4 essentials every drought-tolerant garden has – they're key to helping your garden to thrive in hot weather with as little watering as possible

Blue and white agapanthus flowers growing in garden.

Heatwaves have become the norm for British summers, and our gardens are definitely bearing the brunt of them right now. To help my plants survive the heat, I set out to find the key things a drought-tolerant garden always has.

Climate-resilient planting is a huge garden trend for 2026, and there’s a real focus on prepping our gardens for extreme temperatures. Besides drought-tolerant planting, there are lots of ways to batten down a garden’s hatches against increasingly hot summers.