A Summer-Dry Aesthetic

We want to change the aesthetic of what we expect to see in a garden photo in summer-dry climates.  Beautiful photos of beautiful gardens inspire gardeners to mimic what they see.

Many photos in garden books and magazines are from East Coast and English style gardens, that, while are certainly lovely in those settings, are wrong in more arid and summer-dry climates.  Water is especially precious in summer-dry climates, lush images from other climates mislead gardeners to try inappropriate and unsustainable gardens.

We want to inspire gardeners to choose plants that are water wise and garden styles that fit into the habitats and natural beauty nature provides. So here at Summer-Dry we celebrate plants that naturally thrive with less irrigation in the summer and receive most of their water as rain in wet winters.

We don’t like the term drought tolerant since all plants are tolerant of drought in their native habitat and no plant can survive without some water. The art and pleasure of gardening is using the right plant in the right place.

Please use this website as a source for ideas – then go have fun making your own garden.