Looking back, going forward

12 years ago

As I digress back to 5-20-of this year when I posted my thread Spring time montage, see link, I was ready for show time. Everything looked great. Little did I know what was ahead. The oppressive heat and drought began mid June and didn't let up till late August was really a stressful time. Screening, $265.00 a month water bills could not save many of my conifers. Added to that weeds in the order of Prostrate Spurge and Oxalis were in epidemic proportions. Never had I had to deal with this before. Also, most dwarf deciduous trees with leaf burn an most companion plants showing stress. Forget the Hostas...much leaf burn.

Losses:

Picea g. 'Cecilia'

Picea m. 'Auerovariegata'

Picea o. 'Pendula'

Picea a. 'Henrych'

Picea o. 'Peve Tijn'

Pinus s. 'Sea Urchin'

Pinus c. 'Pygmaea'

Pinus s. 'Pendula'

Picea m. 'Ericoidies'

Picea g. 'Echinformis'

Picea o. 'Tom Thumb Gold' on standard.

Picea g. 'Burning Well' on standard.

Picea p. 'Pali' on standard.

Pinus s. 'Calle' on standard.

There are others that should be listed but were not recorded. Of the 5 on standards I got from Bob only one survived Picea o. 'Professor Langner'. A great loss and disappointment to me.

Since last August most plants have stabilized and screening is removed. Although we are still experiencing drought conditions moisture is adequate below ground level.

I have now begun to rebuild. New conifers added are...

Cham. o. 'Golden Sprite'

Pinus p. 'Cleary'

Picea p. 'The Blues'

Cedrus a. 'Aurea Robusta'

Cham. o. 'Nana Lutea' on standard.

Pinus mugo 'Dolly's Choice'. That one planted yesterday and shown in photo.

{{gwi:806880}}

Foliage.

{{gwi:806881}}

Conifers on order for April 2012.

Picea omorika 'Blue Sky'

Cham.o. 'Butter Ball

Cham o. 'Chirimen'

Cham. p. 'Tsukumo'

Picea a. 'Farnsburg'

Picea a. 'Vermont Gold'

Picea e. 'Blue Magoo'

I know others have suffered as much or more then me. They say for my area once every 28 years. I won't loose any sleep over that. Mother nature rules. That's to be expected and you just deal with it.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Spring time montage

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

firefightergardener
12 years ago
Dave, the easiest comfort for your losses is your unbreakable spirit. Weeds, oppressive heat and drought have bent but not broken it and thus while plant losses, especially cultivars as beautifully grown as yours, are tragic, they are but temporary. More importantly, it creates opportunity. Clearly you have selected more beauties to grow and I suspect your gardens will be all for the better by next June. My money's on it anyway, regardless of what mother nature has in store.

I have suffered losses as well, mostly due to my scale issue on some abies concolor but also some to moles. Though my cats catch dozens every month, they still make tunnels frequently underneath plants that I treasure.

I think also on the good-side of things is that you now have some pretty damn-hardened plants in your garden. Now you know they can almost certainly handle even the worst droughts and heat waves and in future months and years, you'll sleep and vacation well knowing your plants are one hell of a tough bunch.

It's amazing to me that these plants can tolerate this extreme weather at all. I furiously water my plants like the crazied-broom sticks in the first 'Fantasia' scene every time we get weather into the 90s. By contrast, your plants now consider temps in the 90s to be comfortably warm and laugh at this 'heat' we *suffer* through here in the PNW.

Keep us updated, your specimens and photos are *always* top-end, as I've said before your gardens are as close to the US has to a magical garden like Steven's 'Foxhollow'.

-Will
gardener365
12 years ago
Agree with Will.

Nice mugo Dave!

Dax
Related Discussions
Looking back at 2011....Forward to 2012
Q
Comments (30)
I've been really enjoying this thread! I started a project last summer that I thought I could accomplish in no time , but the summer got the best of me so I don't have any great pics to share. I have really loved seeing every one else's gardens and hope to have better pics this upcoming year. My goals for this year are to add a cutting flower bed, and design some kinda garden for my backside of the house that gets early morning light then is shady rest of the day. And to spend time working in the garden. Last summer I worked so much at my new job my garden became neglected and rebelled against me! I don't blame it tho.... Here is my Ceramic beehive, I absolutely love. It's in the perfect spot under the fairy rose bush. Next year I'll plant sweet allysum with it. And maybe a little yellow asiatic lilies too. I admired it in a garden center shop and couldn't splurge on it. One visit to the center I noticed a chip on the side , and asked if they'd discount it for the chip. I thought I'd save a couple dollars, they gave it to me for20$! I was so excited!
...See More
Any thoughts on this quote? About to go forward.
Q
Comments (4)
Well it's not big, but that's a good size to get wet, and easy to maintain. My daughters is about that size. Sounds like an average price for a pool/spa around here in that size range. The one thing I don't have much experience with in 30 years in the pool biz is , in floor cleaners. They are very popular in your area, never really caught on in Dallas/Ft Worth. I have seen a few. Not many. I wonder why he didn't go with the IntelliChlor? He sounds like a Pentair man. And they do have that three majors , three years thing. Back to the subject, it doesn't sound bad to me.
...See More
Tractor won't go forward or reverse
Q
Comments (10)
I think that is just a locator bracket /shift plate for the control. The wheels will typically roll in opposite directions due to the differential action. Your brake disc looks to be rusted to the shaft from where I sit. This means that it doesn't release itself (or doesn't fully engage) from the inside pad. Inside of that arm are 2 pins that squeeze the outboard pad into the disc into the inboard pad- so the disc is locked. If the pins are stuck and the pads are locking the disc, you won't move. If it was partially sticking before- an increased load may increase the noise of the tranaxel.
...See More
Back for another build! Look forward to suggestions.
Q
Comments (1)
Here's what I see as a very big problem with the original plan. People will be crossing through the center of your kitchen to go to the bathroom and to carry laundry. I had a similar set up in my former house and it was a giant pain. In the original plan you have the pantry in a great spot so I'd leave it there and add a pass through from the garage directly into the pantry and make that weird useless jog next to the pantry part of the pantry. I'd eliminate the door from the garage area to the kitchen giving you a little extra wall space in the kitchen. Including the awkward jog into the pantry should make up for adding a second door into the pantry. I'm not a fan of having to walk through what is essentially a breakfast nook to get to so many things (mud room, garage, laundry room) but I don't see a good solution that doesn't involve completely reworking the floor plan. At least it's better than people going through the kitchen. Since the dining area room area will be tight once you add pass through space to the mud room area and space for people going back and forth from the covered porch I'd add a banquet so that you won't need as much space for seating. You can also have added storage under the banquet. The only option you have for maximizing space in the master bedroom suite is to flip the master bedroom and bath/WIC so that you enter through the bedroom and the bathroom and WIC are in the back. You won't get a foyer entrance but you'll maximize the space. You also gain the added advantage of your sleep area not backing up to a potentially noisy space (the living room). I tweaked our floor plan until I eliminated that problem with our's. The space you allotted for the formal dining room is small once you add a dining table and any sort of storage/serving furniture such as a china hutch or buffet. Before you assume it will be enough space I would measure all of the furniture you plan to put in there and place it in the space using grid paper or one of those space planning websites. Will there be enough space for people to pull out their chairs? This website gives good guidelines for different situations. I would make sure that your original dining room and new formal dining room will fit within those parameters.
...See More
johnplace
12 years ago
I can empathize. I lost many plants this year. Of course, as Will pointed out, the upside is that I now have room to plant new and even more exciting things. Can't wait to see your pics next spring!
severnside
12 years ago
Regeneration. Consider it like after a fire in nature, how green the little shoots look against the black, just as your replacement stock is the new life pushing through. The chain unbroken.

*This card is also available blank for your own message of choice*
texasspruce
12 years ago
No one can possibly feel your pain as well as those of us in Texas that endured the HELL of this summer where we had 70 days of 100+ degree temps in Dallas. I have been fortunate to grow many things over the last seven years that most won't attempt further south than I-70 let alone I-40. Here I am in Dallas, north of I-30 growing picea, chamaecyparis, cupresses, juniperus, cedrus and pinus cultivars that "aren't supposed to live here." This was the year that proved all my nay-sayers right and allowed them to say "I told you so" the same way I told them last winter after 11" of snow killed their palm trees and banana plants (lol). My losses were high in numbers of plants and thousands of dollars-not to mention the water bills. So yes, this summer took its toll. My most depressing loss was a weeping white spruce, picea glauca pendula, that was about seven feet tall. But all the enjoyment I received over the last seven years was worth it and I will rebuild.
So what did survive? For those of you wondering what might be more heat tolerant!
picea pungens fat albert, hoopsii and baby blue eyes
all things juniper (except for scorching on juniperus horizontalis mother lode
all things cedrus
all things cupresses (except for scorching on leylandii golconda)
thuja occidentalis berkmans gold
abies pisapo (species from seedling stock-not a graft)
chamaecyparis obtusa (species) but with scorching (a few cultivars did make it with damage but are already flushing new growth now that it's cooled off.
chamaecyparis nootkatensis jubilee, green arrow and glauca

These all made it. My list of losses was so high it was easier to list what lived. The good news is that I have a nursery that orders material for me from Monrovia and Iseli so I have fresh hoopsi and moerheim on the way to replace the blue spruce that burned up. I have already picked up several internet orders from various sites and feel the depression lifting. Good luck to all of you who are replanting as well...
Don

Looking back, going forward

Comments (5)

firefightergardener

gardener365

Related Discussions

johnplace

severnside

texasspruce

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US