Boy, the weather here in DFW is brutal in July. No rain for weeks, merciless sun, hot winds...
I have morning glories, moonflowers, and a few miscellaneous flowers doing well. The shrubs are fine. Everything else is dead, dying, or looking like it wants a vacation in Alaska. Even the rose bushes with their own watering drips are parched-looking and in pain.
By hand-watering 2-3 times a day, I've kept my hanging petunia baskets full of blooms, but the rest of the patio and back yard is a brown wasteland.
What's everyone else doing for color this time of year?
Ugly Garden Time
Looks pretty bad here too. :( No rain now in a long time and we are parched. Temps soared the past two days and what breezes we have are very hot. Sort of like a hair dryer. lol
By this time every summer I just start putting sprinklers on almost everything to keep the roots alive. I really don't care what the tops of the plants look like. I'm just trying to keep them alive. Luckily I have a lot of shade and that helps a lot. All my potted plants are still blooming and doing good. I still have blooms on zinnias, periwinkles, several colors of Morning Glories, salvias, rangoon creeper, hydrangeas, bottle brush, altheas, crepe myrtles, lantana, impatiens, and firebush. All my roses look pretty sad and I'm fixing to give them a good haircut and hope they will rebloom in fall. I still have some daylilies blooming. Even my cannas are not blooming. My white plumbago seems to love the heat and is still blooming. I still have a lot of pretty colored plants in pots. I love my coleus.
Lin
Same in Brazoria..........we were supposed to get some rain from the bands of Dolly.........just wind, no rain. I did not water today expecting rain, now I realize that I should have watered. We are in drought season, way behind the annual expectation of water.
We're not usually this hot this early. Usually the hotter temps come in August. Everything around here is dry and dead looking. We've started using the sprinkler system, but only water every few days. I have some potted plants that I water 2x daily, but the stuff in the ground only gets water every other day, except for the few daylilies I have. I water them daily. Since most of what I grow is drought tolerant, things are still blooming.
Stephanie
Susie we are in drought conditions too and also under a burn ban.
Same here . . . 100 degrees and no rain. Hoping to get some from Dolly, but so far, just wind. I have lantana blooming, a couple of Texas Star Hibiscus putting out blooms this week, Mexican petunias, crape myrtles, one spider lily and an occasional daylily. Not much considering we are watering every other day.
Well, just to brighten up the gloomy conversation I started, my moon flowers choose tonight to open. I would swear there were no buds yesterday, but tonight three have opened, and there are at least 20 buds ready to go in the next few days, plus a couple hundred tiny ones.
I've been watering the vine twice a day for the past couple of weeks. If I don't, the leaves kind of crumple inward (a pucker rather than a fold), and they droop down. Two hours after a good drink, and the entire vine has perked up, from ground to the top 20 feet above.
Surprises like that keep us gardeners going even during our worst summers! Do you have a picture?
I can't believe how much I've watered and everything still looks bad! It's not too bad from a distance but up close everything is small and struggling. I haven't even wanted to post any pics of mine this year. :(
About 6-8 weeks ago I thought maybe I would just let things see how well they could survive on their own and what was weak could be replaced with native plants. That lasted about 2 days and I decided I didn't want to lose anything! I was thinking tonight tho that I might have to pot up a few seedlings and try to keep them alive in the shade or inside so that I don't lose some of those things. More native plants going in next year too. It doesn't seem to matter how much I water - I think it just goes to the center of the earth.
It is expensive to water, but more expensive to have to replace a bunch of plants. My husband says we're just watering enough to keep them alive . . . can't afford to do more than that. I have potted up some that were losing the struggle to survive and put them in the shade and also intend to add more natives each year. And more cactus. ha ha
Here's a pic of the moonflower caught in the middle of opening:
I am trying something new I just learned. I am applying aerated compost tea to my plants.It is supposed to make them more drought tolerant . I water (sprinkler) once a week, except for my pots which are watered every few days. I have mainly drought tolerant/natives and so far,although not an oasis, it is looking pretty good for July.
I came home the other day and everything looked almost dead in the backyard. I have been running soaker hoses once a week because I don't have time to do any more than that. They have been looking pretty good until then but it has been over 100 for awhile. I am making notes of what looks the worst right now, and they are getting replaced this fall with more native plants.
Everyone here is from Texas, hey ya'll from Georgia. We, too, are in drought and hopefully, we will all benefit with just rain from Dolly. Love that moonflower. Have been able to keep our veggie garden going due to DH installing Rainbird system around it when we first made the garden. Fortunately, we do have a deep drilled well to rely on and provided we get enough rain it won't dry up.
That moonflower is impressive!
I'm working on a major compost effort to improve the soil for my plants. I know that will help, plus mulching more to help retain water. I've been reading about compost tea so I'll try that too. My yard gets a lot of sun which is not a good thing here in the summer, and it's very large. My goal is to improve one major area at a time until I get the entire yard looking the way I want it. That includes planting more trees for shade.
I came to the sad conclusion that this year I wouldn't be able to "baby" anything through this heat + drought. Anything that needs daily watering, or starts showing severe stress, will be pulled up and mulch mowed. I cut back my container plants to just 2 wave petunias. At this point most everything looks okay, and I'm deep watering every 4-6 days (depending on the plant and the location). It helps that so many of my plants are native to this area, but even with that it's a real struggle to ensure that everything is watered sufficiently. I'm ready for fall already! :-(
Carla
who has had no rain since June 17
Boy - I am right there with y'all. We've had an official 0.2 inches of rain in July, but I promise that none of that fell in my yard! I've tried to stick with drought-tolerant and natives, but I have a tender spot for tropicals, I just can't seem to cure. One thing I've found out is that any type of fern and my garden just don't get along -- even in the shade with daily watering! :) Anybody know of a "fake" fern that isn't plastic?
Will be gone for a week and 2 of my granddaughters will be watering, but they can only make it by twice. I just hope I only lose annuals and some of my more tender herbs that I've been babying along.
Someday it will rain again!
Love your pretty Moonflower Dallasdad!
Howdy Bugme from Georgia. ;) Glad to see you here. We have a deep well too but we're still trying to be careful. It sure runs up our electrical bill. Most of my plants are drought tolerant and they are not dying even though they may look pretty sad. I try not to look out at the gardens around 2 and 3pm. They are all very droopy and look dead even though they are not. The heat just gets to em.
Lin
Yes, we also try to be conservative with the watering.
Scubanana, do you ever plant your ferns in pots? I've a few in the ground and they struggle but the painted fern does really well. Here is a rabbit foot fern I've had in this pot for 3 yrs now and the furry "feet" have now covered every inch of the coir liner in the basket, top and bottom. Of course, it is in the shade and gets a good drink every day. A friend overwinters it in her greenhouse for me.
No drought here..been raining for 2 days off and on from Hurricane Dolly...need to go find my rubber boots now...
Drought has been broken due to Dolly. Went out this morning and found good and bad news. Everything has been watered naturally and looking really great.
Bad news........ all my brugs in the ground that were blooming (about 13) have now blooms on the ground all around them as well as the leaves. We didn't get much rain, but enough,3 inches. The wind was atrocious. I know they will grow back but they were so pretty.
No rain here. Thought I saw a few raindrops yesterday, but I blinked & it was gone. We did get a breeze & that helped a bit. Sorry about your brugs Susie2. Too bad we can't just spread the water and wind out over the entire state.
Sorry to hear all ya'll suffering. However I am in the same boat. It is about this time every year that I wish I had not planted a garden. I am obssessive about if a plant is wilting I have to water it. I don't give it a chance to cool off at night. Right now I am watering with a sprinkler every other day and sometimes hand watering in between. Also trying very hard to keep the grass alive. It is frying as well. I really dread August. Don't think Dolly will affect us up here much except to cool the temp down to low 90's instead of high 90's. Terrible, Terrible, Terrible. No wonder the Butterflies aren't interested in my flowers. LOL.
Leslie
We got just a few sprinkles of rain this morning. Not enough to hardly help. Sun is coming out now. I will have to water this evening if we don't get any more rain.
Lin
Half an inch of rain so far today....wonderful! On the other hand, we're under a tornado watch. Possible tornado occurred in south San Antonio a little while ago with some property damage, a few roofs torn off and such.
I'm still HOPING for some rain from Dolly ... it will be tonight before we know for sure, or maybe even in the morning. My heart goes out to everyone with damage ... even if it is just your plants, it can be heart-breaking.
Bugme -- I just can't be a quitter, so I will probably keep trying ferns -- in pots like you suggested. I thought I could get some to survive in the ground, but.... I do have a Tasmanian Tree Fern (impulse buy!), that is in a big pot. It's got some brown fronds, but is still surviving! Also this morning I saw some new green growth on 2 of my Arborvitae ferns that I thought were goners. So, maybe there is hope yet! (Oh and I forgot about the 2 gorgeous Boston ferns I got at Walmart last year for $5 after that late freeze nearly did them in....guess I shouldn't complain, huh?
Meanwhile, I'll keep those affected adversely by Dolly in my thoughts and prayers. Too much in one place -- not enough in others. Such is the way of nature.
Hot and Dry.....not liking over 100.....but I did get a bunch of caladiums in this morning...they are sun worshipers, and will give my garden much needed color in the months ahead until October or beyond...Now for a glass of Lemonade...
"eyes"
I have a few hibiscus in bloom now and then, real pretty orange one, and a giant pink hibiscus as well.
We have had a little rain, but not enough to speak of.
Linda kay
Don't ya just love the pink ones......mine too, are blooming..
"eyes"
No rain here in at least 6 weeks; temp yesterday was 100. It should be about the same today. Even the monkey grass here is burned. EyesofTexas do your caladiums stand up to this heat? For those of you who mentioned replacing plants with natives, what specifically did you have in mind?
The natives I am using that are looking really good right now are spider lily, lantana, manfreda, rockrose (pavonia), obedient plant (not yet blooming, but looking good), Katie ruellia, beautyberry, Texas sage cenizo, bulbine and copper canyon daisy. Not sure they are native, but the society garlic, Mexican heather, vitex and pomegranate are also doing well. And of course, the yuccas, agaves & other succulents.