Plants that have survived drought with little watering?

Teapot55

In my daughter’s garden that used to be mine we lost the pink hydrangea that my mother planted 30+ years ago 😢 There was an infestation of what looked like tiny bits of white candy floss at intervals down the stems. Gutted. She won’t have watered it. 

Twixty3

The following have been fine for me this year in full sun

Geum
Aster Frikarti Monch
Sidalcea
Scabious 
Salvia 
crocosmia
Snapdragons 
Phlox 

Others have wilted but perk up again when watered like helenium and rudbeckia.

I too have a Cherry tree in a pot but it needed a lot of watering.  

Teapot55

We’ve watered a far bit in our little garden that’s mostly in full sun all day.

Our raspberries have been the best ever.

Our two old roses have survived although not as prolific as usual. 

Our rosemary is definitely under stress. 

Our bay in a pot is okay. Did manage to literally nip in the bud an attack of spittlebug. 

The calamandin in the huge pot is okay but lots of foliage and not much fruit. 

The new blackcurrant in the pot produced nice fruit for a few weeks. 

The wild fennel continues to be amazing. One self-seeded plant grew at the edge of our tiny lawn and is over five foot tall. 

Our asparagus was as good as ever but we did water it plenty - was before the drought though. 

The cranberry in the pot died. We forgot to water it. 

sheramber

Look for Mediterranean planting.

Plants in the garden will search out water over a large area. Those in pots do not have that chance so need more watering.

Watering needs to reach the deep roots , so giving  a little that only wets the top 1 or 2 inches of soil will be no good. The encourages the roots to be near the surface and . as a result, they dry out sooner.

A good soaking early in the morning, before the sun is shining, is best.

Slinky

We have a hibiscus in a pot where the leaves are going yellow. Can't work out whether we are overwatering or underwatering. It's being watered every second day. Any suggestions please?

elsien

It’s all a bit catch 22 though isn’t it? Put in Mediterranean drought resistant plants and you’re almost guaranteed to get a soggy squelchy spell where they’re sulking because they’re sitting in water, then they get finished off by a long hard winter. 

Apodemus

Slinky said:

We have a hibiscus in a pot where the leaves are going yellow. Can't work out whether we are overwatering or underwatering. It's being watered every second day. Any suggestions please?

Always a tricky one!  I tend to go by the way the yellowing progresses - with yellow starting at the tips (or brown tips and blotching) indicating overwatering.  My only experience of hibiscus, though, is of it growing in the ground where it tends to have quite a deep root system and is tolerant of a wide range of rain conditions.

Woolsery

elsien said:

It’s all a bit catch 22 though isn’t it? Put in Mediterranean drought resistant plants and you’re almost guaranteed to get a soggy squelchy spell where they’re sulking because they’re sitting in water, then they get finished off by a long hard winter. 

Depends entirely on what local soils are like and the length of time adverse conditions prevail.

For example, I have nerines that sometimes sit in water during winter for a week or more. The area is quite well-drained, but in the wet west sometimes level areas can't clear surface water fast enough. The nerines cope because it's not constant inundation and once respite arrives the surface water clears fast.

Clay is probably the hardest soil to cope with, but winter temperatures matter too. It's early days, but a friend with clay soil on the coast is getting away with keeping plants I imagined she'd soon lose. There haven't been any serious frosts in her garden since its creation, so the jury's still out, but Mediterranean subjects have been fine thus far despite some waterlogging..

twopenny

I seem to see that it's the oldest types of varieties have survived happily.

The original lilac, michaelmas daisys, Helebore, weigelia etc where the newer fancy ones struggle.

Winter Jasmine

Mop head Hydrangea

Pink jasmine

Perenial sweet peas

Forget me nots

Slinky

Apodemus said:

Slinky said:

We have a hibiscus in a pot where the leaves are going yellow. Can't work out whether we are overwatering or underwatering. It's being watered every second day. Any suggestions please?

Always a tricky one!  I tend to go by the way the yellowing progresses - with yellow starting at the tips (or brown tips and blotching) indicating overwatering.  My only experience of hibiscus, though, is of it growing in the ground where it tends to have quite a deep root system and is tolerant of a wide range of rain conditions.

I will study the leaves closely and try and work out which end is yellowing first.