Plenty of suggestions then, thank you all. Trying to arrange what I do plant will be the trickier bit and deciding how deep to do the planting.
I should have said I already bought 2 salvia plugs- royal bumble and jezebel. Local garden centre have hot lips on the cheap so might go with that to complete the trio.
On the Allium front, I have purple sensation and purple rain in the existing borders. I do especially like the size of the purple rain flowers, being a cross of sensation and christophii it seems to do the trick.
How about Penstemon? Once established they cope with drought. Also any prairie plants such as Helenium/Rudbeckia etc. Plus Red Hot Poker? Libertia? Gaillardia?
Would Echinaceas be a better bet for dry soil/drought tolerance in general?
I have a Rudbeckia Goldstrum in the existing border, planted in Autumn 2017 and it's been great until this year where it's really struggled to get going. It's still not got much height at all. I suspect it's a combination of needing divided, competing for space and the dry spring.
How about Penstemon? Once established they cope with drought. Also any prairie plants such as Helenium/Rudbeckia etc. Plus Red Hot Poker? Libertia? Gaillardia?
Would Echinaceas be a better bet for dry soil/drought tolerance in general?
I have a Rudbeckia Goldstrum in the existing border, planted in Autumn 2017 and it's been great until this year where it's really struggled to get going. It's still not got much height at all. I suspect it's a combination of needing divided, competing for space and the dry spring.
Can anyone advise on this please if they have any experience with Rudbeckia vs. Echinacea in dry soil?
Hi, I have very dry, sandy soil and I've struggled with both to be honest. I still grow annual rudbeckias occasionally but I gave up on the perennial ones as they never came back well the year after planting. I've also tried echinaceas on a few occasions without much success. I have three at the moment, planted last autumn, and they're quite weedy looking so far this year. That's just my experience and perhaps others will have had more luck. Its a pity as I really like echinaceas but perhaps its a plant I will just have to admire in other peoples gardens.
Echinaceas didn't do well for me on clay soil, the perennial rudbeckia seems better in dry part shade under a tree, although this year I suspect it's starting to spread which I'm not sure I want.
I wonder just how much the reason for my rudbeckia struggling this year is due to the size it's got to and the competition either side as opposed to just dry weather/soil. It's been good the previous 2 years and if it's spread so far in the soil I'd assume it would only do that if it tended to be happy.
The picture below just happens to be a year ago to the day and the height it's at there was also with getting a chelsea chop. The red line is approximately the height of the plant right now with no chelsea chop.
Makes me think with a deeper border to play with I might just give an echinacea a go and see how it fairs.
The old Echinacea Purpurea, I have ‘Magnus Superb’, is tougher and does better for me in dry conditions, whereas the modern orange cultivars I have need more water. Heleniums cope fine here, but again, need water. I haven’t tried rudbeckia as I understand it has higher water requirements than the others. Agastache copes with hot, dry conditions better than them all, but I do lose a few over winter, even though my winters tend to be dry, but with occasional hard frosts.
The problem I find with modern echinacea cultivars is that they don’t grow well or thrive from 9cm pots - you need to grow them on for a year and keep cutting off the blooms to get a decent root system going first. The Purpurea types, tho, grew away fine from little plants.
Edited to say... oh and this one, I think it is White Swan, is also a toughie, growing against a south-facing hot stone wall:
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Well, yes but we do get a lot of torrential rain in spring/summer tho, so with the heat it gets pretty humid. They don’t seem to mind that, but the thing echinaceas don’t like is sitting in cold, wet soil in winter, so in the UK, good drainage is a must!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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I should have said I already bought 2 salvia plugs- royal bumble and jezebel. Local garden centre have hot lips on the cheap so might go with that to complete the trio.
On the Allium front, I have purple sensation and purple rain in the existing borders. I do especially like the size of the purple rain flowers, being a cross of sensation and christophii it seems to do the trick.
I have a Rudbeckia Goldstrum in the existing border, planted in Autumn 2017 and it's been great until this year where it's really struggled to get going. It's still not got much height at all. I suspect it's a combination of needing divided, competing for space and the dry spring.
The picture below just happens to be a year ago to the day and the height it's at there was also with getting a chelsea chop. The red line is approximately the height of the plant right now with no chelsea chop.
Makes me think with a deeper border to play with I might just give an echinacea a go and see how it fairs.
Edited to say... oh and this one, I think it is White Swan, is also a toughie, growing against a south-facing hot stone wall:
I suspect if anyone knows about coping with dry conditions it'll be you.