Further musings on the 2026 drought

The weather has finally broken from its' unending diet of heat and lack of rain.  Not by much; there have only been a few showers and no prolonged heavy rain.  But enough to cool the air and promote a little bit of green recovery.  

One tiny oddity has materialised.  This is the Tennis Court lawn and surrounding dry borders at The Garden House...

...dry, brown grass as far as the eye can see.

Interrupted only by little patches of green.  Hairy Hawkbit, Leontodon saxatilis, a common UK garden weed, with deep roots that can reach what available moisture is left in the ground.  The grass, alas, is shallow rooted.

Drought adaptation differences summarised in two images.  Ah well, at least we now know exactly where the weeds are.

Some musings on the current drought

Since I last posted it's been very warm and completely rain free.  With most parts of Southern England in drought conditions gardens inevitably suffer.  My own garden has been left to its own devices and it's coping reasonably well, being largely shady, though pots need watering daily from my water butts via treks with cans.

But that's not possible in the ten acres of The Garden House.  The cost of watering would be exorbitant.  So, how has it coped?

Remarkably well.  Of course areas of the garden are dry.  Witness the lawn in the Magic Circle and the long grass wildflower areas on the banked hillside of the Arboretum:

The Magic Circle 

The Arboretum and lake 

Shaded areas suffer lower evaporation rates which is why the Magic Circle lawn still remains partially green after weeks without rain.  Meanwhile the long grass of the wildflower banks insulate the soil to reduce water loss around our many specimen trees and shrubs.

Covering the ground is an essential part of the water conservation strategy.  We have very little bare earth even in the most cultivated areas of the walled garden.  

Walled garden lower terrace

Another view of the Walled Garden lower terrace

The central lawn between the main borders may be going brown but the plant filled beds are still producing abundant colour without watering.  Here's a couple more examples:

Two further factors add to the ability of the garden to cope with drought.  

Firstly the location.  The Garden House is a valley garden, oriented approximately east west and surrounded by mature tree plantings.  There's plentiful sunshine but the wind shelter of the location cuts evaporation down.  

Secondly, the mulching.  We apply heavy annual winter mulches to the loamy acid shale derived soil throughout as much of the garden as possible.  Most is on-site generated but tons of composted bracken is also added.  80 years of this has produced a very organic, water retentive and nutrient rich soil that further insulates the plants against drought.

The result is colour throughout the garden.  This was the Summer Garden on Monday 27 July.  

Colourful, naturalistic planting that is shrugging off the worst of the current weather.  Well worth visiting to see the lessons to be learned.

 Eryngium x zabelii 'Big Blue'

I first became aware of this lovely sea holly in the Summer garden at The Garden House and knew I had to buy it for my own small plot   It took a while to source a plant but I found one in the end and it went into a small, sunny bed under my tree trained Yucca gloriosa 'Variegata' where it's remained and flowered for the last few years.  Here's the latest image, taken today, the spiky, intensely blue, flower heads contrasting well with the Yucca..

Of course The Garden House has a lot more room to display a good patch of the plant, most notably in this image I took a couple of years ago with the Eryngium pointing across the Summer Garden towards the house.

Even in my small plot it fits in well with my more exotic plantings.  Here it's contrasting with my Cycas revoluta sago palm and Hosta 'Frances Williams'

Perennial, hardy, reliable providing it doesn't sit with its roots in saturated soil and, in its own way, exotic looking, its a plant I treasure.  And, on a final note, it's very attractive to bees, the cluster of individual flowers in the flower head producing a wealth of nectar for weeks on end..

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