8 otherworldy flowers for high summer
This week I wanted to explore some of the more exotic wonders in our garden. Because the UK is currently experiencing extremes alongside wildly different amounts of water in soils, I’ve included a drought tolerance rating for you. The east of the UK is considerably drier than the rest, so if that’s you, I would be leaning toward high drought tolerance of 4/5 or above these days.
1) Monarda ‘Lodden Crown’
I love monarda, I love their colours, flower shape and bergamot scent when touched. ‘Lodden Crown’ has proven more reliable for me than most other cultivars. Monarda are fairly drought tolerant, to a point. They certainly prefer to be drier in winter and won’t survive overly soggy soils. In summer however, they are actually pretty tough as long as the season doesn’t start too dry. Even in high drought Monarda will actually survive, the leaves will just get some mildew and crisp. I don’t really care about that though.
Drought tolerance: 3/5
