I go through this every summer. It's been quite dry in Michigan the last few years (more than a few) in the summer and fall. Spring is usually great - lots of rain, the spring gardens are gorgeous. Then June hits and it dries up.

I have a habit of keeping everything really well watered until July 4th, and my reason is one of pride. July 4 is my big show-off day, big BBQ at my house every year and I'll be honest - I want my garden to look great.

After that, I cut way, way down on the watering. A few things get ratty, but most stuff is fine, there are really only a handful that give me a headache (brunnera is one I can think of off the top of my head - gets a little ratty when dry), so overall my beds actually do look good even if it's drier. My hydrangeas are a little work to keep up with, but I hand water those if they droop, that way I'm not wasting so much water with the sprinker running.

Over the years I've built the soil, I always put a heavy layer of leaf mulch down in the fall, and when I do water I water for a long period of time - really let it soak in then don't water for a couple weeks, that's the best way, causes the roots to develop deeper in the soil searching for water. So most of my perennials can hold their own because they have good root systems and the soil is fairly good. Of course, newly planted stuff needs to be babied, but that's another issue.

I have cut way down on annuals though. Annuals tend to look really cr@ppy if don't water a lot. I have some pottery on the patios filled with annuals and a few geraniums in the ground in the front, and that's about it. I now prefer to grow foliage perennials in my large patios planters (ostrich fern, rodgersia, etc.), they don't require nearly as much watering as the annuals. Plus I don't have to replant every year, I just barricade them against the house and protect with straw/leaves for the winter.

I guess my point is after a certain point I just pretty much leave things be - the stuff is on it's own. I have developed the motto over the years that if it needs constant input from me, it doesn't deserve a space in my garden - plants need to survive on their own with only a little input here and there from me.

Plus, I *HATE* watering. I just hate it. Some folks love watering plant, find it relaxing, I find it a pain in the *ss.

I lived through about 8 years of drought when I was living in the east....watched my parents, who couldn't use the hose, try to keep things alive with a watering can.....and then watched the weather pattern turn around.
Never say never....you will get rain again....eventually.
Linda C.

I avoid anything that likes moist soil. I'd love to grow those giant leafed shade plants such as Rodgersia, but I know it will only end in frustration. Most years, I can't get the Astilbe flowers to open all the way to the top b4 they brown out. When they look good, it's a bonus. I have them tucked in a inconspicuous place where I can visit them if they look good, but where they will not be too noticiable if they get crispy fried. (BTW they're the "drought resistant" 'Visions.') I wouldn't cut down on the size of the garden because that would only mean more crunchy grass.
If every year, everything looks bad, rip out the hydrophyllic stuff & put in things that can take drought & thrive, such as coneflowers, bulbs, prairie grasses, daylilies. In the shade garden, emphasize Spring ephemerals & Fall foliage color. Try to ignore the shade garden in summer (although many hosta do well with little water once established; they may not be gorgeous specimens, but they will give you something to look at). Not all xeriscape plants are cacti.

Well, I've kind of given up on phlox already. I know I have a couple that seem to survive (David I think), but I'm certainly not investing in any more.

And yes, I do ignore the shade garden this time of year. It looks terrible, but always seems to bounce back some spring. It's funny you mentioned hosta. I have one in the middle of my woodland garden. I tried to dig it out many years ago, but a root or two must have survived. Anyway, it's back to its original glory and doesn't seem to mind the dry conditions. It never gets slug damage either.

K

In 2005 we had a extreme drought the worst in 75 years. I didn't water because of concerns about my well on this 100 year old farm. I did haul a lot of grey water in buckets. Anyway, moderate droughts are common here in the prairie states. To make matters worse, scientists predict more severe droughts in the future due to global warming. Grim outlook for gardeners and farmers!

The decision I came to is to continue gardening with drought tolerant plants, at least for the time being. I think by nature we gardeners are an optimistic group. Who knows what the future holds, so I have the option of throwing in the towel if I get too overwhelmed to go on.

Oh, one other thing. STOP watching the weather channel. It will make you crazy. Everyday there's a 30% chance of rain. Doesn't happen. Every week thunderstorm warnings are posted. Doesn't happen. Meanwhile your frustration index is off the charts. Do not listen to another weather forecast. When it rains you will be wonderfully surprised. Good luck, I know how awful this is for you.

We have droughts of shorter duration here - we just went through several weeks of watching those thunderstorms go elsewhere.
Finally, some rain yesterday and today and it's amazing how things perk up overnight.

I overseeded with clover since I won't water the lawn but don't like the look of it going dormant. And I also avoid plants that need moist conditions AND sun, clematis excepted.

Here in Colorado we've (maybe)just emerged from a 5 year drought.
During that time I was trying to establish a new garden after a move.
I never gave up on my garden, even though there were many frustrating days ....weeks...months...years.
I kept watering and gave up on any plants that needed a moist environment.
This year we seem to be back to normal conditions (including yesterday's hail!)
My garden is glorious this year!!
Hope springs eternal.

We normally receive adequate precipitation in New England although a couple years ago there was a very dry summer. We plant for drought though because I'm handicapped & can't be dragging hoses around. Some plants I just won't use such as ligularia but most we handle by planting technique. Here's what we do as an example:

For our long hydrangea hedge...

My DH dug a 2'x2' trench about 30' long. Then, in the wheelbarrow, he mixed approximately 50% native soil, 25% leaf moulde, & 25% composted manure plus a little peat. He used this very organic, moisture retentive mix to backfill the trench. We then planted our little 4" QVC hydrangea cuttings in the trench to form our hedge. It looked more than silly at first. We watered well for about six weeks. After that, they've been on their own with nothing except Mother Nature & doing beautifully. We have literally hundreds of blooms from that hedge right now.

We've followed the same procedure with a 32 plant hedge of Japanese Hakone grass, another smaller line of Japanese Painted Ferns, & also for individual plantings. Basically, we ignore the rules for planting in native soil & we heavily amend before planting. For ten years now it's worked very well for us. Our plants, shrubs, & trees are thriving with little attention from us after initial planting.

It's a lot of work doing the initial soil preparation but when my neighbor's gardens are showing July/August heat stress...ours looks like mid-June. We continue the process by top dressing every April/May with a 6" layer of composted manure mixed with leaf moulde in about equal proportions. We've given up entirely on shredded bark type mulches. They just don't seem to have the same water retention capabilities as the leaf moulde.

So, you might give this planting technique a try on a few plants & monitor how they do in comparison to the rest of your garden. Remember, if you're planting a gallon-size perennial...prepare a 2'x2' amended hole.

For pots...

From looking at a multitude of gardening magazines, I've learned that colorful pots can be used as sculpture in the garden & to create a pop of color without being planted. I have a wonderful collection if a wide assortment of glazes, colors, & shapes. I move them around the garden where I need empthasis. Also, since they do not contain planting medium we can leave them in the garden over the winter without fear of breakage. A great summer pot display doesn't require all of those annuals!

I'll be praying for rain to be sent your way...

Tricia

This year we are finally coming out of a several year long drought.We've evidently getting everyone else's rain for the year after several years of little rain.What I've done is go with mainly Texas natives for my area for the backbone of the garden, then branched out to cultivars of them, then finally add a few things that may not last, but they don't represent the bulk of plantings, so when they die, it doesn't leave the entire garden bare.I have to say that this has worked wonders for me and greatly cut down on the amount of work I need to do..I concentrate of the few plants I'm trying out and the rest pretty much take care of themselves..

Thank you everyone. Once again I did a bad thing yesterday and watched a thunderstorm on radar come within 16 miles of where I'm at before it fizzled. I need to stop this.

Tricia

I too discovered colorful pots a few years ago. I love them, but don't have a large collection yet. In general, I think garden sculpture isn't used to the extent it should be. I have a few things I really love and would like to add more. It can be a fun way to bring color and shape into the garden . In fact when I decided to paint the wrought iron handrails going up my front steps I was thinking about my pots and how much I love the bright colors. Instead of the very traditional and boring black I decided to paint them fire engine red. I've had nothing but great comments from the neighbors.

K

Kevin,
This seems to have been a pretty frustrating year for many areas. We are going through the same thing, watching rain just miss us. We farm, and the crops are really needing some water...and we have no irrigation. Last night, a really nice rain passed just south of us. We got 1/10th of an inch. We could hear the thunder, see the lightning...but nothing. Frankly, I sat on the porch and cried. Right now, there is a nice storm cell one county away, and it looks as though it will slip to the south of us again. I'm usually a pretty optomistic person, but I gotta tell ya, there's a knot in my gut over the weather this year. Too much riding on something I can't control.
I do try to plant things that don't require much supplemental watering, but in a year like this...let's just say the sedums and the Russian Sage are my best looking plants right now. I have to admit I feel a little guilty when I water the gardens, and right next to the yard, the corn is rolled up because it's lacking moisture. I did more hose dragging this year than I ever do. New plantings and some clematis had to have it. I try to plan my gardens with plants that can take drought, because I learned early on that I'm just not regimented enough to keep up with things that need a lot of water and attention. I have a few things that I'm willing to coddle, but not many. I guess in a year like this, I'm glad I garden in clay and not in sand :)
I wish I had something helpful to say to you. The weather patterns are cyclical, and I know it will rain again. The time will come when we wish it would stop raining. We'll have a growing season that's just about perfect, and the crops and gardens will be spectacular. Been through the cycles enough times that I should know better than to let the weather upset me, but here I am-refreshing the radar every few minutes and hoping.
Hang in there. Bean counter gives good advice...stop looking at the weather. That's what I've been telling DH for the last couple of weeks. Lol, now I'M watching the radar, too. He's been hopping between the weather channel, the radars on the internet, and looking at the sky. With that, I'm gonna close the radar picture, and go admire my sedums and russian sage, for this year, they are LOVELY :)
Brenda

In one way, it's comforting to read all of your messages. In another way, the frustration I feel in your writings makes me very sad. Especially you, Brenda, because you and your DH are depending on the weather for your livelihood. I'll be thinking about you the rest of the growing season and hope that the rains come and your corn crop is successful.

It's been several years since we've had what I would call a wet summer. The last one was in 2000. Since then, our summers have consisted of hot and humid and dry. Every year since 2000, the "dry" part comes earlier and earlier. It used to be that we'd have normal rainfall until the first of August, and then no rain until September. Then it moved to no or little rain, starting in mid July. This year, the whole month of June was dry and July is starting out that way. I too started to be pasted to the Weather Channel radar. Today, I watched several batches of rain and severe storms go either to the north or south of us. I have a friend who lives not 20 minutes away and she had 2 inches of rain in one hour, and then another hour of slower rain. Our rain barely lasted an hour and it was very light. We too hear the thunder and even see the lightning but have gotten very little parcipitation.

So far, I have been able to grow most of what I want to grow though. We amend the soil when planting, and I think that helps. We also mulch heavily every spring. I have over 200 daylilies, other assorted perennials, and a small veggie garden. Occasionally, something will look start to look ratty in August, but the September rains seem to bring everything back. Things looked wonderful this spring because we had a nice snow cover that melted in March.

I'm sure you are all right and everything is cyclical. The rain will return. I guess we just have to be patient and do what we can do, with regards to watering. Good luck to us all.

Linda

Hi...

I know you said you didn't want water saving tips, but I wondered if you have gone so far as to set up rain barrels? Soaker hoses?

I know it may be hard for many readers to consider, but much of the PNW is a recurring summer drought area. That somewhat unfounded reputation we have for a damp climate is based on relatively low rainfall (average for my area is only 36" annually) received in very low volumes but stretched over an extended period through the winter and early spring months - summers typically experience 8-10 weeks of virtually NO measurable rainfall. And believe it or not, water IS a limited resource here, depending on winter snowpacks, which have been declining steadily with the onset of global warming.

So dealing with drought is very much an issue in this area. One way to get around it is to consider more use of native plants or selected cultivars of natives. These tend to be plants most adapted to local climate conditions and once established, able to survive and even thrive with no or minimal supplemental irrigation. I've also developed a pretty extensive repetoire of drought tolerant plantings to include in both mine and my design client's gardens. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to forego including more moisture lovers, but it may mean limiting their selection - and resisting impulse buys - and locating them together in an area where watering attention can be provided without sacraficing watering the entire garden area.

And I do encourage all means of waterwise gardening practices, including reducing thirsty lawn areas in favor of hardscaping or drought tolerant groundcovers, using more efficient watering systems (soakers or drip rather than sprinklers or automatic systems) and mulch, mulch, mulch!!!

36" is relatively low rainfall?
WOW
Our average of all precipitation for the entire year is 17"
During the last 5 years lots of people have xeriscaped and removed parts of their lawn (including me)
A good practice, even in non drought times, as we live in a
semi desert environment.

Even when there's moderate rain, I sort of have my own personal drought garden most summers, thanks to the sandy soil here. Even my echium droops now and then. I have one bed that truly appreciates full sun, good drainage and little rain, the others...not so much.

I sort of pick and choose what to water these days, and I've let a few perennials (ligularia comes to mind) slip away over the course of a parched August or two. I will not deny my forest pansy redbud, along with a few other things--those I hose. But I seldom buy new plants that need lots of moisture to look good. I do not water grass.

My previous house didn't have a water meter, so I had gotten used to running soaker hoses pretty much all the time. After moving, one water bill in the high three figures quickly cured me of that. Now I just want a good rain barrel.

IÂve been re-doing my yard in Idaho. ItÂs hot, dry, windy, we have clay soil and there is no spring. The plants have to be babied until established, (I plant when itÂs 100 F) then they just thrive. Those that donÂt survive donÂt get invited back. I have both full sun, and full shade. The neighbors have all been asking what IÂm doing because I have the most colorful yard around. ItÂs creative xeriscaping, not zero scaping. Lawn requires the most water of all, IÂm trying out a new drought tolerant species. My goal is a yard you can putter in if you want, if not, it takes care of itself. So donÂt ever give up, just use plants that can live through anything.

The last few years I've planted primarily drought tolerant plants witht the exception of clematis and roses. However, the downside is that when we have a boatload of rain (like the 6 inches we had last week), drought tolerant plants aren't too happy! My sister had several salvia bite the dust because it was too wet for them. When I plant, I mound up a little hill for each plant, so if we do get a lot of rain they won't be sitting in a swamp.

Deanna

plantlady - it's all relative :-) For much of the southwest, 36" does sound like a lot, but in the grand scheme of rainfall patterns across the country, it's not all that much. It's just that Washington state has a reputation for being a particularly wet place to be but it's really not. Sure, there are portions of the NW that receive copious amounts of rainfall (the forests of the Olympic peninsula), but most of the area is quite a bit drier than many people realize and the annual rainfall is less than it is in many other parts of the country, including most states east of the Rockies. And very little falls during the summer months, which tends to be opposite of most other weather patterns.

Just me having zone envy!

UPDATE:

There was a 20% chance of rain today.

We got almost 2 inches.

I am happy!

Kevin

That's great you got some rain! Isn't it wonderful?

One thing I like about New England weather is that we rarely have extended droughts - there is usually pretty regular precipitation throughout the year.

3.3 inches of rain in 12 months! But we are almost always in drought, just not this bad - it's the driest year in the history of L.A. I don't think my advice would be much help because you recieve summer rains and may re-enter a wetter period, so the strategies I take may backfire in your zone. But yes, I have abandonded certain plants and whole areas of my garden before when the drought is just too severe.

Kevin, I'm SO glad to hear you finally got some rain!!! We've got small chances for the next few days, and I figure that's when we'll get our soaker...when the chances are slim, lol! Happens every time! I'm thinking about going out and washing all the vehicles and rolling down all the windows-that should bring rain, right?? :)
Brenda
PS..Linda, thanks so much for the kind thoughts. It's tough depending on the weather to make a living, but I wouldn't trade the lifestyle for anything. The worry just goes with the territory, I'm afraid. The crops look better than they should, and there's still a little time for rain to come and save the day. We really need some this week, tho!

Thank you.

Yes, it was wonderful. Luckily, we just got the rain - no strong wind or hail. It was so funny how my mood suddenly changed when the rain came. I've been feeling really grumpy for no reason, but now I know why. I just stood by the window and watched the world change. It was great.

K

Glad to hear you finally got some rain! Now please - send it my way!!! They're predicting storms for tonight and possibly tomorrow, but what we need is a good, soaking rain, not severe storms (though at this point I'll take anything I can get).

I'm crabby, too - monstrously irritable. I'd better settle down or I'm not going to have any friends left. Unfortunately, my perpetually bad mood doesn't have anything to do with the lack of rain....

Brenda, please let us know when you do get some rain!

We dragged the hoses around last Friday and watered thoroughly. It's been hot, hot and hot (into the high 80's and 90's) ever since. No rain today here, even though they said we had a chance of thunder storms. I'm hoping for tomorrow. Then, we are cooling off for a few days. I can't wait. I will go out and pull weeds out of the mulch, if we do get rain. Otherwise, the ground is so hard, you pull and only the tops come off, leaving the roots behind to regrow!

I know what you mean about how getting some much-needed rain can change your entire outlook on life. Here's hoping for some rain for all of us that need it.

Linda

Lol, I'm up refreshing the radar right now, Linda! Thanks for asking :) We got a nice little rain with a cool light show tonight. Probably picked up a good 1/2". There are three blobs on the radar that look to be hooking up with each other and heading for us. WHEW!!! That was a real tension breaker around here. We need way more than 1/2", but at this point, I'm thrilled!
Sending good rain vibes to all that need it...
Brenda

The rain really was nice, but we still need more. At this point anything is welcome. Another really nice this is that the heat is gone for now. 98 F on Saturday, but only 56 F this morning. Relief!! Heat and no rain can really be a downer.

K

We ended up with a total of 6/10. Not nearly what we needed, but enough to keep things going. I'm not gonna complain, we'll take what we can get. We're also supposed to have a few cool days, too, thank goodness! Outside chance of rain tomorrow-lol, maybe we'll get two inches! It was just so good to sit on the porch and watch it rain!
Brenda

BAH! Nothing around here. The conditions were great for storms yesterday too, but not a drop of rain where I am. The heat broke, though, and that feels wonderful, but darn it's quite windy again today (third day in a row it's been quite windy - poor plants...)

Yes, THE WIND!! My Lord it's been a windy few months. May was really bad for that. I guess we broke some kind of record for the number of windy days. I was planning on getting a lot of outside house painting done that month, but couldn't. No way am I going up on a ladder in that stuff.

K

We could use some of those positive rain thoughts out here in Utah. Seems like the whole darn state is on fire this week! There's so much smoke along the Wasatch Front that you can't see the other end of the valley 10 miles away. We just pulled out of a five-year drought two years ago, but we're in one again now. I hope this is a short one.

I'm a huge lover of summer, but this one just isn't that pleasant. It's been near 100 for about a month, with no rain since June 7th. At least I have adequate irrigation water available.

stevation - I have been thinking lots about all you folks out West. I can't imagine how horrible all this fire and drought must be. Hopefully things will change.

K

Good news for you Brenda! So glad to hear you did get some rain. At this point, we will take anything we can get.

We went to our 5 year old grand-daughter's softball game (those little girls are so much fun to watch) and wouldn't you know it, we got rainned out! There were actually two lines of storms that went through the area today and we got some rain from both of them. I'm pleased and so grateful. I'm also looking forward to a few days of cooler weather too. My plants are looking better already. Not only from the rain, but also because the relentless sun was in the clouds quite a bit of the day.

stevation, we are also sad to read and hear on the news about your dry, hot weather and the fires you are having to endure. Hopefully, rain will soon come your way and things will improve.

Linda