Episode: #14 23/12/06
Presenter: Melissa King

The Garden Guru website is often bombarded with questions from garden club members wanting advice on the right plant for the right spot and one tough area that crops up a lot is dry shade.

One of the toughest true geraniums is G. maderense. Very showy and thrives on neglect, you would grow it for its ferny foliage alone which has attractive red veins and arching stems but in early spring it throws up an umbrella of pretty pink flowers. Lush looking but thrives in dry shade.

Plectranthus argentatus is another great one for shade and copes well with drier soils. The deep veins on the leaves give the plant wonderful textural interest and the silver foliage really lightens dark shaded areas. It does display purple flowers - but the silver foliage is the real attraction and looks good all year.

Renga Lily or New Zealand Rock Lily, is used a lot as a groundcover for dry shade or under trees. It has clumps of arching foliage and in spring to mid summer sprays of white flowers. It looks best planted in big bold groups; a mass display in flower is quite spectacular. The only thing to watch with this plant is the snails!

At the other end of the scale is hot and dry. In southern Europe it is not uncommon to see these plants growing in the cracks of old walls and in very tough conditions, hence the name wall flower. So it is no surprise that they grow best in dry soils with good drainage and they produce very showy and often very fragrant flowers. A great one for the cottage border.

It is always a good idea to have fresh herbs on demand for all of those summer barbeques and you can easily position pots around summer entertaining areas.

Plant all of those tough Mediterranean herbs that can stand up to the heat and are full of flavour. Things like thymes, rosemary, sage, savoury and remember to use a quality potting mix like Yates Thrive Premium Potting Mix with added goodies like water saving crystals to help keep moisture in the pot. You will be harvesting all summer long.

Now for this weeks water saving tip of the week. There is more to dry gardens than cacti and succulents; there is an enormous palette of tough beautiful plants to choose from. Look to the Mediterranean, South Africa and South America for inspiration and don?t forget our own Australian natives.

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