By Margaret Long, Frensham, Canterbury

I thought it would be timely to write about two lesser-known plants which are most suited to hot dry situations. I have grown both in my garden for about thirty years.

Dorycnium hirsutum, or the hairy canary clover. I have grown this plant in a clay-based soil in the gravel garden where it gets no special attention and it has thrived for decades. It has survived on rain water only through each dry summer. I am sure it would do equally well in normal-to-poor soil. Dorycnium grows to a height of about one metre until it gets too woody and then I pull it out. Being a shallow-rooted plant, this is easy to do.

A low spreading bush with soft grey foliage and small pale pink and white pea-like flowers, the flowering is followed by shiny black seed pods. It flowers throughout the summer. I haven’t collected the seed for propagation as there are usually enough seedlings in the garden to keep the plant going sufficiently.

It is available from Kate at Seaflowers Nursery in Golden Bay.

Carpentaria californica

I first saw this plant growing on a sunny south-facing wall at Wisley Gardens in the UK over thirty years ago. It had been well-trained on the wall, was flowering beautifully, and so I decided that it was a ‘must-have’ for my new garden. I was able to buy a plant from Blue Mountain Nurseries in Tapanui.

The flowers are white with a yellow centre and appear in summer.

It was planted in a hot dry spot and over the years has had little attention apart from the odd watering in summer and the occasional light prune. As it has a tendency to become a little scruffy, or maybe I hadn’t paid enough attention to its pruning, I debated whether to toss it. However, the decision was made to give it a hard prune and it has come away beautifully.

Schizophragma hydrangeoides

As I was sitting at my desk in my upstairs study writing about plants, a delicate fragrance was wafting through the window. I knew immediately that it was Schizophragma hydrangeoides. I hadn’t realised about the fragrance as I’d not been close to the flower in the garden, and I don’t spend a lot of time at my desk in the summer evenings when the fragrance is at its strongest. A member of the hydrangea family, this plant is lesser known than the climbing Hydrangea petiolaris. Both are self-clinging to a wall but are easily detached if required and do best on a south, west or east wall where they get part sun. They have white lace cap flowers, with the Schizophragma flowers being larger and, I think, they sit more delicately on the plant than H. petiolaris. Nearly all our garden visitors haven’t known about the S. hydrangeoides, which has now reached the full height of our two-storeyed wall, and I think it’s a shame that it’s not well known or grown much as it is such a beautiful plant and would be very easy to grow from cuttings and share with gardening friends. It can, of course, be pruned to whichever height you want.