What thrived What didn't a summary Fall 2010

most of our area was unusually hot for an unusually l o n g time. I addition most of us got little to no rain for extended periods which is continuing into the Fall. Tell us what thrived and how much effort it took to keeps things going. What plantings have you had to give up on? What plantings are you worried about making it til next year? Are you doing anything special to insure survival (or increase the odds) ?

Well my tropicals did great. LOL I kept up with the watering and they loved the heat. My roses did very poorly but they were just out of hose reach so they didn't get watered as much as I had to fill watering cans and carry them over. I bought new hoses this year and got an extra so next year there will be plenty of hose to reach them. It would be hard for me to really tell what was caused by the weather. We were away so much a lot of the plants got planted late and the care just wasn't consistent. Just an all around bad year for our gardens as a whole.

A newly planted (I did know better) Cryptomeria died
A small (5 foot) black dragon is on its way out
Veronica - gone
Maybe a few astilbe - I may get a surprise later
three joe pye weed (of all things!)

The Good

Smartweed, Persicaria pensylvanica seems to have thrived the most in our gardens this summer, with the yellow weed Oxalis as a probable second. Of intentional in-ground plants the current winners are Blue Mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum and Rough Blazing Star, Liatris aspera. The Mistflower has even showed up in numerous places as blooming volunteers.. For the most part the Hostas have held up well. Our 5 or 6 Hosta ‘So Sweet’ are all wilted looking despite our watering efforts. Two or three unnamed Hostas have turned brown and shriveled up, looking like they have expired, but that’s not so bad considering we have well over 100 Hostas.

At this point we have several hundred plants in pots for one reason or another, and they have fared better than our in-ground plants since it is easier to keep their limited environments moist than large expanses of gardens with trees for competition. The pair of potted Callicarpas on our deck are currently covered with bright purple berries, peppers are gracing our pizzas, and we have delightful displays of Plumbago, Great Blue Lobelia, Browallia and Lavender Platycodon. Garlic Chives have been covered with white for weeks and our Basil is a small bush. Pineapple Sage, Mexican Bush Sage and Lemon Verbena, potted tender perennials I overwinter inside, have really enjoyed this summer, growing huge as have our Boston Ferns on vacation from their winter quarters. Other end-of-summer winners in pots are Toad Liles (Tricyrtis hirta) and the robust, colorful Coleus plants form Gita, they are like bouquets that never fade. Thanks again Gita!


This message was edited Sep 16, 2010 6:30 PM

This message was edited Sep 16, 2010 7:35 PM

The Bad

This summer has been horrible! Not only hot and dry, but windy too. Besides the storms (most of whose rains missed us) we have had a number of very breezy days, resulting in lots of branches, leaves and other debris cluttering the yard and injuring plants. Do you spend your day watering or clearing debris? Since we are on a well, power outages prevented us from watering on several occasions. We have so much to water that if we are both out with hoses it takes us two hours or so to do the job right. Potted plants always get wet first, then the rest are subject to the vicissitudes of the day. Some days I am away from home all day, and others I try to plant some of what we have in pots, transplant winter sown babies into individual pots, weed, mulch etc. On top of all of that Pat contracted Lyme’s Disease. While the symptoms were not debilitating, the weeks of antibiotics were: upset stomach, allergic reaction, and sensitization to sunlight. Pat became like a vampire, eschewing direct sun.

The Ugly

Most everything looks like a disaster zone, parched plants amid tree debris, unfinished projects and hoses scattered around like the aftermath of a three alarm fire. And now we have buckets of acorns descending on us daily. Most of our astilbies are dry and shriveled, some cannot be found. Almost all our ferns are flat and brown. Encore Azaleas planted last fall are losing leaves and color, One of our established Azaleas has its leaves curled so tight that they look like sticks. Our Ligularias are toast, as is our (previously) large Helleborus argutifolius. Some of our Heucheras and Tiarellas have disappeared altogether, as has my patch of Goldenseal. The Goats Beard and Lady’s Mantle are close behind. The Mazus reptans that had spread so nicely around the stones of one of our paths is almost non-existent, little remnants scattered here and there. Most everything looks dreadful at best and we only hope that a good deal of what is missing or declining will be resurrected in the spring. What a summer this has been.

GreenThumb -
you make me want to weep for you - very eloquent.

We are on a well and so.......... we are careful with watering. It is 450 plus feet deep - a large reservoir that has performed well for us --but only ~ 3 gallons/minute. I was watering today worrying about the well ---- and heard those acorns falling all around me. I am still pulling out all the wee trees from last fall's harvest.

Leaves are falling around here but not because the season but because it was so dry...until this week had 2 days of rain...not solid rain but at least more than we had in the entire previous month.

Rudbeckia, coleus and the caladiums did fabulous. My new blue yellow and white garden was pretty sad, the hose connection in the back was broke so that garden didn't get any soaking rain for about 3 months, just what I could walk back and forth with the watering cans.
I'm afraid if I start planting drought tolerant plants we'll get a ton of rain...we'll see what happens next year...

Came home to a jungle in the veggie garden, again. No one picked or used anything while we were gone. Their loss! I pulled about 1/2 bushel of red beets and canned them and started on a bushel of green beans that needed picked. I canned 4 quarts of beans for my dad, since I can't take him frozen. I blanch and freeze ours, much better taste I think. I still have a flat of tomatoes to put away and some new potatoes to dry and store. My potatoes didn't do real well since I was at my dad's when I should have been adding compost and straw to them. There's always next year. We leave again next Tuesday for 18-19 days, then it will be coming home to putting everything to bed for the winter. I need to vacation in the southern hemisphere so I can go to the beach when there's snow on the gardens. LOL Ric

[quote="missingrosie"]GreenThumb -
you make me want to weep for you - very eloquent.

Thanks for sharing both of you..Fall is my favorite season yet seeing the stressed out trees really tempers my enjoyment of slightly cooler temps. What 'helping hand' can I lend to the plants and critters with whom I share this bit of earth? And who but my 'fellow gardeners' will understand my melancholy?

I know that Fall is a great time to plant new plants in the ground but I am reluctant to plant anything as it feels too risky as I will have to assume the major hand in their survival and I already know too well that I can't supply what Nature can and has done in the past, especially rain.!

Shall we dance?

Butternut squash grew very well, too welll, is covering about 20 by 20 area of my supposed veg garden. I planted it on top of last years big leaf compost bin, and did not water very routinely as that is far from the house.
Banana tree is incredible it must be able to suck water from that air, it has grown enormous in one summer. Thats what we should use for grean fuel .

Sally I don't think I have seen pics of the banana tree. Josh's is doing nicely, too.

Potted dahlias were crawling on the ground saying, "wasser!! Wasser!!" I had ben looking forward to a bunch of flowers for bouquets out of them but it didn't happen. They were too thirsty to do anything else.

I think the heather will survive, though it looks iffy. Mazus growing under a dogwood turned brown again. It does this when it gets really hot; the ground cover just dries out. Period.

I think the hands-down winner despite all the hot, dry weather was hardy geranium 'Rozanne'. Grew and bloomed nonstop all summer!

Is your Rozanne in full sun?

My hardy geraniums were really crappy this year!

Most of my yard is in full sun. The Rozanne geranium that got some irrigation did extremely well, but even a couple that didn't get any extra water survived and bloomed. The 'Biokovo' geraniums along the driveway did well also, but they don't put out the blooms like Rozanne does.