Which plants suit a dry garden?

That depends on the site. In full sun on free-draining soil, woodland sage, catmint, stonecrop, lavender and grasses such as feather grass cope well. In partial shade under trees, bigroot cranesbill, barrenwort or barren strawberry are the better choice. For hedges, field maple or privet handle drought better than thuja. A site analysis clarifies which selection suits your own garden before anything is bought and planted.

Is autumn really better for planting than spring?

For most trees and shrubs and many perennials, yes. In autumn the soil is still warm, evaporation drops, and plants grow roots through to winter and in early spring before they have to supply leaves. After a spring 2026 in which only 68 per cent of the long-term mean rainfall fell (Umweltbundesamt), that head start is especially valuable. Frost-sensitive species such as lavender, however, are better planted in spring on heavy soils.

Should a dead thuja hedge be replaced with the same plant?

Usually not. Thuja roots shallowly, copes poorly with long dry spells and hardly resprouts from old wood. Filling a gap with new thuja often means the same problem in the next dry summer. It is better to replace it with a species that suits the site, such as field maple, hornbeam on moister soils or privet. If you need an evergreen screen, raise it during the site visit, because the choice then becomes narrower.

Does the garden still need irrigation after the redesign?

In the first summers after planting, yes, because young plants do not yet have deep roots. That can be done with a watering can and hose, a simple drip line or as part of a maintenance contract. The aim of the redesign is that the planting then needs less additional water than before. A permanently installed system is then an option for lawns and sensitive areas, but not a requirement for the whole garden.

What should the photos for the enquiry look like?

Phone photos are fine. Helpful are an overview picture that shows the failed planting in its surroundings and one or two close-ups of the brown or patchy areas. If possible, one picture should also show where the sun comes from, for example from the house wall or the shadows. People, number plates and neighbouring properties do not belong in the pictures. More than five photos are rarely needed.

What does the site analysis cost?

Each business sets that itself, because travel, garden size and the scope of the assessment differ. A sensible approach is a flat fee that is credited against the redesign if the customer places the order. That way the customer pays for a real service, and the business avoids unpaid advisory visits. The website should state that the analysis is chargeable and credited; whether an amount appears there is up to the business.

Drought-Tolerant Gardens: Planting for Heat and Dry Summers

October shows what the summer has left behind. The thuja hedge along the boundary is brown for half its length, there are gaps in the perennial bed in front of the south wall, and the lawn on the sandy strip next to the drive has not come back. In 2025 the mean temperature in Germany was 10.0 °C (Umweltbundesamt), and at 655 litres per square metre (Umweltbundesamt), rainfall was around 17 per cent (Umweltbundesamt) below the 1961 to 1990 average. Many garden owners are calling now and want whatever died replaced. For the business, that like-for-like replacement is the weakest order there is: it sells quickly and fails again in the next dry summer. This article shows how a plant loss becomes a redesign offer — with a site analysis as a service in its own right, plant choice by site, autumn planting as the time window and a service page called ‘A garden for dry summers’, through which customers send photos of their losses along with the enquiry.

Key takeaways

Plant losses after dry years usually show that plant and site no longer match. With a mean temperature of 10.0 °C in 2025 (Umweltbundesamt), hot and dry summers belong in every planting plan.
Replacing a dead hedge like for like sells the next loss along with it. The better offer starts with a site analysis that records soil, sun, compaction and root competition.
A blanket list of drought-tolerant plants does little for the customer. A plant list by site is more convincing: sunny and dry, partial shade under trees, compacted soil.
October is in the middle of planting season, and the soil is still warm. After a spring 2026 with only 68 per cent of normal rainfall (Umweltbundesamt), every month of root growth before the next summer counts.
An enquiry form with photo upload replaces the first phone call: photos of the losses, position in the garden and postcode are enough to prepare the site visit and plan the journey sensibly.

Why the losses show up right now

Plants react to drought with a delay. A hedge that loses water in summer often holds on for several weeks before it visibly browns, and some damage only shows the following year. The data from recent months explain why so many gardens have gaps in autumn 2026. In winter 2025/26 only about 71 per cent (Umweltbundesamt) of average rainfall fell, so the winter did not refill soil reserves as usual. In spring 2026 Germany received 126 l/m² (Umweltbundesamt), only 68 per cent (Umweltbundesamt) of the long-term mean. At the beginning of July 2026 the soil moisture viewer of Deutscher Wetterdienst showed dry to very dry conditions in the topsoil at a depth of 20 to 30 cm (Umweltbundesamt) in most regions — a depth that perennials and newly planted trees and shrubs reach with their roots.

Add to that a longer season. The ten warmest years since 1881 all fall in the 21st century (Umweltbundesamt), an average of 11.1 hot days (Umweltbundesamt) of at least 30 °C was recorded in 2025, and snowdrops and apple trees are flowering earlier by almost five days per decade (Umweltbundesamt). For the garden, that means plants come into leaf earlier, need water earlier in the year and stand in the heat for longer. A hedge that was a good choice when it was planted now grows under different conditions.

None of this calls for a scare message on the website, but for an explanation. Someone looking for a replacement for a dead hedge in October wants to know why it happened and whether it will happen again. A business that explains the cause in two sentences and offers a way forward comes across as more competent than one that only offers a swap. A like-for-like replacement sells the next loss along with it; what should be sold is advice, redesign and aftercare.

Explain the data, do not alarm

Two or three figures with a source are enough on the service page, such as the mean temperature for 2025 and the dry winter. Pictures of cracked soil and scorched lawns create worry, but not enquiries. The stronger picture is the redesigned garden that came through the summer well.

What fails after dry years and why

Not every loss has the same cause, and not every plant is equally sensitive. Knowing the typical patterns makes them easier to explain on the website and quicker to assess during a site visit. Four groups come up frequently in gardens after dry summers.

Conifer hedges

Thuja and false cypress root shallowly and react badly to long dry spells. Brown patches rarely grow back, because both resprout poorly from old wood. A partly dead hedge is therefore often not a case for cutting back, but for replacement with a different species.

Lawns on light soils

On sandy soils and south-facing slopes, lawns dry out quickly in summer. Whether they recover in autumn or need to be re-established depends on the seed mix and the care they get. When turf and when seed is the better choice is covered in the article comparing turf and seed; not every area needs to stay lawn at all.

Perennial beds with high water demand

Phlox, delphinium and other border perennials need evenly moist soil. Against a south wall or on sandy ground they quickly come under stress in dry summers, become prone to mildew and gradually disappear from the bed. A new mix of species from dry habitats is usually the better answer here than replanting.

Young trees and new plantings

Freshly planted trees and shrubs do not yet have an established root system. If too little rain falls in the first years after planting, they dry out even though the species was well chosen. Here the cause is usually not the plant, but missing establishment care.

Behind many losses are site factors that water alone cannot fix: sandy soil that holds little, compacted soil that rain cannot penetrate, a south wall that radiates extra heat, or the root competition of an old tree. The answer is first a different planting and only second technology. If you offer irrigation, the technical side is covered in the article on irrigation as a service of its own; here the question is which plant belongs in which place.

The site analysis as a service in its own right

The customer calls about a hedge, and what gets bought in the end is a redesign — but only if someone has looked closely first. The site analysis is the step that turns a replacement order into an advisory conversation. It rarely takes long in the garden and provides the basis for the planting plan and the quote. On the website it deserves a heading of its own, because it explains why the business does not simply put the same plant back.

Sun and shade: How many hours of sun does the area get in summer, and does a building or tree cast shade in the afternoon?
Soil type: Sandy, loamy or clay? A spade test shows how much water the soil can hold and how deep roots can go.
Compaction: Does water stand on the surface after rain, or does it run off sideways? Compacted soils often result from house building and remain for years.
Root competition: Are there large trees or hedges nearby whose roots will take water from the new planting?
Wind and position: Exposed corners, slopes and heat from walls or paving dry the soil out further.
Care habits: Is anyone watering in summer, and how often is someone at home? A garden left alone for weeks during the holidays needs a different selection.

The site analysis should be a line item in the quote, not a free preliminary visit. A sensible approach is a flat fee that is credited against the order. Why that sorts out the serious enquiries is explained in the article on charging for garden design instead of free plans. On the service page one sentence saying the fee is credited is enough; an amount does not have to appear there if the business prefers to name it in conversation.

Photos before the visit save a journey

If the customer sends photos of the losses in advance, the business can see before the site visit whether it is about a single hedge or a whole area of the garden. That helps with scheduling and with judging whether the visit is worthwhile. What the form for this looks like is shown in the section further down.

Plant choice by site, not by list

There are plenty of lists of drought-tolerant plants, and they do little for the customer. Lavender copes with heat and drought but dies in heavy, wet soil over winter. Barrenwort manages well in dry shade under trees but less well in full sun. What matters is not whether a plant is considered robust, but whether it suits the site. That is why the website should sort plants by site, not by popularity.

Site	Typical losses	Examples for the selection	What the page shows
Sunny and dry	Phlox, delphinium, thuja hedge, lawn on sand	Woodland sage, catmint, stonecrop, feather grass; as a hedge field maple or privet	Before-and-after pair of a south-facing bed
Partial shade under trees	Lawn under trees, ferns and hostas in drought	Bigroot cranesbill, barrenwort, barren strawberry, lesser periwinkle	Ground cover instead of lawn under the tree
Compacted soil	Conifers, lawn with waterlogging in winter and drought in summer	Loosen and improve the soil first, then cornelian cherry, field maple or privet	Photo of the spade test with a short explanation
South wall and paving edges	Container plants, roses without mulch, annual gap fillers	Lavender, bluebeard, Russian sage, thyme	Planting strip in front of the house wall in summer

With trees the question is even longer-term, because a tree stays in the same place for decades. Species such as field maple or hop hornbeam are also planted in urban green spaces because they cope comparatively well with heat and dry air; in private gardens, small-crowned species such as ornamental pear or serviceberry join them. If you offer tree care, planting and later care can be shown together on a dedicated website for tree care businesses. Before any planting near the property line, it is worth checking the boundary distances for trees and hedges, so that the redesign does not turn into a dispute with the neighbours.

No promise that plants will establish

Even a well-chosen plant can fail in an extreme summer, especially without establishment care. The website should therefore explain what the business does to reduce the risk, rather than promise that nothing will die again. What applies legally to planting work is covered in the article on warranty in landscaping.

Why October is the right time

In autumn the soil is still warm while the air cools and evaporation drops. Trees, shrubs and perennials keep growing roots during this period without having to supply much foliage at the same time. By next summer they have a head start that spring planting does not give them. After a spring with the 68 per cent (Umweltbundesamt) of normal rainfall mentioned above, this is not a theoretical advantage: planting only in April sends young plants straight into the next dry spell. Bare-root hedging is planted in the leafless season anyway.

Autumn is no substitute for aftercare, though. If the winter turns out clearly too dry, as it did in 2025/26, soil reserves do not reliably refill, and the new planting needs water as early as spring. That is why establishment care belongs in the quote: completion care up to handover and then development care over the first summers. Planning this from the start means selling not just the planting, but also the first maintenance visits.

Step 1

October: photos and site visit

The customer sends photos via the form, the business looks at the garden and carries out the site analysis. The result is a short assessment with a proposal.

This time window should be visible on the website before the enquiries arrive. How seasonal topics can be shown on the homepage is described in the article on autumn work on your website. For the page ‘A garden for dry summers’, a note near the top is enough: planting season is now, and site visits are scheduled in the order enquiries arrive.

The page A garden for dry summers

The core of the offer is a dedicated service page. It does not sit somewhere under ‘garden design’ but carries a topic that garden owners search for in autumn: what do I plant instead of the dead hedge? A website for private garden businesses can list this page as its own menu item and point to it from the homepage during planting season. Four building blocks carry the page.

Before-and-after pairs

Two photos from the same spot: the dead hedge or patchy bed before, the new planting after. An after picture from the following summer works best, because it shows that the planting has come through the heat.

Plant list by site

Three sites with four to six examples each: sunny and dry, partial shade, compacted soil. The list does not replace advice; it shows that the business plans by site and not by catalogue.

Process in five steps

From the photos through the site visit, planting and spring inspection to establishment care. A visible process answers the question of what happens after the enquiry before it is asked.

Form with photo upload

The customer uploads photos of the losses and answers a few questions about position and soil. The business sees what it is about before the first conversation and can prepare the site visit accordingly.

The same applies to before pictures as to any reference: same viewpoint, same focal length, same time of day. How to do that properly is explained in the article on showing before and after properly, and practical tips on shooting are in the article on taking photos for your website. Before customers’ gardens are shown, the owners’ consent is needed; what to consider is explained in the answer to whether you are allowed to show pictures of customers’ gardens.

The summer supplies the before picture

The best before photos are taken when the damage is visible — in August and September. Anyone who photographs losses in customers’ gardens during maintenance visits at that time, and asks whether they may show them, has exactly the material the page needs in October. The after picture follows next summer.

The form: photos of the losses instead of free text

A free-text field labelled ‘Your message’ produces sentences like ‘Our hedge is broken, can you help?’ for this topic. That is not enough to plan a visit or estimate the effort. A form with photo upload and a few targeted questions turns the same enquiry into a preliminary assessment. What matters is that every question can be answered without specialist knowledge: the customer knows what has died and where it stands, but rarely what type of soil they have.

Photos of the losses: two to five phone photos showing the affected plants and their surroundings, without people and without neighbouring properties.
What has died back: choice of hedge, lawn, perennial bed, tree or shrub and other.
Position in the garden: sunny and dry, partial shade under trees, shady or unknown.
Soil, if known: sandy, loamy, compacted or unknown. The answer ‘unknown’ is explicitly allowed.
Preferred timing: this planting season or spring.
Postcode: so that the business can see whether the garden is within its service area and group site visits together.

enquiry-dry-garden.json

{
  "form": "enquiry-dry-garden",
  "required": [
    { "name": "photos",   "label": "Photos of the losses", "type": "upload", "min": 1, "max": 5 },
    { "name": "loss",     "label": "What has died back?",
      "options": ["Hedge", "Lawn", "Perennial bed", "Tree or shrub", "Other"] },
    { "name": "position", "label": "Position in the garden",
      "options": ["sunny and dry", "partial shade under trees", "shady", "unknown"] },
    { "name": "postcode", "label": "Postcode of the garden" }
  ],
  "optional": [
    { "name": "soil",   "label": "Soil, if known",
      "options": ["sandy", "loamy", "compacted", "unknown"] },
    { "name": "timing", "label": "Preferred timing",
      "options": ["this planting season", "spring"] }
  ]
}

How a form pre-sorts enquiries without putting customers off is covered in detail in the article on an enquiry form that qualifies; a ready-made enquiry form for landscaping businesses can be extended with the upload field. With photo uploads, the privacy policy needs a short note on what the pictures are used for and when they are deleted. The business may only show them publicly with separate consent.

Turning a loss into a redesign offer

The quote after the site analysis should show clearly why it costs more than a straight replacement. Otherwise the customer compares the price of a new thuja hedge with the price of a redesign and does not understand the difference. A clear breakdown into items makes the added value visible without the business having to talk about climate change.

Assessment: What has failed, and why? Two or three sentences from the site analysis, ideally with a photo.
Clearing and disposal: removing the failed plants including the root balls and taking away the green waste.
Soil improvement: loosening compacted areas, working in compost or mineral additives depending on soil type.
Planting plan and plants: selection by site with reasons, so the customer sees why it will not be thuja again.
Planting, mulch and watering in: planting to plan, a layer of mulch on open areas, thorough watering in.
Establishment care: an inspection in spring and care visits in the first summer, as an option or as part of a maintenance contract.

The last item matters most for the business: it extends the job into the next season and turns a one-off planting into an ongoing customer relationship. How that can develop into a fixed contract is described in the article on garden maintenance contracts. How a quote needs to be structured to get accepted is shown in the article on the path from site visit to order.

Common mistakes in redesign offers after dry years

The following mistakes cost enquiries or mean that the redesign becomes a problem again next summer. Most can be avoided with a few sentences on the website and a clear structure in the quote.

Replacement without assessment: The failed plant is replaced like for like without anyone asking about the cause. The next loss is then just a question of the weather.
Drought images as the lead: Cracked soil and brown lawns on the homepage create worry, but not enquiries. The redesigned garden is the stronger picture.
One list for every garden: A long list of robust plants without reference to the site looks like a catalogue and invites customers to shop at the garden centre themselves.
Technology as the only answer: Answering every drought enquiry with an irrigation system ignores the site and sells ongoing water costs instead of a suitable planting.
No aftercare offered: Without establishment care, the risk rises that the new planting suffers in its first summer. And the business gives away the follow-up visits.
Promises about establishment: Statements like ‘will definitely take’ cannot be kept. A clear description of what the business does to reduce the risk works better.

A redesign often touches on further questions. If an old tree is in the way, the rules on tree protection and felling seasons apply. If a garden shed or pergola is to be built at the same time, the overview of what can be built without a permit helps. And with rented properties, the question arises which garden costs a landlord may pass on in the service charge statement.

Sources and Studies

This article is based on data from the Umweltbundesamt on air temperature and drought in Germany, which draw on measurements and analyses by Deutscher Wetterdienst. The figures quoted refer to the state of the respective publication (30 March 2026 and 5 August 2026). The plant examples are general notes for typical sites and do not replace advice on site.