Yardening- almost September 2015

Some hydrangeas bloom on old wood, some on new. If you're cutting yours back to the ground, Muddy, try not cutting it back so much. If you aren't, then do cut it back to the ground. Or yeah... dig it up and replace it. :)

It was the kind that isn't supposed to be pruned, and I never did. I think the problem was that the last 2 winters were so cold that the flower buds were killed. In previous years, it bloomed well, and it looked really healthy, but I needed its spot and it wasn't performing, so I shovel pruned it!

Oh, in that case... Yeah, I guess it had the ol' shovel pruning coming. :)

Yes it sure did!

Glad you got water Muddy. You know washing your car doesn't work. I washed my car two weeks ago. It rained at work, which is 23 miles from the house, it rained all the way home too. But when I got home we had only gotten 0.05". I guess you could say it did work but I was in the wrong place. We are lucky to be able do all this unrestricted watering that's for sure. If I was in CA I would have ripped all my plants out by now and planted xeric plants.

It was so little rain that I decided to water some things today anyway. I'm getting tired of it, though! I just looked at the precipitation history for my neighborhood - we got 10-15" of rain in June, but less than 5" in July and 2" in August! I am grateful that I can provide the plants that want "medium" soil moisture conditions something close to that by turning on the hose.

National Weather Service has a cool feature that allows you to look at precipitation history by zip code. I don't know whether this link will open to "your page", Sequoia, but if it does you'll see the checkerboard of rainfall amounts in your area. http://water.weather.gov/precip/

Edited to say you have to first scroll below the map and click the month you want in the "archive data" section on the bottom left, then enter your zip code and hit "go".

This message was edited Sep 5, 2015 8:25 PM

That's a great resource, Muddy!

Let's see who's had the driest summer. I think I may be in the top 3.

2 inches in July
0.5 inch in August, and even that might be generous. I barely got a trace in August, according to my rain gauges.

That's 2.5 inches in 10 weeks. Uugggghhhhh.

Yes Muddy I have seen that site. I use that one and the Mid-Atlantic River Forecast Center (MARFC) site. The latter shows the departure from average maps.

http://www.weather.gov/marfc/Precipitation_Departures

I find that site very helpful.

SSG I think you have me beat. If you use Muddy's link, I am in the green part of Lancaster county. There are nice red areas just off to our west showing how shafted we are.

Wow, ssg, you really are in a dry area!

amazing map, thanks Muddy

You're welcome! When I saw just how little rain we got in August, I decided that all of my trees needed a good soak, especially the street trees which aren't doing very well anyway. They're old Kwanzan Cherry trees. I'm looking forward to replacing them, although they might have a few more years left in them.

Muddy--
The "Street Trees" in my yard are the same--Quanzan Cherry Trees--now 44 years old.
Not very long lasting--full of problems....BUT--the prettiest blooms ever!

Many of these trees have long died off and been cut down, the stems are all hollow--
"Bird Condos" as I call them...
g.

Finally got the cardboard and mulch down out front by the street. Plan to plant that area in the spring.
Picture of my Caryopteris 'Worcester Gold'. Have a few more growing.

Picture of the front.
My sedum 'Turkish Delight' blooming.
Third picture is the result of trying to run the price up on an item on EBay. The bids were way too low for the work put in on the quilt. Guess who had the winning bid? I wouldn't have bid if I didn't like the quilt and I still feel it was too cheap. Hand appliqued and hand quilted and it fits my bed.

Love the Worcester Gold, Catbird. That mulch looks very nice too. But it looks very small and light weight, it doesn't blow away ?

I'm not sure how the mulch will behave in rain and wind, especially if we get a real downpour.

I've always really liked the stacked stone in the front yard. That new bed in front of it is going to turn out nice too. I'm sure you are looking forward to planting it :-) Pretty quilt in that last picture too.

Very nice Catbird. and what a quilt!!!

What are you going to plant in that bed, Catbird?

If the mulch is shredded hardwood, it'll probably mat together and won't wash away. Actually, shredded any-kind-of-wood mats together to some extent. Some of the mulch will be rearranged by wind and water, for sure, but the plants will help keep it in place.
Take it from someone who has done a lot of mulching of hillside garden beds : - )
Edited to add that having some sort of edging, whether plants, bricks, etc., would keep the mulch from heading down the street.

That quilt is beautiful!

This message was edited Sep 7, 2015 7:52 PM

Muddy, was it you that has the St John's Wort? I have some that I planted in 2013, it has spread but has never bloomed. Does yours bloom and what would you suggest to get mine to bloom next year?

Nice quilt Catbird! The stacked stone looks great as a background. That looks like some quality mulch.

that lovely stacked stone, LOL, Catbird mentioned the owner threatening to get rid of it--I IMMEDIATELY offered my crew to demolish and relocate it somewhere in my yard.
8 ^D
Lucky for Catbird he came to his senses
:^P

What a Looney Toons, why get rid of it? It looks nice and it doesn't look like there's anything wrong with it.

Some people just don't know what LOL. (Ha ha that is a saying prompted by a trip somewhere where the car in front of us had a new mattress tied to the roof of the car. The crazy person had just tied a rope around the middle so the front half of the mattress was 90 degrees upright in the wind. At first our conversation was about what kind of damage that would do to the mattress, but then after miles and miles of following them, we started laughing and out came the expression, which we have now been using for years)

Geez, I would have passed those people quickly in case that thing came flying off the car. Some people just don't know what indeed!

I like that wall too.
Catbird, all I do is water and mulch my St. John's Wort. Do you know what kind/species of St. John's Wort you have? Mine is Hypericum calycinum, a non-native species. http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=a520

I ask because it could be that you have a different Hypericum species that doesn't have noticeable blooms...or maybe yours is too young...or maybe it's in too much shade.

tired of watering!
I'm still hacking around in my front garden bed where the downspout overflowed several times this spring, and other times over the years. 'Somebody' swears it wasn't clogged, just too much at once; we'll go with that. Anyway. an excuse to experiment and be creative- again- never been satisfied with what I've had. It's about eight by eleven? one end full hot sun and the other shaded through most of the day by Magnolia and Sycamore. I took out a big Burford holly last year and am removing a couple wheelbarrows of (poor sandy) dirt so it is sloped away from the house.
Last night going to sleep, pondered a big blue bubbling egg in the middle, a la Ric and Holly..
I might have to shop around. There is an outlet near so a fountain of some kind is doable. I guess a picture is called for.

Won't need to do much watering in the next week, if that helps. Looks like good chance of rain tomorrow and again over the weekend. And the cooler temps won't hurt either.

We better get some of that rain. The hose in the back of the house hasn't been put away in weeks. It gets moved daily between various locations. I haven't put away the other hose in the front for the last week either. It really is getting tiring.

I was at the Home Depot shopping center Monday and noticed they have full grown viburnums that are severely wilting due to no water. Many trees in our area are starting to drop leaves and turn colors early. At work, the Lindens lost a bunch from the inner parts of the tree. London Plane trees have lost a lot too. Luckily, my Sweetgum is well watered so it hasn't changed any of its inner leaves yet. All our other trees are fine too. I watered the East Side bed last night because even the oenothera was beginning to wilt! That bed has been neglected on the watering schedule but it got a good 3 hours last night.

My cherry tree that is right in the front of my house is making a mess of all my flower beds out front due to dropping so many leaves already. And I water that part of the yard often. The grass is still dark green and thick but that cherry tree is dripping hundreds of leaves daily. It's the only tree in my yard that is losing any leaves though.

SOOOO tired of 90* temps!!!

My big maple tree is starting to drop leaves too--all over the lawn...
Usually the smaller Red Maple (by the shed) goes through a serious
partial leaf drop--enough that I have to rake leaves and use my shredder.
Yes! Many trees are showing drought stress...

Watering???? I really hate it too...I do it every day at work--for hours!
Sweating like a pig...Then i come home and have to water my own garden.
On days I am off--I run my rotary sprinkler--that yellow metal one. it is great!
I let it run for an hour in the corner part where my YUK bed is. The Maple gets
its share of moisture. Then I move it to the other half of my back yard--for an hour.
Then smaller sprinklers on the E. side and long rotary sprinkler on the W. side long bed.

If I don't have all that time--I hand water all the beds...

Gonna mow the lawn today--the front lawn it is solid crab grass by now.
The price I pay for procrastination in the spring.

G.

I've started to fertilize the containers again. They had been in a semi-dormant state with all the intense heat and lack of rain. For some reason, getting watered from a hose just isn't the same as rain water!

My grass hasn't been cut since... June? There really is nothing to cut. The voles have eaten the grass roots in the front yard (I now have huge patches of just bare dirt), and the zoysia grass in the backyard has simply stopped growing in the drought.

I can't hand-water the beds. I just leave the water on for hours at a time at a very slow trickle.

My grass is still growing. I'm on a two week schedule for mowing. It's funny to walk the yard because any grass that is near irrigated areas is really long but areas in the middle of the yard with no water are browning out. I guess that's the product of month long irrigation.

Late August is usually a good time to start new lawn. I'm glad if none of us tried THIS year. We just don't have the break in the heat we typically get!.

I am glad I wasn't tempted to try more containers again this year. Other than two front door pots, and very few others. I just cannot keep up with pots placed here and there in the garden, needing water every day. ---- actually, I have a dozen pots on the deck and steps, another dozen+ now readying for swap, and seven+ in garden, and all of Gita's gift houseplants for the library...

Geoff (palmbob) wrote an article about rainwater. Yeah, it really seems like rain is better than hose. Can't figure if it's the total quantity, the chemical composition, or both. The amount of water in an inch of rain is astounding.

Time to clean up for work.

Ric spent most of yesterday watering everything, well everything but the very large trees, large shrubs and lawn, small to med size trees and shrubs and all plants. Should get water later today or tomorrow.

My lawn up front--and on both sides is still green. The back yard looks so-so...
Green enough but with areas that are dry as straw.

Some of it due to foot-traffic--some due to tree roots that are closer to the surface.

Need to mow my lawn today! Don't want to!! Whaaa...whaaa .Bracing for the heat--.
Rain predicted tomorrow--I SHOULD mow it..at least the front and sides of the lawn.

Sally--how are my 30 gift plants doing under your care? Any casualties yet?

g.

We're supposed to get significant rain tomorrow, maybe even an inch or more.

But Capital Weather Gang says that some models are once again suggesting a DC rain hole, with most of the rain concentrated away from the District.

Guess who's still watering their shrubs today!

I'll be out there watering too. We droughtees have to stick together.

I've been accused of being a Pollyanna before so at the risk of being tagged one again, what are all of you worried about ? 80% chance of a thunder boomer tonight and 80% chance of rain tomorrow.

:)

We got a splash of rain this afternoon; I'm not sure how much because it didn't even register in my rain gauge! I watered some of my shrubs this evening anyway. The Spicebush, in particular, just can't seem to get enough water. It has yellow leaves, and when I test the soil moisture it almost always comes up dry. (Edited to add that I put about 2" of mulch on it tonight; hope that helps!). Ditto for my Viburnum 'Shasta'. The clouds up there look like they're holding more, so fingers crossed.

I've wondered why rain is so much better for plants that human intervention, so I'll read Palmbob's article. I think part of the reason is that rain provides a steady soaking for a longer period of time, so that roots have more of a chance to absorb the water.

This message was edited Sep 9, 2015 7:38 PM