This spring, I spent a month exploring Spain, driving from lush northern Cantabria down to Andalucia and back through the dry central plateaux surrounding Madrid. Foremost a family holiday, the secondary motivation was horticultural: to find inspiration in one of the countries that gave our gardens the drought-tolerant staples of lavender, tree germander and Euphorbia characias.
With increasing weather extremes (the UK and the world recently registered their hottest June ever), many gardeners have been reconsidering some of their traditional, water-thirsty cottage garden varieties in favour of plants better able to cope with these challenging conditions.
