"All that hot pink made me nervous." For some reason I find this very funny.
Renee

Quote: "You just can't water your way out of a drought."

You got that right, brother!!

The lesson I learned is not to trim back "Endless Summer" hydrangeas before they are 100% leafed out - no more assuming the tops of the branches are dead, for years I cut off all the flower buds. This year I didn't have time to prune and lo and behold they were fabulous! (re-bloom was cr*ppy, but that initial blooming was gorgeous).

I also agree with "You just can't water your way out of a drought." My plants/trees have never looked this good all summer.
I also learned this summer I can't have one of every plant. Less is more and the overall look is fantastic. I have been a much happier gardener. I was ruthless in yanking out, moving, cutting down and just plainly overhauling. I kept the plants that looked good, could go long periods without me and that I loved. Don't get me wrong I love trying new things, but sometimes, its more work and time of which I don't always have enough of.

I am tired!

Jodi

Don't rush to get those wintersown seedlings in the ground as soon as you see the second set of leaves..if they are HOS, try to separate them and plant them in 4 in. nursery pots and let them get some more growth to them before planting out. I was overwhelm when they all were ready to be planted into the flowerbed and just planted them where there was a vacant patch of soil, not thinking about height they would grow. The moral of this story is plan ahead, think about the plants height. Maybe a good idea would be to put metal plant markers in the ground before the ground freezes, where you want to plant in the Spring. You can always write on it with the permanent garden marker later.
Now if I can just remember to do this! My landscape man will be doing my Fall maintence and prunning of shrubbery and putting down mulch the first week of October. Sounds like a perfect time to put down the metal plant stakes. I started cutting back my BES yesterday along with pulling up some spent annuals. Should have saved the seeds off them but I already have bought some of that seed for next year. I will dig the darn thistles out this morning or sometime today.

Kevin, your "lessons learned" #1-3 had me mumbling yes, yes, yes. I think we are probably in similar zones and possibly growing conditions, even though we garden in different countries. I am in southern Ontario, about an hour west of Toronto. One of my own lessons learned(?) is not to try and grow every plant that I like. My garden is too crowded and needs selective thinning out in spots. My other lesson is to give up on trying to grow plants that demand full sun to look their best. Honestly (if I am not fooling myself), I do NOT have even one full sun location on my entire property. Boo-hoo. I should look on the good side of things. I can garden in partial shade during the hottest part of the day when summer is at its peak. Now I need to give away/compost those plants that absolutely need sun to flower.

jodi - I was going to amend my post to include what you said, but you beat me to it. Yes, I've done the same thing and am in the process of selecting culling. I guess I would expand on what you said and also add: get rid of those plants you absolutely don't love. Earlier this year it was all about getting rid of a whole bunch of lilies. This fall it's about getting rid of a whole bunch of daylilies that just don't cut it anymore.

ontnative - Yes, one has to be honest about the sun thing. Some plants can squeak by with less than the optimal amount, but many need every ray available and then some. Why try to do the impossible when in many cases it is impossible.

Kevin

Well said everyone. Unfortunately I keep re-learning some of those lessons. By this time in the season I'm adamant about remembering them. Then that long winter comes with time to look at all those seductive plant photos and read those beguiling descriptions. I am getting better though, another 10 or 20 years and I'll have it down pat.

All that hot pink made me nervous. I ended up chopping almost every plant down to the ground while in full bloom.

Heehee, this struck me as very funny too! It reminds me of the nauseating paint colors that some people are using inside their houses. Although I do like the gardens to be much more colorful.

You just can't water your way out of a drought.

Very true. We had 6 weeks of no rain in mid-summer, on top of a dry Spring. I watered to keep the veggies, butterfly & hummer plants, and a few others productive. The rest - just to keep them alive. We finally got 3 inches of rain and boy did everything perk up and look so much better.

On the other hand, a little water at just the right time can make a big difference. My Actaea racemosa was pretty drought tolerant through it all, but I ignored it and lost all the blooms. They dried up to a crisp. One watering at the crucial time would have allowed it to bloom. :(

I learned that using a sprinkler during a drought is just not enough for some plants. I have two Viburnum maresii shrubs that are about 4 years old, about 5ft tall. They are already challenged by drier conditions than they like, so I try to keep an eye on them. This summer despite leaving the sprinkler on their beds for 2 hours at a time, once or twice a week, they still dropped 80% of their leaves and the rest are brown crispy edged. I discovered that they really need the hose to be left running slowly at the base of them instead of the sprinkler.

I also discovered that my potted plants perform much better if I fertilize them more frequently. [g]

Just because you have a record summer rainfall doesn't mean your plants are getting enough water.

Frequency of rain makes all the difference. I have more cracks in my soil this year than the last 2 years..which where considered droughty. Several shrubs are already changing colors because of the limited frequency of rain.

That water just sheds right away once the heavy soil dries out. Perfect grading is a blessing for the house but not the plants.

My V.purnifolium has already changed to its peak color change in one of the driest spots in the yard.

What has been said above is so true. I may repeat what has already been discussed:

1. Do not try to fight with nature: Do not plant most of the sun perennials in shade locations. My shasta daisies, Veronica, etc do not like it.
2. Vice versa. Do plant endless summer hydrangeas in places with more shade. We had a very long, hot and dry summer and I ended up watering them almost every other day or they will wilt even though they only got a couple of hours of afternoon sun (try to avoid afternoon sun, as per planting instructions, but I did not follow the instructions:(
3. Do not try to have more plants than your space and garden design allow. I had to work very hard to stay away from the nurseries or mail order websites. otherwise I'll keep getting more. Then I ended up having to frequently move, re-arrange, thin,.... for me, less is better with the right combination of plants. And this weekend, I had to get a rose of sharon, so here goes with my learning::( And this shrub will need a lot of space to grow.

4. Try to divide plants in mid spring or early fall (Late April and mid-late September here in Chicago), when day time temperature and sun are not too harsh. It is much easier to do divisions during these times with less need of watering and better return of my time.

5. Plant most of new perennials or shrubs in early fall, most of them will be on sale, and need less watering, and they will perform very well next year.

6. One more thing I have not figured out is how to fight mildew/fungus. I lost several garden phlox, even the mildew resistant ones (some of them are in sunny locations). Once they have it, it is very difficult to get rid of. I tried spraying, etc. but finally give up and got rid of the plants. But I really love those tall garden phlox. My clay soil is probably the culprit.

Thanks every one for sharing your lessons learned. Hopefully I will be a better gardener next year.

Vivian

I love the tall phlox too, and find if I spray them with wilt pruf as soon as they get tall, it doesnt happen and if it starts spray again. It seems to work for me, Good luck! Tricia

Thanks Tricia. I will try it next spring.

Vivian

I just learned about spraying Wilt-Pruf for midew! Thanks Tricia, I will spray my young dogwoods next year and see if it helps!

Me too, thinking one (or three!) of everything will make a terrific garden. It's not the English cottage garden effect I was hoping for. lol

I have finally learned that with morning glory, less IS more. Goodness, even if I do manage to get most of the seed pods out this week, I'll spend next season pulling seedlings.

Cosmos go in the back of the bed. I always forget how tall they grow.

Put the beetle trap out before they destroy the plants.

~JoAnn

Five years of careful planning, preparation and planting can be destroyed in one short season by a new puppy.

[img]http://www.laurelwoodfarms.com/images/logandaffodil2sm.jpg[/img]

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What a cute puppy! And you caught him/her right in the act....lol. Yes, I would say it would be a challenge. Since he is a puppy, good time to train him well, so he can peacefully coexist with your garden. Sounds like a lot of work and patience. Hopefully next year things will come back as good as new.

He was actually doing pretty well in the "stay out of the flower bed" training until the past couple of weeks when he went on a horrible digging spree, destroying big portions of my big main sun perennial bed. I lost dahlias, daylilies, phlox, astors, echinachea, monarda, lilies and iris before he finally unearthed the nest of baby bunnies that apparently prompted this carnage.