Test garden week 65 - Extreme drought; Which plant can tolerate it and which cannot?

Last month I wrote a blog about how beautiful the test garden looked, not realising that there would be a turnaround so quickly. Although this is a very instructive period to see which plants can withstand the drought and which cannot, I still walked through the garden with a lump in my throat and I would prefer to provide water as soon as possible. But if this is really the future and we have to deal with long periods of extreme drought in the spring and in the summer, then we have to learn to live with it and adapt to it, just like our gardens and public spaces. With a heavy heart I leave it for what it is .. Even if there is no rain on the menu in the near future. At the end of the day I will see which plants survive and which do not. In order not to make this post too depressing, I can tell you that most plants are still doing well. It is important to know the conditions of my test garden before sharing this information with you. I sit on clay soil, which means the soil holds the water well. This already makes a big difference compared to, for example, sandy (sandy) soil. Furthermore, I sit on an open field and the wind blows straight on all the plants. Wind aka 'the hair dryer'. This ensures that the plants dry out faster. Because I am in an open field, the test garden is in the middle of the sun all day and there is not a shadow of shade or cooling. So you can say that the - apart from the ground - conditions are extreme for the plants. I will first show photos which plants do not do well in this drought, along with a list of the non-drought resistant plants. Then, of course, there are photos of plants that are still doing well, or very well, together with a list of drought-resistant plants that may be interesting for the future of the use of our public spaces or large gardens. In a long time, when hopefully something will fall from the sky again, I can see which plants are recovering well. Hopefully most will recover. Fingers crossed. Feel free to share your experiences with plants in this time, drought or non-drought resistant. The more information we exchange with each other, the more we can learn :)

NON DRY RESISTANT PLANTS

Actually, these look like pictures of autumn, then we would all love this. Unfortunately these are pictures taken yesterday. You can clearly see the combination of plants that have dried up and summer flowering plants that are still doing well. This sometimes gives a crazy picture. Tonight I'm on my knees again with folded hands in front of my bed..

All of the Achillea's ( 'Moonshine', 'The Pearl', ptarmica, 'Schneetaler', 'Perrys White' )

Alchemilla mollis

Artemisia 'Elfenbein'

Aster 'Mittelmeer'

Astilbe 'Peach Blossom'

Campanula 'Prichards Variety'

Delphinium 'Cliveden Beauty'

Echinacea pallida

Echinacea pallida 'Hula Dancer'

Geum 'Mai Tai'

Geum 'Flames of Passion'

Lythrum 'Swirl'

Monarda bradburiana

Persicaria 'Dikke Floskes'

Persicaria 'Orange Field'

Potentilla 'Miss Willmott'

Scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue'

Trollius alabaster

Veronicastrum 'Fascination'

Veronicastrum 'Lavendelturm'

DROUGHT RESISTANT PLANTS

Then the plants that are fortunately still able to withstand this beach weather. Agastache 'Blue Fortune' Agastache nepetoides Alcea rosea 'Sunshine' Asclepias speciosa Artemisia 'Weisse Dame' Aster 'Monch' Aster 'Photograph' Aster 'October Skies' Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' Calamintha fake sub fake Cichorium intybus Deschampsia 'Palava' Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus' Eupatorium 'Chocolate' (unbelievable with its dark leaves) Eupatorium 'Riesenschirm' (I have two, one withered and the other vital) Euphorbias (although they do look very orange) Eryngium yuccifolium Foeniculum 'Giant Bronze' Helenium 'Moerheim Beauty' (exhausted, but healthy leaves) Helenium 'Siesta' Helianthus salicifolius Limonium latifolium (never seen it bloom so beautifully) Lythrum 'Blush' (has suffered from the spring drought and is therefore slightly lower than normal) Lythrum 'Pale Form' Monarda 'Elsie's Lavender' Persicaria 'Pink Mist' Perovskia 'Little Spire' Phlox 'Lilac Cloud' Salvia 'Caradonna' Salvia 'Miss Elly' Scabiosa 'Perfecta' Scabiosa 'Perfecta Alba' Sedum 'Carl' Sedum 'Matrona' (never seen it so beautiful) Sedum 'Red Cauli' Serratula bulgarica Serratula gmelinii Sesleria autumnalis Silphium wasiotense Stipa tenuissima Stipa Pseudoichus Thalictrum 'Elin' Telekia speciosa Verbena 'Bampton'