Image – Flickr / Lisa Chamberlain
Water is a scarce good, so when we live in an area where it rains little we have to make correct use of it. A) Yes, the best we can do is design a dry garden that can take care of itself; In this way, we will be able to have a green space without giving it almost any type of maintenance.
To meet this goal the correct choice of plants and planting them in the right place is essentialsince in this way we can create different areas, such as the shadow, or a rockery.
Create a draft
It is the first step to take when you want to design any type of garden. You can do it with paper and pen, or with some design program like the Garden Planner in Gardena that we show you in the video. But in any case, the following should not be missing:
- Areas that you want to put: rockery, cactus garden, playground, …
- Plants: trees, palm trees, shrubs, flowers. Of course, since the garden is intended to be without irrigation, we do not recommend putting up a lawn.
- Where the sun rises and sets: this is key to knowing which are the sunny areas, the shady areas, and those that are only exposed for half a day.
Preparation of the land
Now, it’s time to get the soil ready for the plants. For this, if the land is large, it is advisable to pass a walking tractor, but if it is small it can be done with the hoe. You have to remove the herbs that do not interest, and the stones. The latter if they are large enough you can leave them in a corner and then use them for build a dry wall, the edge of a road, or to use as a decorative element.
Then will be leveled with a rake. If you want, you can make mounds or mountains of earth to have plants at different heights. Even if you live in an area where it sometimes rains heavily, it’s a good idea to create slopes or install underground drainage pipes. This way the land will not remain flooded for so long and the plants will not suffer much.
Last but not least, you have to pay the land and install a temporary irrigation system. I know, we have said that the garden would be dry, and almost without maintenance, but during the first year it is important to help the plants a little to root and grow; hence it is highly advisable to fertilize the land with organic fertilizers such as earthworm humus (on sale here!) and, also, water them from time to time.
Choice of plants
The plants that interest us are those that can be adapted to the climatic conditions in the garden. Thus, what better than to opt for the autochthonous onessince they are the ones that, after all, will give us the most joys.
Now, I understand that it is often preferred to opt for those alien or exotic species. But it is important to be well informed of the needs and care they requireOtherwise we will end up wasting money and time.
A few recommendations for plants that resist drought are:
trees
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Image – Flickr / Wendy Cutler
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Image – Flickr / mauro halpern
- brachychiton. B. populneus is especially recommended as it takes up less space, but B. rupestris has a spectacular bottle-shaped trunk. See file.
- Beautiful chorisiaor drunkard. It is a tree that usually has a bottle-shaped trunk protected by very thick stingers. Its flowers are pink and large, and they bloom in spring. See file.
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Image – Wikimedia / Giancarlo Dessi
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Image – Wikimedia Commons / WAV1
- A noble laurelor the common laurel. Its leaves are widely used in the kitchen, but the tree is also perfect for small gardens. See file.
- Melia sourach: grows very fast and has a parasol crown that provides plenty of shade. The downside is that it has a short life, about 20 years, but its seeds germinate quickly.
Shrubs and the like
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Image – Flickr / brewbooks
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Image – Flickr / Leonora (Ellie) Enking
- Cycas rolled or cica. Very loved in xero-gardens and dry gardens, this plant similar in appearance to that of a palm tree, will be perfect in a sunny corner, such as rockery for example. See file.
- Euonymous, or eponymous. It is a shrub that you can use for low hedges, or even to mark paths. It has small, green or variegated leaves, and it tolerates pruning very well.
- Lavandula or lavender. It is an aromatic plant that produces flowers during spring and summer. It serves as a plant for roadsides, although in reality you can put it wherever you want as long as it does not lack direct sun. See file.
- Rhamnus alaternus or aladierno. It is an evergreen shrub perfectly adapted to places where it rains little and also resists extreme heat.
Palms
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Image – Wikimedia / H. Zell
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Image – Wikimedia / Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz
- armed arm or blue palm tree. It is a palm tree with a single trunk and bluish fan-shaped leaves that can reach 10 meters in height. It is an ideal plant to give color to the garden. See file.
- Chamaerops humilis or palm. It is a variety that does not exceed 5 meters in height. It develops several trunks of about 30-35 centimeters thick, and has fan-shaped leaves, green or bluish-green. See file.
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Image – Wikimedia / Kahuroa
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- Parajubaea, any variety. The p.sunkha and P. cocoides are the ones that, as adults, most resemble the coconut tree (Cocoa nuts). They reach a height of up to 25 meters, and have a trunk of about 30-40 centimeters. Its leaves are pinnate, green on the upper side and pubescent on the underside. Very interesting to give a tropical touch to the dry garden. See file.
- Phoenix dactylifera or date. It is a bluish-colored, pinnate-leaved palm that usually develops multiple trunks about 20 centimeters thick by about ten meters high. Also, their dates are edible. See file.
Flores
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Image – Wikimedia / Arto Alanenpää
- Cosmos. It is a perennial plant that grows about 40-45 centimeters tall, and its flowers are pink or red. These sprout in spring, provided they are directly exposed to the sun. See file.
- Echinacea. These herbaceous perennials can grow up to 1 meter in height, and produce pink or more rarely yellow flowers during spring and summer. See file.
- Gazania freezesor gazania. It is a small herbaceous plant, about 30 inches tall, that produces flowers that open when the sun rises and close when it sets. If we take into account its characteristics, we recommend planting it in groups to achieve a better visual effect. See file.
- Osteospermum or dimorphothek. This is a perennial herbaceous plant, which blooms in spring and summer producing daisy-like flowers of various colors (red, lilac, orange, white, bicolor). It grows as a floor covering, and reaches 1 meter wide.
Succulents (cacti and succulents)
- Agave. Any variety will do great in a dry garden, since they are herbaceous plants that resist drought very well. Especially recommended is A. attenuata since it lacks spines; but A. parryi and A. victoria-reginae are also very interesting. See file.
- Echinocactus grussonii or mother-in-law seat. It is a spiny globular cactus that can measure up to 1 meter in height. It is a slow growing plant, but it has a very high ornamental value. See file.
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Image – Wikimedia Commons / Frank Vincentz
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Image – Wikimedia / Krzysztof Golik
- Euphorbia milli or crown of thorns. It is a thorny and succulent shrub that begins growing more or less straight but ends up being creeping. Its flowers are small, red, yellow or pink, and they sprout in summer. See file.
- Senecio snake or Senecio. It is a succulent with elongated and fleshy blue leaves that can be used as a rockery plant, exposing it in a sunny place.
Create shady corners
Normally, when we talk about dry gardens we also talk about those that are in places where the climate is temperate or warm. Summer can be difficult to carry when the degree of insolation is very high, so it is very interesting to have corners where you can enjoy of the great outdoors without worry.
And how do you get that? Well, very easy: with dense canopy trees and palm trees. Regardless of whether your garden is small or large, there are many species with which you will have shade, such as the one already mentioned melia azedarach, the Jacaranda Mimosifolia, or palm trees like Phoenix reclines which is similar to the date but has green leaves on both sides.
We do not advise putting ponds or fountains if there are mosquitoesbut in the event that there were not, it would be an interesting idea to relax listening to the sound of the water. Now, we do encourage you to put some furniture in the shade, whether it is bought or made by you, such as a stump turned into a seat or a sofa made with pallets. Don’t forget to plant nearby mosquito repellent plants, like lavender, to be calm.
There is no lack of leisure areas
Do you have children, nephews and / or grandchildren? If you answered yes and you want them to enjoy the garden too, We recommend putting, for example, swings, or an area with sand so that they can have fun. If your garden is small, place little hidden garden gnomes all over the area and encourage them to create stories with them.
You can even take advantage and initiate them in the care of plantsfor example, asking them to help you water them or sow.
More dry garden ideas
To finish, we leave you with a few images that, we hope, will inspire you to design your dry garden:
Image – Wikimedia / Downtowngal
Image – Flickr / Dark Sevier
Image – Wikimedia / Richard Mc Neil
