We finally have some rain. It is supposed to continue through the night. It has been a long dry summer with only a couple of short showers to get us though. Needless to say, it has been hard on the gardens and what passes, or doesn’t pass, for our lawn, especially in our sloping yard. Plants that have never died before have flat-lined this year.
There is still some colour though and I am thankful for the drought tolerant plants I have put in over the years and for the shady sections of my yard that have helped the cause.
The Nasturtiums and the Purple Coneflowers have coped very well.
Along with the Black-Eyed Susans. They add such a pop of colour when everything else is looking thirsty.
The Summer Phlox have survived. At least those that the deer didn’t eat.
The Coral Bells (Heuchera) and Sedum will make it through to fall without difficulty.
The Blue Hosta still looks relatively healthy and is beginning to bloom while many of the others are finished and looking stressed.
The Diablo Ninebark still has blooms. I do love how well they cope with the weather.
The tree (very large shrub) Hydrangea is well established and doing just fine. Some of the others haven’t been so lucky, with blooms turning brown quickly or being eaten by deer. I haven’t ventured into some of the new hybrids as I prefer the classic white ones that change colour as the season progresses. The blossoms on the tree shown will be a beautiful wine colour later in the fall.
The Japanese Umbrella Pine is thriving.
As are the Blue Oat Grass and Sky Racer Grass.
And I am happy to say that my two big spring jobs, planting Japanese Forrest Grass under the Satomi and the Savanna Sunset Ninebark hedge surrounded by hardy geranium across the front yard, have survived and thrived.
But there are some areas that will need to be rethought if future summers continue to be like this one.
Thank you for reading
Photos: Jenn Stone
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It sounds like your garden challenges are very similar to mine. Your plants are looking better than some of mine so applause for you. Any of our beds that have at least some shade have survived pretty well, but the ones in full sun are really burned up. Some plants I’ve had for a long time are toast, and I’ll need to remove and replace. One thing about gardening is you never run out of challenges or projects.
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Most of my gardens are partial shade so that helps. To couple in full sun are not looking great except that I do have Black Eyed Susans left in them to give them life. But you are right about gardening. It is always changing and requires rethinking and flexibility.
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The yellow flower that you don’t remember is a cut leaf coneflower, I think. Your garden looks beautiful in spite of the drought. I’m glad to hear that you’ve had some rain, at least. NS is getting so hammered with fires and I hope you get a long, slow rain all over the province to put those out and alleviate the drought.
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Thanks for the flower name. I hope I remember it. The garden is rough looking in places but I didn’t take pics of those areas, but mostly things were stressed and dry but remained alive.
We are so happy for the rain. I hope it helps all the fires in Atlantic Canada. There are many and many people on edge because of them. I hope we hear some positive news as a result.
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a lot of it still looks very healthy. All my plants survived (although we had a couple of months of rain – June & July – except my really old pinks which I’ve had for around 30 years and moved them from place to place. I totally forgot about them when I did any watering and then suddenly noticed they were very dead. I’ve tried literally soaking them regularly since but no joy – they’re dead 😦
I wish some of my hostas would flower but they never do – I’ve no idea why not!
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You never know, those pinks may come back next year.
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well I’m going to leave them where they are for quite a while to see but I think they’re dead.
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Your grounds look terrific. You are a fine gardener.
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Thanks. If that is true, after this rain I should look like an amazing gardener. 😜
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You garden looks amazing despite the dry summer. It sounds like you’ve planned it well over the years with shaded areas, and drought tolerant plants. Hope for rain for you, and for it to stop for us in Calgary. Maggie
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I read that there has been a lot of rain in Western Canada this year. Fingers crossed that you will have a nice September.
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Your garden is stunning. I can see all the hard work that went into it!
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Lots of therapy both physical and mental went into that garden.
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We’ve had one small bit of rain the entire summer. The winter can be completely the opposite.
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I was in California several years ago and recall how dry everything seemed. I was also reminded of how bad the wildfires can get there. That must be a constant worry.
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It’s been a tough dry summer here as well. Our lawn is crunching and I’ve lost some flowers too. Even our trees are starting to stress and the apples never plumped out. Doesn’t bode well for fall color…
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There are so many leaves falling right now that there may not be many left by October. We both may end up missing the autumn colours.
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The garden is looking good, even if it is ravaged by weather and deer.
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Thanks. Partial shade and drought tolerant plants make a huge difference.
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Yes, you have done a good job developing it. We are selecting for drought tolerance more and more as the weather changes.
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