This year’s new gardening trend that is proving very popular in the UK, is a bit of a mouthful Xeriscaping , this involves using Gravel to help preserve the moisture in ones Plant Displays in the ground. This will result in your garden requiring a lot less watering , and a lot less drama if a Hose Pipe Ban on gardens is reintroduced , or the dreaded water charges reared there ugly head again.
In line with this style, UK gardeners are planting up succulents (plants that can manage dry areas very well), in fact the plant that won The Chelsea Garden Show Plant of the Year 2019 is a succulent called Sedum Takesimense Atlantis.
It’s described as an attractive, easy to grow, versatile and multi-functional plant growing to 30cm high with variegate foliage topped with yellow flowers from June to September. It is very robust and drought resistance and blooms are attractive to insect pollinators and the ideal candidates to kick start a very trendy 2019 Xeriscaping Landscaping Project.
In simple terms this is the creation of a garden that can survive on small amounts of water, which is achieved best, by choosing Mediterranean plants and Succulents and using gravel as a topping, like one would use Bark Mulch, this forms a strong blanket on the ground which retains moisture very efficiently meaning one is prepared for any future “Hose Pipe Bans” or just the desire to conserve water.
Xeriscaping comes from the Greek xerosmeaning ‘dry’, merged with the word ‘landscaping’. It’s a style of garden landscaping well suited to dry south facing gardens that being exposed to the sun all day meaning they are prone to being seriously dry.
This type of landscaping will just not help you conserve water, but also save you time and money.
Ideal plants for this style of garden include Lavenders, Rosemary,Artemisia, Nepeta Succulents and Pervoskia.