Leaf adaptations allow plants to withstand heat and drought well. The thick leathery leaves of the Ceanothus and Olearia, and the hairy foliage of the Geranium, reduce the water lost from the foliage.
The Bistorta and Ajuga create ground cover, which suppresses weed growth and helps to cover the soil. This cover reduces soil erosion and the loss of water from the soil surface by evaporation.
Using an organic mulch, preferably homemade compost, while the plants establish can help to provide the same benefits.
Several of these plants will also attract vital pollinators to your garden, helping to improve biodiversity.
1 – Ceanothus ‘Concha’ is a dense evergreen shrub with arching branches bearing narrow, dark green leaves and profuse clusters of deep blue flowers in late spring.
2 – Symphyotrichum turbinellum Lindl. is a bushy herbaceous perennial with narrow, dark leaves and open sprays of orange-centred, lavender-blue daisies 2cm across.
3 – Osmanthus delavayi is a dense, slow-growing, medium-sized evergreen shrub with rounded dark green leaves and many small, highly scented white flowers in spring, followed by small, blue-black berries in autumn.
4 – Eryngium giganteum ‘Silver Ghost’ is a branching biennial with cone-like heads of blue flowers, surrounded by spiny, silvery-white bracts.
5 – Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ is a bushy deciduous shrub with very large (up to 25cm across), spherical heads of white flowers in summer.
6 – Nepeta x faassenii ‘Purrsian Blue’ is a compact perennial with greyish-green, toothed, aromatic leaves clothing the stems, and upright spikes of small, densely packed blue flowers in summer and autumn.
7 – Anemone x hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’ is a clump-forming perennial with three-lobed, toothed green leaves offsetting large, semi-double, pure white flowers with golden yellow stamens, held on strong stems from summer to autumn.