What are the plants on everybody’s wish lists this year? We’re seeing unprecedented changes in our climate, and plant trends are changing year by year as we try to get to grips with summer drought and prolonged winter wet. It’s all very confusing. What is clear is that we are having to choose plants that are generally more resilient and low maintenance if we are committed to gardening in a more sustainable way. These are the plants to have on your radar this year.
Drought-tolerant plants for full sun
Althaea cannabina
This is a tall, drought-tolerant plant in the mallow family with small, sugar-pink flowers in summer. It forms an attractive, semi-transparent shape and will gently self sow in the right conditions to make more plants.
Asphodeline liburnica
This willowy perennial produces tall stems of lemon-yellow, star-shaped flowers, rising up from blue-green, grass-like foliage. Growing wild in the Aegean mountains, it is extremely durable and thrives in gravel gardens or south-facing borders in full sun.
Euphorbia segueriana subsp. niciciana
Also known as the Siberian spurge, this low mound-forming euphorbia has attractive, ferny, blue-green foliage followed by lime-green flowers that bloom all summer long. In a poor soil it makes lovely, tightly-formed clumps, whereas in richer soils it has a laxer habit.
Gladiolus papilio ‘Ruby’
This strong form of the South African species Gladiolus papilio seems to be fully hardy in full sun and well-drained soil and will multiply in the right conditions. With narrow, sword-like leaves, it flowers in late summer with attractive wine-red flowers.
Ligusticum lucidum
Also known as Spanish lovage, this handsome umbellifer is very drought tolerant, producing large umbels of cow-parsley-like flowers. Sarah Price recommends it and uses it as a key plant in her own Abergavenny garden. It is quite short-lived but seeds itself around to regenerate itself.
Oenothera versicolor 'Sunset Boulevard'
This perennial evening primrose was used in Tom Hoblyn’s Chelsea garden last year and is easy to grow from seed. Its summer flowers open yellow and turn orange and eventually brick red, set against bronze foliage.
Silphium mohrii
This useful prairie plant is a more manageable size than some of its taller cousins, growing to about 1.5m tall. It has a multi-branching habit with pale lemon-yellow flowers in late summer, and is tolerant of long periods of drought. It is a key plant in the dry garden at West Dean in Sussex, attracting masses of bees and butterflies.
Salvia ‘Peach Melba’
Late-summer South American salvias are gaining popularity, known for being drought-tolerant and often hardy enough to survive a British winter. Lots of new cultivars have appeared recently, including ‘Peach Melba’ with its lovely bicoloured pale apricot and pink flowers, shortlisted for Chelsea Plant of the Year in 2025.
Plants for shade
Aralia racemosa
This north-American perennial prefers a moist soil in partial shade, and forms a stout plant up to 2m tall with large, attractive leaves and elegant sprays of white flowers followed by starry spheres of dark purple berries. This is one of the star plants in Luciano Giubbilei’s design for the walled garden at Raby Castle.
Boehmeria platanifolia
Adaptable and easy to please, this woodland perennial produces generous clumps of attractive, saw-toothed leaves in a soft mid green. It thrives in a partially shaded spot in soil that doesn’t dry out too much.
Heuchera villosa ‘Autumn Bride’
Tall and elegant, this versatile heuchera can be grown in sun but is at its best in shade or semi-shade. Flowering for a long period from July to October, it produces long wands of small creamy white flowers.
Hakonachloa macra
This useful evergreen grass can be planted in sun or shade, tolerating periods of both drought and flooding. With a fresh green colour through spring and summer, it turns shades of orange and gold in autumn.
Low maintenance shrubs
Pinus mugo
Increasingly used as an alternative to box or yew for cloud-shaped evergreen structure, the dwarf pine needs almost no maintenance once it has established. Extremely resilient, its narrow evergreen needles stay green all year round whatever the extremes of weather.
Salix exigua
The coyote willow is a north American shrub and one of the few willows that thrives in drier soil in summer as well as waterlogged conditions in winter. With narrow, silver leaves on arching stems and slender pale yellow catkins in spring, it forms a compact, low-maintenance plant.
Rosa x odorata ‘Mutabilis’
Frequently the choice of top garden designers, this beautiful, low maintenance shrub rose has a loose, naturalistic habit with pale yellow flowers that age to apricot, pink and red.
Sambucus ‘Milk Chocolate’
A recent introduction, this beautiful elder was spotted in Tom Massey’s Chelsea garden in 2025. It has handsome burnished bronze foliage that emerges reddish brown and deepens to mahogany as it ages, flowering later than other varieties with large umbels of creamy white flowers in July and August.
Teucrium fruticans
This Mediterranean shrub is tolerant of winter rain as well as summer drought, and is reliably hardy once established if it is grown in well-drained soil. It has attractive blue-grey foliage and sky-blue flowers, and can be clipped for evergreen structure.
