21/08/2026
Drought tolerant, climate resilient garden
We're onto a thing. Three years ago when we moved here, we had a vision to create a climate resilient gravel garden that would thrive with minimal water.
We didn't know then how ahead of the curve we were but it's heartening to see drought tolerant gardens featuring so prominently at the big garden shows this year.
We don't water the wildflower meadow at all and it has been packed with colour and insects all Summer. The gravel garden is laid on top of some of the hundreds of tons of concrete that were crushed in-situ. We have added gravel and some concrete to the soil as well to help drainage and then added drought-tolerant prairie style planting. When other grass gardens are dry and scorched, ours is looking incredible and is buzzing with life.
We have (beautiful!) water butts and troughs around the garden with every building featuring guttering for rain water collection. The troughs are all mini ponds, filled with pond plants but still allowing space for a watering can to skim for water.
It was only planted between October 2025 and April 2026 and some of the plants have needed water during the hottest spells but we hope that from next year, it will be entirely self sustaining in terms of watering - only using what we collect here.
If you'd like to know more about how we created it and the featured plants, you can read more here:https://littlesilverhedgehog.com/2026/08/21/creating-our-gravel-garden/
Oh and it also looks absolutely incredible with a palette of corten steel, terracotta recycled brick, black and cream.
Have you been to one of our open gardens this year? What did you think?
It's definitely the future!
