Desert and Dry Gardens
As water becomes a more pressing concern worldwide, gardens designed without irrigation — sometimes called xeriscapes — have become an essential frontier in horticulture. The best dry gardens are not survival landscapes but rich plant collections demonstrating that water restraint and beauty are entirely compatible.
Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden, Essex
Created in 1991 on a former car park, this is the most influential dry garden in English horticulture. Never irrigated; demonstrates that an unpromising site can carry a year-round perennial planting.
Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Arizona
One of the world's largest cactus collections on 56 hectares, with native Sonoran Desert species in their natural setting.
Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona
Specialising in arid-land plants from around the world, with a particularly strong eucalyptus collection.
Huntington Desert Garden, San Marino, California
Over 5,000 species of cacti and other succulents on 5 hectares — one of the most important collections in the world.
Kirstenbosch, South Africa
The world's first botanic garden dedicated to a single country's native flora (1913), with the fynbos and Karoo desert species displayed in landscape context.
Domaine du Rayol, France
Gilles Clément's 'Mediterranean garden of the world' on the Côte d'Azur — a Mediterranean climate dry garden referencing California, Chile, South Africa and Australia.
Sant Cugat Mediterranean Garden, Catalonia
A contemporary public garden demonstrating dry-climate perennial planting for the Iberian peninsula.
Wisley Dry Garden
The RHS demonstration dry garden, planted with Mediterranean, South African and Australian species and never watered after establishment.
Adelaide Botanic Garden Mediterranean Garden
A focused dry-climate display showing what is possible in Mediterranean-climate Australia.
Tucson Botanical Gardens, Arizona
Smaller than Phoenix but with an exceptional native Sonoran Desert garden and a strong educational programme on water-conserving design.
Explore on the map
All of the gardens mentioned in this article are pinned on the interactive map. Use it to plan a route, group nearby sites into a single trip, or compare gardens by style and season.