I like Taril's option 2
Basically using Nature's Recovery so that your primary summon won't take up a spellslot. So for example, summoning the Woodland Being or a Greater Elemental, then recovering that spellslot immediately. Casting Longstrider (or later heroes feast) on everyone so that your summons will move further and have more HP and resistances.
Woodland being is probably the most versatile, since she comes online early and has a summon and spell-list of her own. Spike Growth is very useful and means you save that slot for another spell with your main. The Woodwoad puts up decent damage and has an entangling option. That one more High Strength Low Dex, so distance-wise it's better to jump the Woodwoad into position.
The only thing the Woodland Being is missing from her BG1/2 counterpart is a mass healing spell, but otherwise she hits pretty heavy here. With Woodland being Shillelagh going you can add maybe extra 100 dmg per encounter. if she gets off the Spikegrowth and a couple attacks, on top of what you've already got going. Once you have a Greater Elemental you can do the triple team thing, warp around and slam. They're all way better with the Longstrider buff, since usually the problem with the better summons is that their movement speed is pretty low (for normal point and click walking I mean). The flying and warping elementals can overcome this, since you'll always cover way more ground if you fly or warp into position as opposed to jogging. Especially for the summons who can't skip around as easily, having the extra movement will help them to actually land those melee attacks instead of falling short at the last meter. They're good for all druids, but the fact that you can recover the spellslot instantly with a Circle of the Land Druid makes them somewhat more formidable there.
You can do something similar with a potion of Arcane Cultivation or the Spellcrux Amulet obv, but those also work in-combat, so I think it's maybe better to hold them in reserve for emergencies. Like if you can remember to drink them that is, or hold that necklace in the bag. Spore Druids are probably more entertaining for the novelty Summons, but then you have to deal with hella mushroom spore VFX going on with your main character. I couldn't play that one until recently when I found the No spore VFX mod, cause it was just too distracting for me, so Land Druid was my go to. I just prefer the spellcaster thing to the Wildshape thing. Like if you want them striking, Moon Druid is optimal since you'll get the extra attacks, and can wildshipe for a bonus action. I wish we could choose to take Natural Recovery over Improved WIldshape, because then I would take that even with a Moon Druid probably. It just depends whether you want to play as a Myrmidon for like the whole second half of the game. Usually I have a Myrmidon anyway, so it ends up feeling kind of redundant even though the wildshape form is way better than the summon, with those extra attacks and Tavern Brawler-y options.
Click tedium with the Goodberry I think makes that one a bit lackluster, though it will save you bucko bucks over time if you use it constantly for every rest. My clicker finger felt like it was going to fall off though. Longstrider is similar trying to cast it 1 at a time on everyone. I think it would have been better with a radius of X ft so peeps would find it simpler to use consistently. All the dailies are sort of like that though. Least with the Circle of the Land you'll a few more spells preprepared so you can work in the more useful rituals spells without having to give up too much at the high end. Call Lightning is pretty solid for direct damage vs most enemies with a lvl 3 spellslot, it's just nice cause it's an AoE but has a pretty tight radius so you can often edge in on attack without zapping all your nearby summons and once you got it up doesn't consume any more spellslots for 10 rounds if you can maintain concentration. For the lvl 2 slot the options are a bit more limited, but holding is also solid and useful throughout the game even in Act II with a bunch of undead everywhere, failing that there's always double spike growth or more Ice Knives I guess.
I find Wildshape sorta awkward for the Circle of the Land Druid and wish we could choose an Animal Summoning type ability instead. I just get bored of always being an Owlbear, even though they're incredible, it's pretty OP with the crushing flight that almost always knocks everyone prone and then claws to wreck. I think they just made it way too badass and so you're never going to wildshape into a Wolf or whatever when that's on offer. I don't know maybe it should have required a spellslot to unlock more advanced forms as a way to pace things, so it isn't quite so all or nothing there. Playing as a Velociraptor is cool and all, but again, I'd probably have taken some sort of advanced Wolf form or Wolf buddy over that. If we could customize the look of our forms that also might have been fun. Or similarly to have a named Animal companion or some such. I guess Rangers get all that flavor now, but it would have been a nice touch for the Druids. I just feel like it's missing a bit of the standard Animal angle, as opposed to like Mushroom Zombies and Elemental type Monsters, just like a gang of angry Boars might be a nice change of pace hehe.
