Dry Garden, the low-water-use garden

The lack of water is a widespread problem, affecting ever-increasing areas of our country and the entire world. Water scarcity particularly affects green lovers, who are often highly sensitive to the needs of the ecosystem but also eager to care for their garden in the best possible way. Is there a strategy that allows you to balance these two needs and have a beautiful and lush garden without wasting enormous amounts of water?

The solution exists and it is called a dry garden, an English term that literally means “dry garden” or “arid garden”. Designing a garden with plants that need little water is not only possible, but also yields excellent results both in terms of landscaping and sustainability.

What is a dry garden and how does it work?

The dry philosophy is a resilient approach to the problem of increasing water scarcity linked to global warming. This phenomenon forces us to intelligently rethink our conception of green spaces, adopting a series of measures that allow us to minimize water waste without sacrificing the aesthetic beauty of our little corner of paradise. The complex of techniques used to create a low-water-use garden is called xeriscaping, a neologism that combines the Greek word xeros (“dry”) and the English word landscaping (“landscaping”).

The dry garden aims to create an almost completely self-sufficient ecosystem: water is used very sparingly, and irrigation is limited to just a few emergency waterings during the hottest months. A well-designed dry garden may only need one or two waterings throughout the year. It sounds too good to be true, but you can see it for yourself by visiting our dry botanical garden, the first in Italy.

The golden rules for a good dry garden

The creation of a dry garden is obviously based on choosing sun-resistant plants that need little water. However, before choosing the plants, we want to tell you about some useful measures to adopt to create the ideal conditions for your dry garden.

The right soil for a dry garden

While it is true that plants suitable for a dry garden are often low-maintenance when it comes to soil type, it is equally true that good drainage is a very important condition for the success of the project. This way, instead of stagnating and increasing the risk of fungal attacks, water can penetrate deep into the soil, providing nourishment to the plants during the drought months (as we will see more clearly in the next paragraph). This is why preparing the soil will be very important: a good tilling to make the soil loose, perhaps followed by the addition of fertile soil and eventually drainage material (to avoid water stagnation), will give your dry garden a big boost.

Planting and irrigation

The recommended period for planting dry garden plants is generally autumn. This choice allows the plants to develop deep roots during the winter, taking advantage of seasonal rains to ensure they have the water resources they need. This way, the arrival of summer will not catch them unprepared, as they will have already had time to settle in and develop a good root system ready to seek moisture in the deeper layers of the soil.

This is where irrigation comes into play, slightly more frequent in the first year after planting but still done rarely. During this phase, irrigation is infrequent but based on large quantities of water, delivered in a way that simulates a summer downpour. This way, water can slowly penetrate the deeper layers of the soil, where the plant will tend to seek it to sustain itself during the long drought days. By doing this, the plant is “trained” to receive water rarely and to strengthen itself to survive almost self-sufficiently when irrigation is further reduced.

A few more small tips regarding the irrigation of a dry garden:

• We recommend watering your dry garden preferably early in the morning: this way, the top layer of the soil will stay wet for less time, which will help prevent potential fungal attacks.
• One trick to reduce evaporation is mulching, which, in addition to protecting the roots from winter frost and limiting the proliferation of weeds, is also excellent for preventing the sun from directly hitting the soil and dispersing its moisture. For mulching, you can use compost (also excellent for nourishing the soil) or gravel, while conifer bark should be used sparingly as it tends to make the soil acidic.

Maintaining a dry garden

Now we come to the most relaxing part of the process: you will be happy to know that the sparse irrigation we have discussed will have wonderful effects on your garden's maintenance needs. By watering once or twice a year, the growth of your plants will slow down considerably, making necessary pruning interventions less frequent. With this type of management, there will be no reason to use fertilizers and chemicals, further confirming the sustainability of the dry philosophy.

The scarcity of water will also bring an additional great advantage: it will also deprive weeds of nourishment, so they will not have the resources to colonize empty spaces.

We can say that a dry garden is a garden based on savings: water savings first and foremost, but also time and energy savings that would otherwise be dedicated to the continuous maintenance of your green corner. Once the plants are well established and accustomed to the dry philosophy, you can leave Mother Nature to do most of the work and enjoy your garden in complete relaxation.

What are the best drought-resistant plants?

If the rules we have discussed so far form the premise of a good dry garden, it is clear that the heart of the matter (as well as the most fun part) lies in choosing the plants. We are obviously talking about drought-resistant plants that need little water, but do not think that this criterion forces you into a limited choice!

We often make the mistake of thinking that a dry garden contains only so-called succulents, but that is not the case at all. Mediterranean flora offers us a huge range of possibilities, with highly ornamental plants that over the centuries have evolved to resist the aridity found in the coastal areas of central and southern Italy as best as possible. These are species that often grow spontaneously in the Mediterranean scrub and in difficult environments such as the gariga, without anyone taking the trouble to water them constantly or keep them tidy with frequent pruning. It is therefore quite appropriate to say that the solution to the problem of water scarcity is right under our noses!

Some examples of plants that need little water

Among the Mediterranean garden plants that look splendid in a dry garden, aromatic plants hold a special place in our hearts. The choice is not limited to the great classics like rosemary, sage, and thyme: there is actually a wide selection of species that will fill your garden with exquisite aromas and will also be very useful to you in the kitchen. We have dedicated a special article to this great family, listing a series of little-known and decidedly unique varieties.

Other dry garden plants include Mediterranean shrubs (such as oleander or corbezzolo), a wide selection of ornamental grasses (such as Stipa tenuissima, Koeleria glauca or the large Pennisetum family) and hardy, long-lasting flowering plants like Gaura lindheimeri, the various species of Gazania, and Lantana with its striking color combinations. You can play with creating color contrasts (for example, thanks to the gray scale of the different species of Artemisia) or by pairing different textures to create unique effects. The possibilities are truly endless! You can find many suggestions by visiting our shop, which contains many more curiosities about each species.

The alternative lawns deserve a mention in their own right, as they are the flagship product that we at BotanicalDryGarden have specialized our business in. There is actually a great variety of low-water-use groundcovers capable of giving you a beautiful, walkable lawn that needs very little care.

Obviously, when choosing the plants to include in your dry garden, you will need to pay attention to the characteristics of each species: do they prefer full sun or partial shade? What are the minimum winter temperatures they can withstand without damage? Do they grow better in soil rich in organic matter, or can they perform best in poor soil?

Designing an eco-sustainable Mediterranean garden with the dry philosophy

The dry philosophy is absolutely perfect for designing a Mediterranean garden full of character. The environment that is created blends the wild beauty of the Mediterranean scrub with the grace of landscape art. The result will be a very hardy and aesthetically refined garden, whose changes throughout the seasons you can admire.

The creation of a dry garden allows you to choose from an incredible number of plants with very different characteristics. Many are suitable for a coastal garden thanks to their resistance to salt spray, some are perfect for creating a sensory garden full of aromas and tactile stimuli, while others produce edible flowers and delicious fruits. As you can see, the “Dry Garden” label does not constitute a limited horizon: this resilient and eco-sustainable approach can adapt to your needs and desires, helping you design a space that completely reflects your personality.