What a year so far! Unprecedented heat and drought, particularly in the South East has made us all think about the plants we are growing, and wonder whether we need to replant for the future. Rather than dwell on the old favourites that have struggled or maybe even succumbed, let us look at those that have survived and even thrived.

There is no shortage of advice from the experts. RHS has award winning plant recommendations. for drought. Sarah Raven has choosing drought tolerant plants and of course Beth Chatto, who developed a famous dry garden near Colchester in Essex, which is offering a collection of drought resistant plants. However, here in Marden we have specific soil conditions, for the most part heavy clay which not only dries out in summer but can become very waterlogged in winter. Not ideal for some of the plants, such as lavender, often cited as ideally drought tolerant which require poor, stony, well-drained soil throughout the year. So it makes sense to look closely at the plants in our own Marden gardens which are adapted to our wet, heavy clay in winter, but have also coped well with this summer’s extremes of heat and lack of water.

These are some from our gardens:

Many of the above have survived without any watering at all. So too have Field Scabious, Rudbeckia Autumn Gold (6 ft tall), and various asters and chrysanthemums. There are some surprises here - Fuchsia Magellanica thriving where other fuchsia have definitely suffered in my garden, and the crocosmia, which I’ve seen growing wild on the wet west coast of Ireland - so it would seem that it is very adaptable.

Thanks to Sue Hall, Alys Holdway and Zubeida Roberts for sharing their successes.

If you have notable successes to add to this plant list please send them with a photograph to info@mardengardeners.uk or you can comment in the box below.