THRIVING UNDER STRESS

In the steel industry, where I worked for almost 40 years, we used to ‘stress test’ materials to destruction to see how the steel performed in extreme conditions. It seems to me our ferociously hot and arid summer of 2018 is doing a similar thing to our gardens! When we returned home recently, after two and a half weeks away, our poor garden certainly looked under stress! After the initial feelings of despair, I took a more objective look and found some plants had survived better than others. A newly planted hydrangea looked particularly poorly, while an achillea appeared to be in rude health, as if it might actually be enjoying the conditions! Also, a gaillardia looked in surprisingly good shape, in spite of the fact it was only planted out this year as a jumbo plug in spring. Robert Hinchcliffe, Bottesford, Lincs