Years of hot dry summers parching lawns and killing off prize blooms have caused many gardeners to switch to using gravel and Mediterranean herbs, trees and shrubs.
But a newly fashionable style of planting known as prairie planting could be a way to maintain a lush garden that is good for wildlife, while withstanding drought and floods.
Perhaps cementing the style’s popularity, at Hampton Court flower show the winning garden demonstrated prairie planting found in the US.
The garden, which won best in show on Monday, featured desert, forest and prairie landscapes often found across the Atlantic.
While the cacti in the desert garden may feel inspirational for those whose plants were killed in the drought last year, the lush, colourful prairie planting is a more realistic alternative to traditional British gardening.
Emily Grayshaw, who designed the winning garden America’s Wild, said: “Prairie planting is massive in the UK at the moment. It’s come over from the States and it’s been a theme that’s been building over the last few years so it was really good fun to play with it here.”
While the brightly coloured flowers peeking out from long green grasses looks like a wildflower meadow, it is not.
“Wildflower planting is a little bit different. It is almost things that self-seed and travel. Prairie planting is a little bit more purposeful, so it’s things that can cope with a prairie landscape. You’re talking probably about 30% grasses intermingled with species of summer flowers,” she said.
Grayshaw used flowers including the purple coneflower, blazing star and prairie onion intermingled with switchgrass and prairie sage to create a meadow, which swayed in the summer breeze and was full of pollinators.
“These plants are really good for being drought-tolerant once you get them established,” Grayshaw said. “Plant them out and water them for a year and then you can wean them off being watered. They are great for the changing climate in the UK as they can deal with drought and sustained rainfall.”
Grayshaw said she preferred this type of planting to a more Mediterranean style suited to a very arid climate. “It is tempting after a drought to go for a Mediterranean approach. But I think North American planting is much more transferable to the UK than Mediterranean. I love Mediterranean planting but it’s all about gravel and drainage and keeping it dry when England does get wet. It’s about having amazing drainage, if not, your lavender’s just going to go soggy because it’s not meant to be there at that time.”
She said it was much easier to grow this style of planting because you just plant it and go, and that she was working with schools to create low-maintenance prairie meadows. “I’m dealing with a school at the moment. I’m just going to plant the whole thing out with grasses because that means the caretaker who is on a limited budget can just go into January, cut down the whole lot. Then it all comes back for the next year and keeps going all the way through the year.”