My garden and I made it through the hottest day ever recorded in June in Indianapolis. Toward the end of the day, the garden fairies and I, in consultation with the Board of Directors decided to move into Drought Survival Mode.
This means,
We water for survival, and not for flourish and lush.
We won’t be buying more plants until fall, and then we will probably buy many new plants.
We’ll tell people that tan is the new green for lawns. We won’t let the lawn die, but we’ll let it go dormant, as it likes to do in warm weather anyway, and give it just enough water so that it doesn’t die.
We’ll take notes and look at this as a learning experience, a chance to really figure out how little water some plants need to survive.
Oh, and the garden fairies agreed that there will be no fire in the garden except for fireflies. But it took a bit of negotiating.
You and the fairies and the board of directors are very smart. We are in survival mode here too.~~Dee
You and the fairies and the board of directors are very smart. We are in survival mode here too.~~Dee
We too are in survival mode. My trees have little green rings around them from being watered. I have the unfortunate luck to have some new shrubs, trees and perennials to be watering…..
Hear, hear! It will be interesting to see how my plants tolerate 107 degrees.
I seem always to be survival mode here in the summer…and it is tough to keep kids from fireworks. It's going to be a long summer.
I live in Ontario, Canada. I was buying an apple tree yesterday and the owner was telling me how so many of her customers were killing their new plantings by over watering. She insists that once a week thorough watering is sufficient. She finds that the overzealous insist on daily drowning of plants. Sigh.
Suvival mode is the only way through with sanity and spirits intact. I hope the rain that's falling here in Chicagoland makes it to Indianapolis.
We are in survival mode here in SW IN too. Leaves on shrubs are beginning to shrivel. SCARY. There is a burn ban here so Fairies beware. The fireflies are even few and far between this year.
I was thinking the same thing as I look at my browning lawn here in southern Ontario. Valerie
I think most of the country is in a survival mode!
I just had a client call regarding leaf yellowing and drop on a birch tree.
I checked the plant for obvious indications of insect and disease issues and found the tree to be apparently in an otherwise very healthy state.
since birches tend to be shallow rooted and in this particular situation, numerous other mature plants in very close proximity, the only conclusion I could logically determine was that the tree was experiencing a stress situation. Obviously shedding leaves to prevent extreme transpiration, I determined that extensive watering had to to be followed and recommended watering at least three times weekly with healthy amounts of watering. In addition, I recommended an application of a systemic insecticide and accompanied with a diluted application of liquid feed to support the tree throughout the heat of summer and the tree should come back quite nicely. Over all the tree is extremely healthy and with minor adjustments in maintenance, the tree will survive very strongly.
Last season I went for 6 weeks without a drop of rain with super high temperatures. We are on a low well so no stealing water from the house to the flowers. I was amazed at how many plants survived and came back again this year just fine. Nature or fairies?? who knows.
We were in survival mode last summer in Texas. so far this year has been wetter and cooler.