When I moved to Ballarat from Melbourne thirteen years ago, I never imagined that I would be forced to change all of my gardening ideas to cope with extremely dry conditions. Mentioning Ballarat to many people always elicited remarks about ‘that cold place’. Cold indeed. True, we do have a few snow flurries most winters, and we have the loveliest refreshing cool overnight temperatures. But like so many parts of Australia, we have experienced below average rainfall for the past eleven years.

In my first year in Ballarat in 1996, it started raining in April and did not stop until the following October. Serious, pelting rain that we can only dream about now! Fast forward to January 2009 and we have been on stage four water restrictions for over two years and last year’s total amount of rain was 597ml – 100 ml less than 2007 and far below what was considered ‘average’ for Ballarat. Water storages are at 16% capacity, or 84% empty. Numerous tanks have been installed to capture every drop of water and I am a water miser extraordinaire!

One of the primary considerations when gardening in dry conditions should be to establish as much green mass as possible to create a cooling effect. Evergreen shrubs such as Viburnum tinus lauristinus, Choisya ternata, Philadelphus mexicanus, Coleonema album (diosma), Osmanthus delavayi, Alyogyne heugelii, Teucrium betonicum, Plumbago capensis, westringia and various correas are some of the outstanding plants that have been successful in this garden. Cover fences and screens with climbing pelargoniums, old-fashioned honeysuckle and Pandorea pandorana to continue the greening of your garden. Plants that look good all year really earn their place in smaller spaces.

Buddleia crispa has been a winner and never gets a drop of water. It has fabulous felty silver leaves and lavender flowers in late winter. This is a buddleia that is not pruned in winter, but after flowering. I grow quite a few abutilons in shade beneath elms and these are never watered. They flower all year and honeyeaters love them. Tip prune to keep them tidy. Mahonia, sarcococca, winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima) Raphiolepis indica and Raphiolepis x decora grow well in dry shade too. Bordering these are Japanese box and liriope.

Smaller shrubs and groundcovers that cope well with summer conditions in full sun include Convolvulus cneorum, Convolvulus sabatius, various forms of cistus and all the lovely old-fashioned pelargoniums. Limonium perezii has performed brilliantly – just watch for snails. Lemon verbena seems to be indestructible and erysimum or wallflowers, have proven to be remarkably dry tolerant. Silvery Helichrysum italicum, or curry plant, grows in the toughest spots, can be clipped into mounds and I think is a far superior plant to any santolina. Ruta graveolens should be grown more often – there is a metallic sheen to the blue-green leaves, it can be clipped to a dome, and never asks for a drink. Tulbaghia makes a delightful edging plant and always looks attractive.

Euphorbias are essential plants in the dry garden. E. characias wulfenii grows in all points from deep shade to baking sun here, and the fabulous lime green ‘flowers’ light up the garden from July to January. E. rigida and E. myrsinites create pleasing pictures all year. Euphorbia ‘Craigieburn’ and E. ‘Tiny Trev’ are two new releases that are outstanding. E. amigdaloides Robbiae provides attractive dark green foliage in shade and semi-shade.

Arthropodium is an absolute winner for dry semi-shade. This is another of those plants that never has a down time, its sword like leaves in an attractive cool green make such a statement when grown in large groups. Snails love it, so be watchful. The old forms of species fuchsia have remarkable staying power, far more robust than the elaborate hybrids. Heuchera and tiarella are surprisingly tolerant of dry semi-shade and have surprised me with their staying power.
Plectranthus argentatus is extraordinarily resilient – this is another plant that copes with the conditions under a peppercorn tree. It always looks attractive. I use other forms of plectranthus in various shaded areas with great success.

I have a large selection of succulents, which I incorporate with all other types of plants. Numerous forms of aeoniums are indispensable, sempervivums edge garden beds with style as do the beautiful Echeveria x imbricata. Cotyledons light up the area under a hungry peppercorn tree with their silvery glow and their lovely flower stems feed honeyeaters. Dramatic agaves are used in some very difficult spots. I consider the various forms of Sedum spectabile to be some of the best plants you can grow - plants that look good all year. A form of sedum, known as jellybeans, has replaced stachys as an edging. The stachys invariably gave up at the end of summer and the sedum is unaffected by the heat.

My garden and a similar town garden open for groups by arrangement. My many garden visitors now consider me to be something of an expert on gardening with minimal water.
There are many treasures that will survive with minimal or no extra watering to help you to create a peaceful and restful garden.

All pictures were taken in Nancy's garden.