After the driest, hottest summer on record, amateur gardener Sarah Pajwani is rethinking her two-acre Berkshire garden. Here she shares seven practical, climate-resilient changes any gardener can make.
ST TIMOTHEE GARDEN – MID AUGUST 2026
For twenty years, Sarah Pajwani has been shaping a neglected two-acre field in Berkshire into a spectacular family garden, one designed to sit lightly on the land and thrive without irrigation. But this year’s extremes – two of the wettest winters on record followed by the driest, hottest summer – have tested even her tried-and-tested “right plant, right place” philosophy.
Like so many of us watching our lawns turn to straw and our trees wilt, Sarah has had to adapt. Here, she shares the changes already working in her own garden, and the ones she’s planning next, as she reshapes St Timothee for a hotter, drier future.
This summer has been tough and my garden in South East England needs some changes if it is to cope with our increasingly extreme climate. My ideal for the garden has not changed since we arrived 20 years ago. I want year-round interest that’s easy for me to manage. We don’t irrigate because I want the garden to sit naturally within its surroundings and to support itself. I’ve always followed Beth Chatto’s ethos of ‘Right plant, right place’ and look for easy, tough performers that can cope with my conditions.
That philosophy has served me well but we’ve just experienced two of the wettest ever winters and this summer has been both the driest as well as the hottest ever. We’ve had two months without any rain and temperatures hit the high 30s for days on end. With stress has come disease and put many staples of the English garden, such as Box, under threat and several of our native trees are also now struggling.
So what can we do? Here are some of the changes I’ve started to make that are working for me so far, along with some of the adjustments I’m planning for the future.
NEW OSMANTHUS BURKWOODII IN FOREGROUND TO REPLACE BOX
1. Don’t change too much too quickly
I fell guilty of that this year, replanting a new area last autumn and replacing a lot of Box balls this summer. Autumn worked well and gave my new plants time to establish through the winter. But with my additional summer planting of Box replacements, like these Osmanthus Burkwoodii, I have had too much watering to do, especially since the hosepipe ban.
I find that all new trees and shrubs take several years to get their roots down deep enough to cope with a summer like this and even smaller plants often need help in their first year so my plan for the coming year will be less ambitious.
However, taking more than one season to assess plantings avoids writing off something prematurely. My Geranium Rozanne struggled in Summer 2025 – I suspect I rushed too quickly to their aid with some water. This year, I semi wrote them off and yet, completely unwatered, they’ve been superb! It feels like they developed their own coping mechanism.
REPEATED STANDS OF COTINUS COGGYGRIA ROYAL PURPLE
2. Look for tough plants with good foliage colour
One of the best shrubs in my garden is Cotinus. I have three varieties; Coggygria Royal Purple, Coggygria Dusky Maiden and Coggygria Golden Spirit. In shades of deep purple and bright gold, they provide big hits of colour and have sailed through these tricky months with no watering at all.
Smaller plants can do the same. One I particularly value is Sedum Purple Emperor with its strong purple foliage.
NEW OLIVE GARDEN PLANTED IN AUTUMN 2025
3. Embrace the Mediterranean look
My new ‘Olive garden’ replaces a Box parterre. It was planted in autumn last year to give the feel of a Mediterranean gravel garden.
I garden on clay and worried that Mediterranean plants may not cope with our wet winters. I chose a mix of plants that were strong performers already for me (various grasses and Euphorbias, Lambs Ears, Sedums and Greek Oregano) with a few new experiments (Santolina, Helianthemum and, most risky but I loved it, Senecio Angel Wings). All but one Santolina came through last year’s wet weather, showing that plants don’t always read rule books and it’s often worth a punt!
It has a different aesthetic and feel, lacking the bright colours of traditional English borders but it’s felt in tune with the wider landscape and given me lots of joy and hope for the future, needing very little attention over the last few months.
LONG GRASS AREA WITH CENTRAL MOWN ELLIPSE
4. Rethink the lawn
One of the saddest things this summer has been seeing the lawn toast to a crisp. Far better have been my long grass areas. With clearly defined shapes and edged with Hornbeam or Yew, they’ve continued to look interesting with layers and textures and alive with the movement and sounds of wildlife.
This is one of the easiest things to do and I’m planning another area for next year. My Yellow Rattle seeds have arrived and I’ve got a few pink Sainfoin seeds as something new to try.
ORNAMENTAL GRASSES FOR STRUCTURE AND A UNIFYING COLOUR
5. Use more ornamental grasses
This view across the front terrace is usually full of the bright pinks and deep blues of Roses and Salvias. They bloomed this year but came and went early. It’s been the ornamental grasses, the upright Calamagrostis Karl Foerster and spectacular fountains of Stipa Gigantea, that have held the interest and been totally at home with the weather.
Using grasses in borders also gives a link to the straw colour of our lawns. Whereas in wetter years, green foliage linked to our green lawns, this year straw has been the unifying colour. So I am planning to play to this and add Nasella Tenuissima to any gaps at the front of borders.
TOUGH PLANTS WITH BIG IMPACT
6. If it’s survived, repeat it
Plants that have performed well this summer will keep things easy going forward and repeating them will give the garden a sense of cohesion. In my garden, Echinops Ritro Veitch’s Blue, Salvia Yangii (formerly Perovskia) and Althaea Cannabina have sailed through everything for many years now and I will plant even more.
LEAVE MORE VERBASCUM AND FENNEL SEEDLINGS IN FUTURE
7. Allow more self seeding
Self-seeding plants are natural survivors and will colonise gaps in borders. This border is usually full of orange Heleniums and, slightly later, Crocosmia. Both have been unable to cope this year and I have regretted my over-zealous weeding of Fennel and Verbascum which could have helped. I’ve made a note for next year!
I won’t have time for all these changes immediately but noticing what is working, what is happy and what is easy feels like a big part of successful gardening. And I feel more positive when I have a plan, even if it takes me several years to get there.
Sarah opens her garden at St Timothee regularly for the National Garden Scheme. The next opening is on November 3 with a talk on Grasses and the Autumn garden. Booking is essential via the NGS website here.
