South Downs National Park’s launches experimental 'drought tolerant' meadow at West Dean Gardens near Chichester

As the UK records its highest temperatures on record and officially declared a drought, West Dean Gardens, near Chichester, has created a meadow that is covered in recycled stone mulch to create one of the country’s first experimental drought resistant meadows.

Tom Brown, head gardener at the site, said: ‘Over recent summers, we’re becoming increasingly aware of how much water we use in our gardens, and the need to explore a new range of plants that require less resources to grow and most importantly look beautiful and attract pollinators.

‘With this in mind; we have grown a number of deep-rooted and drought tolerant perennials to make up a new meadow which can be used to teach people at our College about gardening with less water.

‘Normally people think of drought tolerant plants being cactus and agave, however these flowers and plants are colourful and have benefits to wildlife, so we are planning to collect all the seeds later in the year, building their numbers and growing plants to be sold in the shop next year.’

Nestled at the foot of the South Downs, West Dean Gardens is a restored gardens open to the public, featuring a collection of working Victorian Glasshouses, a 300 foot pergola, and a spring garden with flint bridges.

Landscape designer Mark Laurence will attend the gardens to give a talk on designing gardens for climate adaptation on Sunday, September 4.