I have never known the garden to be this dry. I moved to the deep south (of London) in 2010 and it has been parched before but not like this. The trees are still green but even the hardiest, most drought tolerant perennials are wilting.  Ordinarily I would expect them to recover from the roots over winter. For the first time I am wondering if some will survive the summer.

 About twenty years ago ecologists were warning we should be planting gardens with drought in mind. In fact there followed a number of summers of torrential rain. Something we have realised is that global warming creates a lot of extreme weather, not just drought. Nonetheless the record heat and lack of rainfall this year may well be a portent of what to expect on a regular basis.