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A Wellington garden centre says customers are concerned about how their gardens will fare as the region faces stricter water restrictions this summer.
Most of the Wellington region has today entered level 2 water restrictions, meaning no sprinklers or irrigation use is allowed.
Wellington Water says there is a 76 percent chance it will jump to level 3 later this month, which would see a total ban on water use outdoors.
Palmers Garden Centre Miramar co-owner Phil Hughes says customers started asking him last month about what they could do to keep their gardens going during water restrictions.
Palmers had been trying to arm people with useful information that will hopefully reassure them that "they're not going to lose all their plants", Hughes said.
Some of them were switching to hardier plants and vegetables but Hughes said the main thing was to change the way they watered.
His tips for using water efficiently include watering early, conserving the water you have, using water butts and to water plants "deeply - don't water too frequently and get the plants to go looking for the water, they'll find it. It's amazing how resilient plants are".
This week Palmers set up a display featuring plants that fare better in an environment with hotter temperatures and lower water levels.
They include native grasses and colourful portulaca and verbena flowers.
Porirua's Leacroft Nurseries nursery assistant Sam Dearsly said he was telling customers to keep plants watered "until the restrictions really kick in".
In the meantime, he suggested soaking the roots in a trough full of water when planting, and using mulch to lock the water in.
"But apart from that they're obviously limited while the water restrictions apply."
Dearsly said "any kind of succulents do well, obviously", in the dry, as well as native flaxes.
"But it really varies site to site. So look at your garden and decide what will be best suited."
Hughes said it would be interesting to see how Wellingtonians complied with the restrictions.
But he said water was an issue everyone needed to think about anyway because of climate change.
