Well, here’s a rant.

We are having a drought here in the UK, and unusually high temperatures. Three days of mega heat caused widespread panic – if we are to believe the ever shock hungry media.

Of course, all this is brand new, due to nasty humankind,- though the longest rainless period in recent years occurred in the summer of 1995 when the rains stayed away for 42 days at Margate in Kent, while the longest such drought on record extended to 73 days at Mile End in east London during spring 1893.

Meadow in Veddw Garden copyright Anne Wareham

The meadow is a bit dry. Good for hay making?

And it’s true that I watch the forecasts and the garden anxiously in this current dearth of rain.

But what annoys me is the sudden rush of articles about planting our gardens for drought. A few headlines:

Drought-Tolerant Plants to Grow – Gardeners World

Drought Tolerant Plants | Planting for Droughts – The RSPB

Best drought tolerant plants: 21 choices for hot, dry areas

Drought-tolerant planting: 10 beautiful plants in dry spells

And so on…

An anonymous dried up lawn copyright Anne Wareham

Lawns bounce back with the first deluge.

Now, you have to wonder, how many people are rushing outside (in the heat), digging up their entire gardens (as if) and replanting to whole lot with drought happy plants?

Or dig up their precious lawn?

Ready for next year’s torrential rain and floods?

Rain in drive at Veddw Garden copyright Anne Wareham

A bit of rain at ours..

Which itself will be greeted in turn with a host of articles about what to plant to tolerate high rainfall. Rain Garden, anyone?

Will Plants Recover From Rain Damage?

Wet Weather And Plants – Will Too Much Rain Kill Plants?

Followed no doubt by

Hardy plants for cold, exposed gardens

Just how many times will people happily replant their entire gardens to accommodate changing weather?

In the UK, being an island, we experience a maritime climate = see here.

We are unlikely to be swallowed up by the near continent, in spite of recent efforts.

Planting any plant in a drought is a highly dubious and risky activity. If you can get a spade into the hard dry soil.

And most of all – the British treat their plants like pets. If a plant looks a bit poorly they demand help from Gardeners’ Question Time, the RHS or the advice columns of newspapers and magazines in a desperate attempt to keep the plant alive. They are never going to dig up their gardens to meet the demands of the current weather event.

Veddw Garden in the snow copyright Anne Wareham