Drought tolerant ground cover for dry sandy soil & sunny exposed locations

Many of the tough Mediterranean sub shrubs such as lavender and Cistus as well as low growing conifers such as juniper make excellent drought tolerant ground cover. Such plants will flourish on a hot sunny spot such as an awkward sandy free draining bank or a sun baked corner of the garden. These plants can provide a low maintenance edging plant at the front of a border or can be planted as drifts in larger borders. Such drought tolerant sun loving plants will also cover the ground – locking in any soil moisture against transpiration and reducing the need for weeding and thus cutting down on maintenance time.

Drought tolerant ground cover can be mixed in around taller shrubs or inter-planted amongst drought tolerant grasses and herbaceous plants. You can give plants a helping hand when planting on droughty dry soils by digging in plenty of compost into planting pits and giving them a good watering in and regular watering while they establish, also a decent surface mulch of compost or bark chip after planting will hlep lock in any soil moisture and reduce weed growth, which means less after care and happier plant.