my poor plants

I don't stand in a bucket to shower !! , but I direct the shower head into a bucket to save the water from turning it on till it runs warm ( no hot shower this weather ) , I get about half a bucket and it has kept my tomatoes and cucumbers going this hot weather . But not the soapy stuff

My climbing hydrangea was lovely earlier in the summer and seems to be surviving the weather pretty well. The mophead hydrangea looks to be in good shape but has no flowers at all. The St John's Wort has flowered well and flourished although I try not to encourage it as it has spread hugely in recent years. Amazingly, two stargazer lilies, which I assumed had died, have flourished and the scent travels from the bottom of the garden right into the house if I have the door open. Otherwise, I simply have a wilderness!

I have 10 hanging baskets in the front and back of the house which are watered twice a day with bath water/hose pipe.
Potted plants are also watered twice a day and we have not lost any as yet the only one looking a wee bit sad it my olive tree but its a young tree and I may be able to save it with some TLC.

I’m cutting off faded flowers and dried up bits. Watering is a good soaking every other day for pots and beds.
I feel no guilt as a couple of weeks ago, our water provider let a burst main flow for a day before sorting it.

Our hydrangeas are watered twice morning and night.
They are on shady side of garden so holding up ok.
However despite it also having a twice daily watering, our Rose of Sharon (St John wort) has not held up, the leaves are fine but the buds are frazzled before they are even able to flower.

Every morning on our (straw) lawn, we have leaves shed from the surrounding trees.
The leaves are not autumnal looking.

I have around 10 hydrangeas, climbing and bushes, and some are starting to look very sad. They are well established plants and I don't usually have to water them but this weekend I have given them all a good soak adding Maxicrop and I have cut off the dead bits. They do look better, I just feel guilty filling the watering can from the hose halfway down the garden, but it would take forever to keep going back to the tap. I have been using washing up water, I just don't seem to do enough washing up to keep everything going. As for using bath water, I only shower and I struggle to get myself down the stairs, never mind carrying buckets of water.

Also I usually have loads of nasturtium flowers for colour, but this year all I have got is some sad looking leaves. I have been putting off buying any more plants to fill in gaps because if we have a hose pipe ban, I might not be able to keep them going.

They say it is bellanonna I've not done it for years as one time i caught my arm on the bathroom door and watered the landing

Now a lot of people have showers I noted some organisation suggesting plastic bowls in the shower with you saying only put one foot in it to avoid slipping. I won't be trying that either.

Is soapy water (eg bathwater) ok for plants?

Sorry. 'but don't know if it's'

My 20yr-old skimmia has succumbed to the drought and has to go.
I'd like a ceanothus but don't if it's the best choice for mid-border, south-facing , no shade and no wall for support.
Any advice or suggestions for alternatives would be most welcome.

We collect bathwater and water used in the sink for the garden.Good job the bathroom is downstairs as i dont think we could manage up and down several times with buckets of water!!!!

I water all my plants night and morning I don’t have a hose so it’s buckets and cans in the sink and it is a big old heavy job but so far only lost one plant and that was when I was away for a week I think most plants can manage the heat if they have plenty of water

I'm in London, it's sweltering but mostly the plants are surviving. I still water my pots and a couple of Acers which were looking decidedly frazzled but I've not moved any pots or done anything to provide shade. I have trees that provide shade and they're doing fine. I've been pruning anything that's dead and letting the plants recover which so far is going quite well.

We are cutting off the dead bits and will replace anything that dies comoletely with something more drought resistant!

Living in the driest part of England we only grow plants that can grow with droughty conditions. Anything else is grown in pots and moved into the shade. I think so long as you keep them watered they'll cope with the heat.