Combating drought in the garden

[McDonough]

It is interesting to see how some plants adapt to drought, some are surprisingly drought resistant.  One of the very common deciduous azaleas grown in New England is the old cultivar 'Girard's Fuschia', a very good bone-hardy selection that grows wider than tall.  In summer, it typically goes through a phase where the foliage gets thin and chartaceous (papery) and turning an olive brown color.  None more so than this hot and dry year, it appears to be a moisture-conservation measure, and if one looks closely, the center-most tips and leaf buds are still green.  I like the effect, sort of a shimmery silver-tan-olive veil, rather than leaves turning yellow and dropping as so many other plants do.

[Howey]

Hi Mark:  Am giving this pic another try - it isn't exactly "adapting" but appears to survive in spite of drought conditions.  Others with bluish leaves - Glaucium, Atheonema and Dianthis - do OK as well.  Anyway, here it is, sans species name.  Fran

[McDonough]

Hi Mark:  Am giving this pic another try - it isn't exactly "adapting" but appears to survive in spite of drought conditions.  Others with bluish leaves - Glaucium, Atheonema and Dianthis - do OK as well.  Anyway, here it is, sans species name.  Fran

Fran, is this a prickly poppy or Argemone?  Very nice!  Is it long-lived for you, or short-lived as many poppies or Papaveraceae seem to be?  I may have to begin altering the types of plants I'm growing, to better fit the more likely possibility of droughty summers in years to come. 

It is worth mentioning some of plants in my garden that are water hogs, and go limp at the slightest wiff of drought.  These include Cimicifuga (I only grow the Japanese simplex/ramosa and various cultivars), Kirengoshoma palmata and koreana, Anemone tomentosa, Deinanthe, many (most) Thalictrum, although Thalictrum minus 'Adiantifolium' is a smaller beauty that seems completely drought tolerant, Primula kisoana, Paeonia japonica, Hydrangea serrata varieties.   Other plants seem affected by the drought, but are using survival methods, such as shedding some leaves, to survive.

[RickR]

That's great, Mark, but don't over do it (not that you are).  If the plants get used to the extra moisture, compared to living on the edge, they might start growing too much and requiring even more water.  Although in your case, I doubt that you will ever have such a problem this season.  With such a drought like yours, any excess water (if there is such a thing) is surely being immediately sucked away by the surrounding soil.

I will bet that many of us have observed that after a week of rainy days, plants have grown disproportionately more compared to "regular" days.  The first intensely sunny days after the rainy week plants often droop, even when the soil is amply moist.  The roots need to grow back into balance with the foliage.  Essentially the same phenomenon, root/foliage balance is key.

[Howey]

Yes, I should have known it was Argemone but was so anxious to try the picture work that I didn't realize my error.  And yes, it has been very long lived and the flowers just keep coming through August.  Believe you spoke of a Bore (well).  Neighbor of mind has a Sand Point well - dug down only 28 inches through the basement floor to reach water.  Now, while the rest of us have dry drooping plants, his large edible garden is thriving - and it's legal too.  Is a Bore well drilled through clay?  Fran

[David Sellars]

Fran:

A well can be drilled through clay but a gravel/sand layer below is normally required to get sufficient well yield.  Our water supply is from a well so we are not subject to City water restrictions.  Even then it is hard to keep up with the watering in a large garden in a dry summer. We keep the vegetable and rock garden areas well watered; the woodland areas get a bit and the grass we allow to go brown.

[McDonough]

After two nighttime rain showers in the last two weeks, with just a trifling amount of rain, the drought here deepens. Warm to hot sunny days continue day after day, often with gusty thermal winds siphoning away any ground moisture.  We have a total outdoor water ban in effect until further notice, but I must admit to spending some hours filling a watering can in a desperate attempt to save my more prized plants... I feel like some sort of criminal while trying to sprinkle a bit of moisture on them.

A few photos.  My giant clump of Epimedium grandiflorum 'Red Queen', which measured almost 4' wide (120 cm) x 30" (75 cm) tall, has all but collapsed, as have many others... I have stopped trying to water it, just hoping that the rhizomes and roots survive.  Then a couple shots of the crispy lawn, normally thick and green.  Surprisingly, just 50 miles west in Central Massachusetts, the lawns were green and just showed a slight bit of stress and browning, and about 120 miles west in the far western end of the State, the grass was rich and green, so apparently the drought is restricted to a band along the coast; I'm about 60 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean as the crow flies.

It becomes a learning experience observing the effects of drought, particularly with a genus in my garden that's particularly well represented in the garden; Epimedium.  Certain species, and hybrids with those species, show little or no ill effect from the drought (even though not watered), thus can be regarded as drought-tolerant.  Those that still look fine include pinnatum ssp. colchicum, hybrids of it such as x warleyense, and x perralchicum, pubigerum, sempervirens and hybrids of it, and many Chinese species such as brevicornu, saggitatum, ilicifolium, wushanense, lishichenii, davidii, brachyrrhizum, and many hybrids among Chinese species. 

Those that are badly affected by the deep drought include most grandiflorum hybrids and many x youngianum hybrids.  As I have ventured into an Epimedium hybridization program, the drought-tolerance factor becomes invaluable information for breeding drought-tolerant varieties.  A number of three-year seedlings that are crosses between a grandiflorum cultivar and a sempervirens cultivar, look completely unfazed by the drought, apparently inheriting the drought-resistance from sempervirens.  This drought provides some important lessons.

[Hoy]

We have the opposit problem here!
Now the rain is pouring down in the south of Norway and it is impossible to harvest crops like wheat.

[McDonough]

Our drought finally ended the end of September, literally just two days of measurable amounts of rain in nearly 4 months.  October saw soem days of prolonged heavy rain, which I am happy about, and then many of those magical Indian Summer days as they are called here in New England, northeastern USA, with breezy crystal clear sunny days and temperatures in the mid 60s, but cool nights into the 40s Fahrenheit.  Some plants displayed an amazing resurrection with the return of rain, others remain nearly leafless but I suspect the roots are alive and the plants will return next year.

One that I'm happy to see resurrected with the rain, documented in this topic previously, is the unique fall blooming mint from China and Japan, Leucosceptrum stellipilum, a plant that fools most people into guessing it is a Hydrangea.  The leaf growth has come back to life, and the bud-wands are now showing, but still a week or more away from flowering, a couple photos uploaded. It's important to get to know such plants, that can grow and flower in shade in the late autumn.

Do I forget about this terrible drought? No, I don't think so, I have learned a lot from the experience.  Now, all future plantings and plant choices will be subject to the learned experience, fully expecting that prolonged droughts and water bans will be more prevalent in the future.

[James R.]

Can you buy compost by the yard? Here in Oregon we can buy it by the yard or truck load. I put down a
3-4inch layer of compost with aged steer manure (steer Plus) every fall. We rarely get summer rain and the yearly applications of compost help hold in moisture. It takes a few years to build up the tilth in the soil but it is well worth it especially for the woodland gardens. The plants love all the organics being added back and the black compost looks amazing too.

[McDonough]

Yes, compost by the yard is available in some areas, but it is rather expensive.   I have opted instead for shredded pine bark mulch, which breaks down nicely, and is more affordable.  This year I ran out of mulch, but did not replenish my supply, as I'm holding most all discretionary expenses while I'm still unemployed (it's been a year).  My neighbor keep horses, so I do have a free supply of horse manure when wanted.

[Spiegel]

Mark, have you tried contacting any of the tree service companies in your area?  That's what I do and most of our front property line has a 5' high continuous pile of wood chips.  Some of the tree people are always looking for places to dump their chips because they have an ever replenished supply.  I just let them rot down.  They're usable as soil in five years and if they're needed before then we run them through the home chipper and dig them in.  They rot very quickly that way.  With the amount of rock we have here, soil is in short supply.

[McDonough]

Mark, have you tried contacting any of the tree service companies in your area?  That's what I do and most of our front property line has a 5' high continuous pile of wood chips. 

No, I haven't tried that.  I'm not a big fan of the look of wood chips versus bark mulch.  With our rustic boulder stone wall along our narrow street frontage (my property is narrow but deep), and close proximity of the house and driveway to the street, there is literally only one spot reachable by a dump truck and available for stockpiling landscape material.  If I need bark mulch and sand at the same time, one of those two has to be dumped on the driveway, which is a hardship.  But one piece of machinery I need is a chipper, but that's definitely off the table until I can find a job.

[Hoy]

Mark, I would like to focus on that plant of yours, the Leucosceptrum stellipilum. I really like that. Does it need warm summers to do well? I am always at the lookout for new woodland plants. Do you know if it is possible from seed?

What do you mean by "compost by the yard"? A truckload dumped in your front yard?  - Here I can easily buy truckloads of sand, soil/compost etc cheap (always someone digging for something) but the transport is what cost money. I have a chipper too but it is time-consuming work to chip all the garden waste.

[Lori S.]

Trond, a "yard" is an abbreviated term for a "cubic yard".  So, it's the volume of material in a cube that is 36" long, wide and deep.  Landscaping materials are usually sold "by the yard" here.