Ten great plants for hot gardens

This perennial is great in dry soils and full sun. It forms in clumps so will give you a rich display of yellow gold, that pollinators will flock to.  ‘Cloth of Gold’ is a variety that has cheery yellow flowers that form a bright blanket.

Reaching up to 2.5m tall, hollyhocks are a great addition to your sun-baked garden. The perennial has the potential to self-seed, and this will often occur in between the cracks of dry soil. With its attractive flowering displays, it’s a fantastic pollinator plant too.

Plant this bulb in autumn and in late winter or spring you’ll have beautiful yellow flowers that join the grey-green foliage. These low growing plants grow up to 10cm tall, so look perfect sitting at the front of a border.

Next is an evergreen that provides low-level ground cover with its mat forming habit. In summer, it will provide a display of white or pink blooms that will brighten up your borders. They are also well suited to rock or gravel gardens too as a low-maintenance pick.

The ground hugging evergreen gives a mat of succulent green leaves that turn bronze in colour in the winter. In late spring and summer, vibrant yellow flowers bloom that complements the bright foliage perfectly. These versatile plants are suited to banks and slopes as well as coastal gardens and rock gardens.

Plant this low growing annual at the front of your garden display where it will thrive. With its small leaves and array of colourful daisy-like flowers, it’s a delight to have in your garden. To grow them from seed, sow in trays in winter or spring, transplanting them to pots when they are big enough to be handled.

The bristly biennial produces slender spires of violet-blue colour in the borders. A popular plant for pollinators, the drought-tolerant characteristics make it a perfect pick for a hot garden where it’ll grow up to 75cm tall.

This coastal-dwelling plant thrives in rocky soils. It’s an upright perennial that produces a rounded flower heads that are bright blue in colour from early summer to early autumn. These plants will undoubtedly add texture to a coastal or gravel garden.

Growing to around 20cm high, this semi-evergreen perennial will spread and has evolved from a hot Mediterranean climate. As it spreads, it forms mats of green leaves peppered with flowers that are pale pink in colour – trim back once it has finished flowering.

Last is an evergreen perennial that thrives in full sun and dry soil. After a few years, in summer, it will produce bell-shaped flowers that are a yellow-brown colour.