13 drought-tolerant plants for pots to reduce watering

Watering thirsty pots multiple times a week is not only time-consuming; it’s also unsustainable – especially if your stored rainwater has run dry, and you’re having to scrabble around for household greywater or even resort to precious tap water.

Plants in containers will fundamentally need watering more often than the same plants in the ground, but with these designer-approved, low-maintenance plants for pots, you can keep your garden full of colour all summer long while minimising your mileage with the watering can.

8 plants for beautiful blooms

Agapanthus

Agapanthus ‘Sandringham’ on the RHS Royal Legacy Garden

• Looks good with: Stipa tenuissima, Oenothera lindheimeri 
• Position: full sun
• Soil: well-drained
• Flowering period: July–August
• Hardiness: herbaceous forms are generally hardy; evergreen forms can be tender

Salvia ‘Nachtvlinder’

Salvia ‘Nachtvlinder’ on The RHS Pollywiggle Garden

• Looks good with: Verbena ‘Bampton’, Stipa tenuissima, Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’
• Position: full sun or partial shade
• Soil: well-drained or moist but well-drained
• Flowering period: June–August
• Hardiness: fully hardy

 

Oenothera lindheimeri – white gaura

Oenothera lindheimeri on the Butterfly Sanctuary Garden

• Looks good with: agapanthus, Verbena ‘Bampton’, Stipa tenuissima
• Position: full sun or partial shade
• Soil: well-drained or moist but well-drained
• Flowering period: June–August
• Hardiness: fully hardy

Find out more
Buy this plant

 

Verbena officinalis ‘Bampton’ – vervain

Verbena officinalis ‘Bampton’ on The Goldcrest Garden: Restoring Habitat, Repairing Climate

• Looks good with: Stipa tenuissima, Oenothera lindheimeri, Eryngium ‘Blue Hobbit’
• Position: full sun
• Soil: well-drained or moist but well-drained
• Flowering period: June–September
• Hardiness: fully hardy

Find out more
Buy this plant

 

Erigeron karvinskianus – Mexican fleabane

Erigeron karvinskianus on the 100 Sweet Summers garden

Erigeron karvinskianus ‘Lavender Lady’ on The RHS Crafted from Nature Garden

• Looks good with: almost anything where it can froth underneath other plants and spill over the edge of the pot
• Position: full sun or partial shade
• Soil: well-drained or moist but well-drained
• Flowering period: June–August
• Hardiness: fully hardy

Find out more
Buy this plant

 

Tradescantia ‘JS Brainstorm’ – spider lily

Tradescantia ‘JS Brainstorm’ on The RHS Royal Legacy Garden

• Looks good with: Agapanthus, Eryngium ‘Blue Hobbit’, Stipa tenuissima, Euphorbia myrsinites
• Position: full sun or partial shade
• Soil: moist but well-drained – strong resilience to both wet and dry conditions
• Flowering period: June–September
• Hardiness: fully hardy

Find out more
Buy this plant

Eryngium ‘Blue Hobbit’ – sea holly

Eryngium planum ‘Blue Hobbit’ in the Gardens on the Edge long border

• Looks good with: Agapanthus, Oenothera lindheimeri, Tradescantia ‘JS Brainstorm’, Verbena Bampton, Stipa tenuissima, Festuca glauca, Euphorbia myrsinites
• Position: full sun
• Soil: well-drained
• Flowering period: June–September
• Hardiness: fully hardy

Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam’ – tickseed

Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’ on the Tough as Old Boots Garden

• Looks good with: Hylotelephium ‘José Aubergine’, Festuca glauca
• Position: full sun or partial shade
• Soil: well-drained or moist but well-drained
• Flowering period: July–September
• Hardiness: fully hardy

5 plants for fabulous foliage

Hylotelephium ‘José Aubergine’ – sedum

Hylotelephium ‘José Aubergine’ with Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’ on The RHS Royal Legacy Garden

• Looks good with: Verbena officinalis ‘Bampton’, Salvia ‘Nachtvlinder’, Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam’, Festuca glauca, Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’
• Position: full sun
• Soil: well-drained
• Flowering period: August–October
• Hardiness: fully hardy

Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ – wormwood

Artemisia ‘Powys Castle’ on the Tough as Old Boots Garden

• Looks good with: Oenothera lindheimeri, Salvia ‘Nachtvlinder’, Erigeron karvinskianus, Festuca glauca, Euphorbia myrsinites
• Position: full sun
• Soil: well-drained
• Flowering period: August, but it’s all about the foliage!
• Hardiness: tender
  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.

  perennial (hardy in coastal and relatively mild areas of the UK – -5 to 1C)

Find out more
Buy this plant
 

Euphorbia myrsinites – broad-leaved glaucous spurge

Euphorbia myrsinites with Nepeta on The Goldcrest Garden: Restoring Habitat, Repairing Climate

• Looks good with: Erigeron karvinskianus, Eryngium ‘Blue Hobbit’, Stipa tenuissima, other succulents
• Position: full sun
• Soil: well-drained
• Flowering period: April–July
• Hardiness: fully hardy

Find out more
Buy this plant
 

Festuca glauca – blue fescue

Festuca glauca with Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ and Erigeron karvinskianus on the Tough as Old Boots Garden

• Looks good with: Erigeron, Eryngium ‘Blue Hobbit’, Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’,  karvinskianus, Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’, Achillea ‘Moonshine’
• Position: full sun 
• Soil: well-drained or moist but well-drained
• Flowering period: June–July
• Hardiness: fully hardy

Find out more
Buy this plant

 

Stipa tenuissima – Mexican feather grass

Stipa tenuissima with Verbena ‘Bampton’ and Achillea on The Goldcrest Garden: Restoring Habitat, Repairing Climate

• Looks good with: pretty much anything, to give an instant textural lift
• Position: full sun or partial shade
• Soil: well-drained or moist but well-drained
• Flowering period: June–October
• Hardiness: hardy throughout most of the UK

Find out more
Buy this plant