Top Picks for Floral Beauty in a Classic Mediterranean Style Garden

Mediterranean-Style Gardens Gaining Popularity in the UK as Climate Changes

Mediterranean gardens, with their outdoor kitchens, dining areas, and fragrant herbs, are no longer exclusive to the Mediterranean region. As more parts of the UK become vulnerable to drought due to the climate crisis, the popularity of these gardens is increasing. Growing drought-tolerant plants, such as those native to the Mediterranean basin, ensures a more resilient garden during dry periods and sustainable water use during hot summer seasons.

What Makes a Mediterranean Garden?

At the heart of Mediterranean-style gardening are drought-tolerant plants. These plants have adaptations that allow them to endure prolonged dry conditions, such as silvery leaves to reflect heat away from the plants and thick, waxy leaf coatings to reduce water loss. Dry, sunny gravel gardens create an optimal environment for plants from the Mediterranean region to thrive, offering a loose, naturalistic aesthetic, particularly when perennials self-seed in the gravel.

Creating a Mediterranean Garden Design

Mediterranean gardens often have shaded seating areas adorned with plants in terracotta pots, surrounded by drifts of fragrant herbs. Water features are another central element, contributing to the garden's tranquil atmosphere. The combination of scented plants and the soothing sound of water creates a sensory escape. This design style typically uses a limited array of plants repeated throughout, rather than combining a large variety of species. using a limited color palette, such as blues, purples, silvers, and white, with occasional vibrant pops of color, adds to the sophistication and relaxation of the design.

Italian Cypress, Citrus Trees, Bay Trees, and More - Best Plants for a UK Mediterranean Garden

Here are some recommendations for creating your own Mediterranean-style garden in the UK:

Italian Cypress: Ideal for providing evergreen structure in a dry, sunny spot, these elegant conifers can be clipped to maintain their columnar form. There are compact varieties available that won't grow taller than around 6m.
Citrus Trees: Gorgeous and effective at creating a Mediterranean look, citrus trees require a sheltered, sunny location and frost-free conditions over winter. They make an impressive impact in terracotta pots on either side of an entranceway or can be grown in conservatories, greenhouses, or against a south- or west-facing wall.
Bay Trees: Another resilient evergreen option for a Mediterranean-style garden, bay trees offer the added benefit of fragrant leaves suitable for cooking. They can be clipped into various shapes, including lollipops, cones, or pyramids, and grow well in containers or directly in the ground.
Myrtle: This half-hardy shrub has fragrant white flowers in the summer and thrives in a sunny, sheltered spot, making it ideal as a container plant for winter protection. It's perfect for adding evergreen structure and scent on a south- or west-facing patio.
Lamb's Ear: A fantastic perennial for a sunny spot, lamb's ear attracts pollinating insects to its pinky-purple flowers and is low-maintenance, ideal for gravel gardens or mixed borders.
Cotton Lavender: This compact, evergreen shrub provides year-round interest with its silvery foliage and bright yellow button flowerheads in the summer. It is suitable for a sunny border or gravel garden, provided the soil is well-drained, especially in winter.
False Dittany: Originating from the eastern Mediterranean region, false dittany has soft, white-green hairy leaves and whorls of pinkish flowers in late spring and early summer. This drought-tolerant evergreen provides all-year-round structure in a sunny gravel garden.
Silverbush: This attractive evergreen shrub is ideal for adding to a Mediterranean-style gravel garden or container, with silvery leaves and white trumpet flowers in late spring and summer. It struggles with cold, wet winters, so it's best grown in pots in frost-prone areas.
Lavender: A staple of Mediterranean planting schemes, versatile lavender can be grown as a hedge, a specimen plant, or in a container. It thrives in poor soil and full sun, is extremely drought-tolerant, and enjoys fragrant flowers beloved by pollinating insects.
Curry Plant: This Mediterranean sub-shrub has a pungent spicy fragrance, earning its common name. It features silver needle-like leaves and clusters of bright yellow flowers in summer.
Phlomis: Favored by bumblebees, phlomis flowers are hooded and arranged in whorls, with colors ranging from yellow to pink depending on the species. This drought-tolerant plant requires good drainage, especially in winter.
Rosemary: Another sun-loving herb well-suited for dry gravel gardens and borders, rosemary can also be grown in containers and provides a year-round supply of leaves for the kitchen.
Sea Holly: A Mediterranean sea holly is a drought-tolerant perennial that thrives in dry soil, making it suitable for growing in gravel gardens. It has spiky silver leaves and ghostly silvery-blue flowers that are attractive to pollinating insects.
Mediterranean Spurge: This stately Euphorbia makes an excellent addition to gravel gardens and dry, sunny borders, capable of reaching 1.2m in height. With large, chartreuse-green flowers and dark red eyes, it creates visual impact in spring. Mediterranean spurge is evergreen and copes well with drought conditions once established.
Salvias: Staples of dry sunny borders, salvias come in a variety of shapes and colors, some being perennial, half-hardy, or tender annuals from which cuttings can be taken to produce new plants for the following year. Salvias provide late-season color from mid to late summer.
Globe Thistle: The blue spherical flowers of globe thistle create an eye-catching contrast with the bright orange blooms of perennials such as Verbascum 'Clementine' and Kniphofia 'Tawny King', and they are magnets for pollinating insects. Globe thistle is an excellent way to add color and interest to borders from mid to late summer.
Rock Rose: Offering a variety of pink or white flowering rock roses, these evergreen shrubs are generally low-growing but can reach up to a couple of meters in height in some cases. They are low maintenance and tolerate a range of conditions, including drought and chalky soils.
Verbascum: These short-lived perennials or biennials range in color from the bright yellow flowers of our native great mullein (Verbascum thapsus) to the white, apricot, pink, purple, or blue blooms of many different varieties. Verbascum is an ideal way to add spots of color to sunny borders and gravel gardens throughout spring and summer.
Hollyhocks: Thriving in dry areas on chalky soils, hollyhocks are tall, stately favorites in sunny cottage gardens. Their tall spires of flowers create architectural interest at the back of borders, and they self-seed readily, making it easy to create a dramatic display without needing to buy expensive plants.
Thyme: This versatile herb can be grown as ground cover, in pots, or as a compact shrub in a gravel garden or dry, sunny border. Bees, hoverflies, and butterflies love thyme flowers, and varieties such as Thymus citriodorus 'Variegata' are great as culinary herbs.

Incorporating elements of a Mediterranean garden design can help create a beautiful, low-maintenance outdoor living space that requires less water and fares well during dry periods—making it an attractive option for gardeners looking to adapt to changing weather conditions.

The popularity of Mediterranean-style gardens, featuring outdoor kitchens, dining areas, and fragrant herbs, is increasing in the UK as more parts of the country become vulnerable to drought due to climate change, with the fashion-and-beauty industry promoting these gardens as an attractive option for low-maintenance outdoor living spaces.
Incorporating elements of a Mediterranean garden design not only offers a tranquil atmosphere with water features and scented plants but also provides a sustainable solution for food-and-drink enthusiasts, as many drought-tolerant plants native to the Mediterranean basin are used, ensuring a resilient garden during dry periods and sustainable water use during hot summer seasons.
With a surge in interest for education-and-self-development, home-and-garden enthusiasts can discover a wealth of knowledge on the best plants, such as Italian Cypress, Citrus Trees, Bay Trees, Myrtle, and Lavender, for creating their own Mediterranean-style garden in the UK, fostering a lifelong passion for nurturing and cultivating these beautiful, drought-tolerant plant variants.