Towards Sustainable Gardening

When planning your planting scheme or choosing new plants for your garden search for plants that grow well in a dryer climate.

The climate forecasters are all telling us that our climate will be warmer and dryer. Already there are big signs that our ground water wells have less water in them. We know that farmers are applying to take more water from the ground and that large irrigation companies are applying to take more water from our rivers.

By choosing plants that will survive in a dryer climate you can save water and have a fine garden as well. There are some wonderful plants available that will grow well and produce beautiful and colourful flowers.

Your choices include protea, leucodendrons and leucospermum from South Africa, grevillea, correa, and kangaroo paw from Australia. New Zealand plants from the dry areas include clianthus (kakabeak), kowhai, ribbon wood, pepper tree, hebe, coprosma and many more.

There a number of checklists for plants for dry places in different books and on various internet web sites. Have a look around, read the labels and make an informed choice.

You’ll benefit from plants that:

• Grow with less care and attention

• Produce nice flowers and survive

Benefits of Mulch

When planting new plants for a dryer climate there are ways in which we can conserve soil moisture to save on watering. Using mulch is the best option. Natural mulch like compost, pea straw or similar material is best. The mulch will draw moisture up from deep down in the soil and stop it being evaporating into the atmosphere thus making it available to the plant. Apply mulch regularly.

We do not have to wait to do this as these plants make a fine show in our normal climatic conditions.

Article by Alan Jolliffe. Read Alan’s blog here.