is near Watford. A video of the talk, including the full list of recommended plants, will be available on the website soon.