Since all my trees are less than three years in situ it is perhaps not all that useful to single any out for praise, since all trees, and indeed shrubs need water in their early years. But my decorative pears - Pyrus calleryana - are showing no signs of stress without having been watered at all, and the same is true of my winter flowering cherry. My Lagerstroemias are not yet big enough to make much of an impact but clearly they resist the secheresse extremely well. For some these trees/shrubs are a bit too much in their face, their flowers being almost fluorescent. They perhaps also suffer from the fact, rather like that lovely double pink flowering cherry - Prunus Kanzan - that they are favorites of the town authorities. But I have come to the conclusion that they are a 'must'. They produce vibrant colour at a difficult time of the year, their leaves colour well in autumn, and older specimens can have attractive trunks
Yesterday I visited my favourite garden _ La Coursiana - and I am happy to say that it is resisting the conditions remarkably well. Of the trees that were still looking good, I especially noticed the Celtis family. I am not a great fan of Celtis australis, alias Micocoulier, finding it a trifle boring. Still the fact that it is being much planted in the Gers indicates that one of its advantages is precisely that it does not need much water - you can see a fine planting of them in the parking to the south of Auch cathedral. The Celtis that particularly caught my eye yesterday on account of the glossiness of its leaves was C.jessoensis, while looking in Hilliers C. sinensis sounds rather promising. The fact that Adeline do not stock the former, suggests that it might be difficult to get hold of.
Most buddlejas resist the secheresse well, and that is certainly the case in my garden. There is one that I would particularly like to recommend for this quality, but I am not at all sure that I have got the correct name. It was definitely bought from le Jardin de Rochvieille (http://jaroche.club.fr), I think as B.cordata 'FJ'. The flowers in bud promise much but in fact are insignificant, but the foliage is excellent - largish, mat green on top and grey underneath, and my so-called shrub border would look pretty bare without it. And while on the subject of buddlejas, I notice that my refound favourite B. Lochinch is having a very good second flowering having had the first flush removed. The removal of the dead flowers on all your buddlejas is perhaps a council of perfection, though they do look terrible, and in my previous experience any second flowering that resulted was pretty mediocre, but with B Lochinch it seems to be very worthwhile.
Of the shrubs, the pittospermums are surviving very well, and make me think that I should plant more. Like perhaps a number of you, I had a variegated 'period', which I have since grown out of, but the pittospermums are going to be an exception, as indeed is an old favourite of mine, Rhamnus alaternus variegata, clearly rock solid in the drought. I also had a 'silver period', and at that time I certainly grew Artemesia ludoviciana Valerie Finnis, but I had forgotten what a good plant it is, but particularly in this weather. By chance I stumbled across it earlier this year, I am not sure where, but it has been one of the best things in the garden. A.Powis Castle I find a bit iffy, not always surviving the winters, and becoming very quickly rather too leggy, but it can cope with drought.
As for other vivace, the absolute stars must be the Gauras in all their variety. Mine have flowered for literally months now without a drop and are still looking goodish. I have to say that I prefer the tall ones since the fact that their stems wave around in the wind is a great part of their charm. They can flop, though if grown in the open, in say an island bed, they are much less likely to do so. To my surprise my other great standby, verbena bonariensis has not weathered the drought so well, but this may be partly due to the fact that the new seedlings faced too much competition from weeds. Most of my grasses are looking reasonably well including the miscanthus which I have always thought of as needing a reasonable amount of water.
Meanwhile we must all pray for rain, even if that does not please your English guests. Bon courage!
