Plants for Dry Conditions: Blues and Yellow

James Lawrence, RHS Principal Horticultural Advisor, has designed this simple, attractive, and most importantly, sustainable border design for you to try at home, with plants that are easy to grow, widely available and look good together.

This planting design provides a range of plants that, once established, will thrive together in dry conditions, with blue and yellow flowers and attractive foliage providing year-round interest. A simple planting plan helps to create depth, interest and good coverage in a border.

James Lawrence

The glossy leaves of the Ceanothus help it cope well with drought, and the hairy leaf surfaces of Nepeta and Lavandula give their foliage a silver sheen, helping to reduce water loss.

Dense planting will help to reduce soil erosion, suppress weed growth and reduce water loss from the soil surface. Some of these plants will also attract vital pollinators to the garden.

Additional organic mulching , preferably with homemade compost , can further improve soil moisture retention and weed suppression. It will also help to improve the water-holding ability of your soil. Mulches should be spread when the soil is already moist, to help trap some of that moisture before it dries out in summer.

1 - Ceanothus 'Skylark' is a bushy, evergreen shrub with glossy, dark green leaves and blue flowers from late spring to early summer.

2 - Cytisus × praecox 'Allgold' is a small shrub with a dense, bushy habit, small green leaves and green stems. Bright yellow flowers appear in late spring.

3 - Caryopteris × clandonensis 'Worcester Gold' is a rounded deciduous

Deciduous refers to plants (mainly trees and shrubs) that lose their leaves seasonally, usually during autumn. This is a natural process triggered by the season's shorter days and lower temperatures and allows plants to conserve energy during the winter months.

shrub with pale yellow new foliage that fades to greenish-yellow later in the season. Clusters of violet-blue flowers appear from late July and last well into autumn.

4 - Eryngium bourgatii 'Picos Blue' is a herbaceous perennial

Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.

with spiny, silver-veined grey-green leaves. In summer, upright stems bear intense blue, thistle-like flowerheads surrounded by spiny, star-shaped blue bracts.

5 - Genista lydia is a compact, deciduous shrub with slender, arching branches and small green foliage. Masses of bright yellow flowers appear in early summer.

6 - Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant' is a vigorous herbaceous perennial forming a clump of aromatic, grey-green leaves. Lavender-blue flowers are produced along loose spikes in summer.

7 - Lavandula angustifolia 'Imperial Gem' is a compact evergreen shrub with aromatic, narrow grey-green leaves, and tall fragrant spikes of deep purple flowers in summer. 

Sandy, chalky and shallow soils are often free-draining and can create dry growing conditions.

By choosing plants which are well-suited to dry conditions, you can keep your border looking good and growing well. If planted in the right place, plants tend to be stronger and more naturally resistant to pests and diseases.

Once the plants are established, this will reduce the need for extra inputs that less well-adapted plants would need, such as excessive water and fertiliser.

Low availability of water in the soil can have a seriously detrimental effect on many plants, often leading to poor performance and possibly failure of plants establishing.

If your plants have adapted to naturally thrive in these conditions, they will grow much better. Drought-tolerant plants are often deep-rooted, have extensive root systems or show other adaptations to cope with dry conditions. They will need to be watered while they establish these roots, before they can cope with drought.

Using the ethos of ‘right plant, right place’ to create a sustainable planting combination is great for the environment. It helps avoid waste and the use of products and practices needed to try and help ailing plants, such as the application of fertiliser. It also creates robust, long-lived planting that benefits soil health and garden biodiversity

The variety of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms) in a particular environment. Boosting the biodiversity of your garden has many benefits, including supporting wildlife, improving soil health and reducing the likelihood of pest and disease problems.

. For more information about sustainable gardening, please see the RHS Sustainability Strategy .