Find a list of low-maintenance landscaping plants for your garden’s hot, sunny, windy, dry and wet shade spots to cover all the in-between spaces.
Working with nature is the easiest way to plant a garden. Even a small landscape has shady corners and sunny ones. On a larger site, there’s every likelihood you’ll find patches of dry soil and damp areas, slopes, ditches, or poor stony soil. There’s far less risk of failure if you match plants to these different habitats, because they’ve evolved over thousands of years to cope with them.
Once you’ve become familiar with some of the ways plants deal with different conditions, you may even be able to assess an unfamiliar plant and make a reasonable guess where it’ll be happiest in your landscape.
Plants That Thrive In Hot, Sunny, Dry Sites
One of the key ways plants deal with drought is by having smaller, narrower leaves. Small leaves, especially thin, needlelike ones, lose far less water than big, flat leaves with a large surface area. The leaves of common broom (Cytisus scoparius) are virtually nonexistent, for example, and are no more than tiny scales on its tough, wiry, green stems. Leaves of other drought-tolerant species may have a tough, shiny cuticle to prevent water loss, such as those of shrubby hare’s ear (Bupleurum fruticosum).
Many plants of hot, dry places have thick, fleshy leaves that can actually store water – the ice plant (Hylotelephium spectabile) is typical.
Plants with scented leaves have developed a novel method of reducing water loss. On hot days, the volatile oils that give a scented plant its characteristic perfume evaporate from the leaves and form a protective “cloud” around the plant to retain moisture.
Several factors reduce the likelihood of leaves scorching in the full glare of the sun. Silver leaves reflect light so it bounces back off the leaf without damaging it. Sometimes, it’s not the leaves themselves that are silver but the layer of hairs that cover them. In addition to reflecting light, hairs also shade the leaf and reduce water loss, and they can even combat the effects of salt damage in coastal landscapes. Sea holly (Eryngium bourgatii) flourishes in dry conditions – the drier the better – and its leaves turn even more intensely silver as the environment becomes more hostile.
Plants that form a densely packed rosette of leaves – for example, common house leek (Sempervivum tectorum) – have also adapted to growing in full sun. The overlapping leaves shade each other and reduce water loss.
Windy, Exposed Sites
Plants that have adapted to open, exposed habitats tend to have leaves that are split into small leaflets or that are feathery and finely divided. In a gale, these are far less likely to be damaged than a big, flat leaf, which is easily torn.
Habitat also shapes overall appearance. Plants of exposed places tend to form low-growing, rounded shapes that resist the wind, with all of their branches and leaves neatly tucked in so the wind skims right over. Out of sight, they have deep root systems that anchor them firmly in the earth.
Small species of hebe (Hebe spp.), with their neat, rounded shape, do well on exposed coastal sites; heathers (Erica cinerea and Calluna vulgaris) survive by similar means on exposed inland landscapes.
Don’t assume a plant that grows well in an exposed coastal landscape will transplant equally happily to an open, windy site inland. Although coasts may be buffeted by gales, it’s always a few degrees warmer in winter because of the warming presence of the sea, which cools down more slowly than land.
Coping with Shade
All plants need light to photosynthesize, but their requirements vary enormously. Even some sun-loving plants will tolerate a surprising degree of shade, although they may flower less prolifically than they would in full sun or produce less upright and more sprawling growth.
Damp Shade
Shade plants that prefer damp soil often have large, thin leaves to catch maximum sunlight and rain. Those that are essentially woodland species grow quickly and flower early in the year before the tree canopy develops.
Thereafter, smaller plants take a back seat – indeed, many eventually die back altogether until the following spring, including the wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa) and spring bulbs, such as snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) and English bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta).
Dry Shade
The combination of dry soil and shade defeats many plants in the struggle to get enough light while minimizing water loss. But some species can cope. Their leaves often have a shiny surface to reflect light back onto the undersides of neighboring leaves – for example, thorny olive (Elaeagnus pungens).
Reading Latin Names for Plants
Latin names for plants can seem off-putting or intimidating. They’re often long, complicated, difficult to spell, and even more difficult to pronounce. Yet apart from ensuring that you buy exactly the plant you’re looking for rather than relying on the common name, which can vary from region to region, Latin names can sometimes help you find out more about a plant. It’s the second word in the two-part name that’s more useful in this respect. The first part of the name denotes the genus to which the plant belongs – a group of fairly similar plants. The second word in the Latin name is the specific name, which can give many clues to a plant’s preferred habitat.
As a great part of English is derived from Latin, some of these words will seem familiar. You don’t need a degree to translate them into some kind of working sense for gardeners.
The words listed below are all adjectival, which means the endings will vary slightly when matched to a genus, to agree with it in gender and in number. Hence, sea kale is “Crambe maritima” rather than “maritimus.”
- Water-loving: aquaticus, aquatilis, hydrophilus, pluvialis
- Dry-loving: aridus, xerophilus
- Sun-loving: apricus, solaris
- Cold-tolerant: algidus, frigidus
- Woodland: sylvicola, sylvatica
- Seashore: maritimus, littoralis, marinus
- Meadow: arvensis
- Marsh: palustris
- Sandy soil: arenarius, arenicola
- Chalky soil: calcicola
- Acidic soil: calcifugus
With that in mind, let’s look at some particularly hardy plants that might be perfect for those tricky areas in your landscape.
Japanese Crab Apple Malus x floribunda
In spring, the Japanese crab apple is a mass of deep-pink buds that open to reveal pale-pink or even white petals. The genus Malus includes the domestic apple tree, and the Japanese crab apple produces small, yellow edible “apples” in autumn, but their size means they’re best left as a source of food for birds throughout winter.
- Habitat: sun, also suitable for partial shade
- Soil: any
- Height: 40 feet
- Spread: 26 feet
Where to Plant and Care for Japanese Crab Apple
Trees will tolerate chalk or clay, provided the ground isn’t permanently waterlogged. Although it’s a small tree, the canopy can ultimately be as wide as the tree itself, so site it where it won’t be constrained and you can appreciate its shape.
Shape the crown of the tree while it’s small, and the resulting mature tree should need little or no pruning, apart from removing any dead branches in winter. Although trees are generally trouble-free, they can succumb to honey fungus or fire blight.
Lungwort Pulmonaria officinalis
Lungwort has bristly leaves spotted with silvery white. In spring, it produces sprays of small, drooping flowers that start off pink and fade to blue, giving a pretty two-color effect. Several cultivars have been developed, including ‘Sissinghurst White’ and ‘Blue Mist.’
- Habitat: shade
- Soil: chalk, clay, loam
- Height: 1 foot
- Spread: 20 inches
Where to Plant and Care for Lungwort
Shade-loving lungworts make pretty ground cover below shrubs and trees. Some cultivars, such as ‘Sissinghurst White,’ also tolerate full sun, but they won’t do as well as in shade. As they’re at their best in spring, don’t give them too prominent a position in the landscape, because plants can look rather tired by midsummer.
Lungworts are prone to powdery mildew in dry weather. If plants become affected, cut the leaves right back to ground level, and water well to encourage new growth. Plants often self-seed if you don’t cut them back after flowering.
Catmint nepeta x faassenii
The wrinkled, greenish-gray leaves of catmint are covered with soft hairs – a defense against drought – and are also strongly aromatic. Cats love the smell. Its pale purplish-blue flowers are arranged in spikes to 20 inches tall. The cultivar ‘Six Hills Giant’ has deeper-purple flowers and grows to 3 feet tall.
- Habitat: dry, also suitable for sun, exposed, and coastal
- Soil: any
- Height: 20 inches
- Spread: 20 inches
Where to Plant and Care for Catmint
Catmint is a deceptively pretty plant that’s also a tough customer. It likes hot, dry sites and free-draining sandy or chalky soils but will also grow in clay. It forms dense clumps that make weed-suppressing ground cover.
Cutting back flowering stems once they’re finished will often stimulate another flush of blooms. Clip the whole plant lightly at the same time if growing it for ground cover. In spring, cut out any old, woody stems to rejuvenate plants.
Hedgehog Rose Rosa Rugosa
Rosa rugosa has simple, open, flat flowers of deep pink with a central mass of yellow stamens. It’s a tough, vigorous, hardy rose that stays in bloom from summer to autumn, after which it forms big, bold, orangey-red hips. Even the leaves contribute to the color scheme, turning golden-yellow before they drop.
- Habitat: exposed, also suitable for sun, coastal
- Soil: any
- Height: 8 feet
- Spread: 8 feet
Where to Plant and Care for Rosa Rugosa
Its dense, thorny habit makes it an ideal boundary hedge, shrugging off cold winds and heavy or salt-laden gales. Depending on conditions, it’ll grow 4 to 8 feet tall. Set plants out 18 inches apart for an effective hedge or windbreak.
When growing R. rugosa as a hedge, prune plants hard in their first year. Clip and tidy up as necessary. Dig in plenty of well-rotted manure before planting, and feed plants regularly.
Red Valerian Centranthus ruber
The leaves of red valerian have a grayish tinge that hints at their tolerance of hot, sunny places, as does their thickened, rather fleshy appearance. In late spring and summer and into autumn, plants bear clusters of tiny, red, nectar-rich flowers, which attract butterflies and moths. There’s also a white-flowered cultivar, ‘Albus,’ and others in various shades of red-pink.
- Habitat: coastal, also suitable for sun
- Soil: chalk, loam, sand
- Height: 3 feet
- Spread: 20 inches
Where to Plant and Care for Red Valerian
Red valerian is a common sight on limestone cliffs by the sea and translates easily into similar landscape situations. It puts up with chalky and sandy soils and can find a foothold in crevices in old walls or paving. If you offer it a better position in a border, it generally does less well, producing floppy growth and fewer flowers.
Cutting the flowers – either after they’ve finished or for arranging in water – encourages more flowers to form. At the end of the season, leave some to set seed for a stock of future plants.
Excerpted from Tough Plants for Tough Places (Firefly Books Ltd.) by Sharon Amos.
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