I've been gardening for 15 years. This has to be the most challenging. The season started out unseasonably warm but with decent amounts of rain. The last time we had measurable rain was in May. Unfortunately it came with hail three times over. Needless to say the hostas look pretty bad. Now we are in a drought along with temps in the 90's to the 100's day after day. I really dislike dragging hoses, but this year I am. All that said, I decided to focus on the plants that are handling the drought and heat well. After all, there's always next year.
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| Heucheras and lamium. |
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| Stargazer liles |
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| Rose 'Tamora' |
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| Hibiscus 'Blue Satin' |
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| Stachyus 'Helen Von Stein', geranium 'Rozeanne' and blue oat grass are all faring well. |
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| Heuchera 'Keylime Pie' along with sedum 'Angelina' are two of my favorite perennials. They are backed up by Sambucus 'Black Lace' |
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| Most of the sedums are doing well along with the grasses. |
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| Behind H. 'Keylime Pie', hosta 'Golden Tiara' is lysimachia 'Golden Alexander' another great perennial. |
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| Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' with some of the ratty hostas in the background. |
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| The roses are holding up well. This is Morden 'Sunrise' with calamagrostis 'Eldorado' |
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| The Butterfly Garden from a distance looks pretty good despite it all. |
You are right to concentrate on what is successful this year Michelle.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should be taking cuttings and making divisions for next year because I suspect this weather will be around for years to come. Plants that are sold for "full sun" are frying here, even with hose water. Beige is the new lawn color.
Good thing we love our ornamental grasses, sedums, stachys and heucheras! Yours are just beautiful!
WEll you'd never know you are suffering a drought until that last photo that shows some dry patches of lawn grass. It is a real testament to those tough perennials you've featured in this post. I don't know how you are dealing with the watering issues and a full time job. I know I just couldn't keep up with it. I love the Key Lime Pie/Golden Tiara/Golden Alexander combination! very nice. I also have all those plants but not together. Also, really love the Stachys/Geranium/OatGrass combination. Very pretty!
ReplyDeleteFocus on the positives-it's all you can do. I need to start adding back some smaller grasses to my borders. They add so much texture and interest. Despite the weather issues, I think your garden looks great as always.
ReplyDeleteI have a number of small grasses and they all look great. No dead heading either.
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