Arid / desert bed planting

Posts

• Busy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043

  April 2023

  There is a lovely garden, open to the public, The Old Vicarage, East Ruston, Norfolk. They have many different garden areas but one is a desert garden. The are Eschscholzias, Euphorbias, Lychnis Coronaria and Stachys byzantina as well as other sharp and pointy plants.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.

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• bédé Posts: 3,095

  April 2023 edited April 2023

  If you read Beth Chatto's "Dry Garden", you will see that it is not a dry garden, merely a gravel garden.  There were tons and tons of organic material added befor a gravel topping.
  
  Look at any of the genera in the OP's list, and most would not survive another winter in the UK like 2022-23.
  
  Can anyone tell us how The Old VIcarage and Elmstead performed?

   location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
  "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

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• punkdoc Posts: 15,039

  April 2023 edited April 2023

  Of course it is a dry garden, it has never been watered since it was made. What definition of dry should we use?
  
  The desert garden at the Old Vicarage has been thriving for many years, they are the only garden in the UK to get several species of Aloe to ever flower.
  
  

  How can you lie there and think of England
  When you don't even know who's in the team
  
  S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border

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• wild edges Posts: 10,497

  April 2023

  I was going to recommend you ask over on the BCSS forum but I see you're way ahead of me there That ovatifolia 'iced heart' someone recommended is a lovely looking plant.
  

  If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  

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• Busy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043

  April 2023

  Beth Chatto's dry garden was made on the old car park where the land was very dry up the hill and it isn't watered. It's in Essex, one of the driest places in the UK.

  Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.

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• lymer.paulx4hsxxEA Posts: 13

  April 2023

  Busy-Lizzie said:

  Beth Chatto's dry garden was made on the old car park where the land was very dry up the hill and it isn't watered. It's in Essex, one of the driest places in the UK.

  Beautiful spot, love it there. 

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• lymer.paulx4hsxxEA Posts: 13

  April 2023

  carletonexotic said:

  Does anyone have an arid / desert / dry bed in their garden? 
  
  I'm creating one currently, inspired in part by Beth Chatto's Dry Garden and the Ruth Bancroft garden in the US. I'm filling it with grit and gravel with very little organic matter, and will be providing overhead cover in winter.
  
  My plant list is as follows:
  

  • Yucca rostrata
  • Yucca filamentosa
  • Agave americana
  • Agave ovatifolia
  • Agave montana
  • Aloe striatula
  • Aristaloe aristata
  • Opuntia humifusa
  • Opuntia engelmanni

  Plus various aeoniums in summer.
  
  Does anyone have any planting suggestions?
  
  
  
  How about some more edibles? Olive, Rosemary and Sage. Creeping thyme near boulders. 

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• philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742

  April 2023

  @carletonexotic I hope you succeed but West Yorkshire isn't exactly known for being hot and dry   The grit and gravel will certainly help as will cover during the winter months. If the cover still allows rain thru I'd be careful with some of the Aloes, Agaves and Opuntia especially if we get another year of wet/freeze. I managed to lose several of my Agaves which I'd had for years and I'm in the SW UK .
  Best of luck anyway 

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