Raking, shoveling, vacuuming, and shredding the ever increasing number of leathery leaves that have been dropping from the neighbor's magnolia since the rains ceased 32 days ago. At least they make a nice mulch.

Mallards don't seem to like the xeric pool plants that replaced the sheltering shrubs they used to nest under 2 or 3 times a year, so have been enjoying swims in the cleanest pool we've had in ages. The adult ducks always brought algae in from nearby ponds and provided it with plenty of "fertilizer".

We got the same weird weather stuff up here in Oklahoma and are dealing with the same problems. The fast springlike growth finally slowed down & a lot of plants here were cut back, bloom buds and all. I decided I'm not looking at a lanky jungle mess all summer and it would be preferable to live without the blooms. Its still autumn-like as well. Sort of a Spring/Autumn mess in summer. Leaves keep falling from nearly drowned trees and I keep raking then they are back the next day, looks horrible.

Some plants died right away, others lingered in a slow death process and a few others are still dying suddenly. Now its as dry as a bone and my soil is not the same. I'm not watering at all however, letting the chips fall as they will. There is some kind hard pack crap on top of the soil still and a lot of debris was washed downhill which I am still finding washed up around plants. The only good thing from the flood onslaught was the lakes are finally filled after years of drought. As for the garden, the drought wasn't as bad on it as this was. In all my years of gardening, this one will be remembered as one of the worst.

watering and making mental list of what will have to be replaced later and where i'll put the couple of bargains I have waiting in the shady wings

Bostedo, ducks got in your swimming pool? Not nice!

Texasranger yes, it is good that some of the lakes were filled and the aquifer replenished. I hope your soil is not as badly damaged as it seems to be and we can enjoy seeing your garden in photos again.

Vossner, I'm watering too, but just enough to keep things alive. Sure don't want any trees dying, That's for sure. Losing the big 'trash tree' Arizona ash in the back yard has sure made me appreciate trees -- any trees. I've brought out the umbrellas to keep a couple of things from cooking. It's 102.4 and feels like 110 according to Weather Underground. I agree!

Yep, the sun has just set on another white-hot day. Official high temp was 97 degrees. Adding humidity levels, the feels-like temp made it to 121 degrees.

No rain in 6 weeks now. Trees are shedding leaves/needles like crazy. Even my 'drought tolerant' plants are beginning to look like they're gonna die. :(

It's still 102 here tonight. I've been dragging the sprinklers around trying to avoid death by heat in the gardens. Not much else outdoors.

We tore out the veggie garden and built a shrub/flower bed in it's place. So now it is covered with black plastic and baking! Pretty sure this is killing all the weeds. Can't plant in it till fall anyway.

I have been working in an un Aced shop all day and I am too beat to do any gardening....even watering. We have had 3 grass fires in the neighborhood and Reimer's Ranch Hamilton Pool are doing a prescribed burn tomorrow. Scary. I can not water hardly at all. I have experienced a lot of death this summer. The year started out so hopeful. I am so hot and exhausted. I just curl up at nights and the garden wilts just like me. I have a hard time getting out there when it is still cool because I am so tired from the day before. I am looking forward to the possible 90 next week. When does the humidity burn off?

New development. Now small twigs are falling out of trees. I plain give up. They are laying all over the ground suddenly, yesterday there were none and today they seem to be everywhere like someone threw out Pick-Up-Sticks all over the place. I think the sky is falling. More brown leaves everywhere from the daily incessant dropping-- will it ever stop? I finally broke down & said 'uncle' and performed a marathon watering, I've been standing out there with the hose for hours because it looked so sad and dried up everywhere.

The cold (cold?) front promised is coming through tomorrow dropping the temperatures-------thank goodness----------but not a single drop predicted except in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. OK, I am exaggerating and being pessimistic. We have a 10% chance of rain on a couple days. Translation: No Rain.

I hope you guys are getting some of that cooler air too. Its dropping into the 90's with some nights that sound downright pleasant for a change.

Yes TX. They just changed our 10 day forecasts and I think it might cool down. I have my fingers crossed. When I saw that on Underground, I just about danced a jig, but it was way too hot. Now if it only happens. Today was murderous.

I want to start a fall vegetable garden , but I just don't have it in me. I have some pepper bushes out there that are screaming for water and I have not been out to water them. I can't imagine babying string beans and tomatoes in this weather. I can't imagine starting anything new when I can't keep up with what I already have going. God, I sound like a winey butt..... Poor poor hot me.

I am not doing anything and I wish I was. I had foot surgery July 2 and still have stitches and a boot to wear along with a knee scooter. Some days I get down in the dumps but I knew the surgery had to be done. At least I get to look forward to vacation in mid October.

I am basically in summer hibernation, although I do go out early in the mornings to do some hand watering in the areas that the irrigation system does not cover very well. I also tackle weeding and trimming in small areas once or twice a week so that my fall chores will not be completely overwhelming. These efforts keep the garden looking acceptable and that is all that I am trying to accomplish at this time. I will strive for beauty in the garden when I am willing to work outdoors this fall and spring.

Molly

I went to Wunderground to see about this front y'all are talking about and while it doesn't look like it will make it here to the coast, the forecast is showing a 50-60% chance of rain for about 5 days, starting Sunday!

I know the forecast can change by the time Sunday rolls & I know better than getting my hopes up but things are getting desperate around here. Oddly, I checked the drought monitor map about a week ago and nothing was showing for TX. Now, the entire eastern 1/2 of the state shows to be 'abnormally dry'. Heh, if this is abnormally dry, I'd hate to see severe. :/

Like texasranger, this one will go down as the worst for my garden. I planted a lot of new shrubs in the spring and some drowned during the rain while others came out of that looking great, just to suddenly die weeks later. A butterfly mint suddenly dropped dead yesterday after being green and covered with flowers days before. That may have been cut worms. Armadillos are tearing up my yard too.

I try to water my spring plantings every other day and that takes about and hour and a half. Next year, all the new stuff will be in the same area. Anything older than 2 years is on its own. If it can't make it through this heat then it will be replaced with something more xeric.

Texasranger, I wonder if there is an insect that is making the twigs drop. A couple of years ago I was sweeping up piles of twigs from the Cedar Elm and other parts of Texas reported the same thing. Forgot the name of the bug.

Thanks to all for your post flood and "how dry I am" experiences. We're not alone!

My AGAVES are suffering. They are turning yellow and "collapsing" . I have seen them come back from that state.

Roselee, I think its from the rain because its like this all over the city. About 20" in May and then that 2nd deluge in June on top of it nearly drowned us. You see dead branches and falling leaves everywhere. I imagine they are simply brittle and the time has come for this next phase of flood injury and trees dropping more dead stuff. On top of that, last fall was so warm with no frosts so when the cold inevitably hit later than normal, the southern trees were not hardened off. 2015 is a bad year for crepe myrtles, they all have dead branches on top with the green lower down on all the untrimmed ones. Sometimes I think we are the crepe myrtle capitol so there's lots of that to look at.

The cold front came in last night while I was watering, it was cooler in the evening last night than its been for quite some time, typically its been staying in the 90's and miserable. Its 90 degrees today but the humidity is still 61%. If you guys get the cooler air, its not one of those refreshing ones with dryer air along with it but still, its better than it was. I can't remember a more horrible summer.

In August I'm cussing that i need to plant more drought tolerant plants, and in January I'm cussing that I need to plant more cold hardy plants. Just can't seem to win with Texas weather.

Quarzon, I hear ya', and trying to program my mind to remember what this heat is like as well as the cold; plus that I really don't need any more plants -- except for testing purposes of course ... LOL

Mara, I was wondering if agaves might recover from the yellowing caused by too much heat and sun. I think many agaves in the wild grow in the vicinity of trees or shrubs that cast a light shade and thus they apprecate a little shade. Is that right? Anybody know which ones will take the full brunt of the sun?

Texasranger, I am surprised that it's only 95 so far today because it still feels like a furnace blasting out there.

From listening to agave freaks from Arizonas phoenix area, there is a list circulating on Xericworld that they comprised. They might have a list generated on Agaveville also. xericworld is a increasingly nonactive forum but one can still see it online.

Here is it listed from Xeric world's HUGELY long ranging thread. I think the link is to its 7th page. Sunshine is different in Arizona and california. The thread is interesting and developed over several years as people grow . them . They say agaves will yellow out in the heat of the summer and then recuperate as it cools. I saw my agave totally collapse during the big drought and then rehydrate. *****Now many of these agaves are not cold hardy or moisture tolerant. We are just talking sun here.

A. arizonica
A. asperrima (A. scabra)
A. cerulata
A. chrysantha
A. chrysoglossa
A. colorata
A. deserti
A. desmetiana
A. difformis
A. durangensis
A. filifera ssp. filifera
A. filifera ssp. multifilifera
A. filifera ssp. schidigera
A. franzosini
A. geminiflora
A. gigantensis
A. havardiana
A. lechuguilla
A. lophantha
A. macroacantha
A. marmorata
A. mckelveyana
A. murpheyi
A. 'Nova'
A. ocahui
A. ovatifolia
A. palmeri
A. parrasana
A. parryi
A. pelona
A. salmiana
A. schottii v. treleasei
A. sisalana
A. subsimplex
A. toumeyana
A. victoriae-reginae
A. vilmoriniana
A. vivipara (A. angustifolia)
A. weberi
A. wocomahi
A. zebra

Coldfront is here. hahahahahahahahaha. 103 and I am sweating braincells. Loosing my marbles. I just spent 2 hours looking for a gallon of high dollar tung oil...Round and round in circles. 3 shops to search three times. I had covered it with a rag.

"Sweating brain cells" ... LOL. At 3:30 the temp dropped from 100 to 88, it thundered, and 3 drops of rain fell ... The cool front has arrived -- Ha!

Is it still 88? more likely 888F

We finally got some rain! Some parts of San Antonio probably got more, but we got a whole 1/8 of an inch in the rain guage. Oh well, it has changed the smell outside from "the ground is baking" to "the ground is boiling" ... LOL

We got rain last night about 9:30 . We were going to try and watch the meteor shower , but I'll take the rain !

For the first time in many years I am thankful to not have plants. Just trying to keep alive the few pots brought from my former house. I am not even watering the grass. We'll see.

same here, hot and dry, a few sprinkles last night but not enough to get the ground wet. I am cutting stuff back like crazy, 2 of the water barrels are empty and the other 2 will be soon. Watering just to keep things alive.

The redbud tree at the side of the house seems to be doing like what was described. It had great spring growth but now I can see bare branches. I noticed it one day because the ground that what usually was a lot of shade in years past, was actually very bright and sunny. I looked up and sure enough, so many leaves had fallen and branches were bare enough that it let in a lot of sunlight.

I have been fighting a recent rat individual or family (they're never just alone, right?). I had lots of mice in 2013, then no apparent issue in 2014, and this year, it seems to be rats. I think one actually dove into my small pond, messing up plants and such, and ate the dead fish that I had noticed during the day time but didn't have a chance to remove yet.

Other than that, I'm enjoying the antics of the local hummingbirds. They are starting to show up more often. I even have one that I think is taking up residence in and around my yard, so I see him sitting around the trees or feeders.

Im officially done with salvias and rosemarys. Ive gone through about a dozen of these plants the past few years. They seem to do well for the first couple years, then they just turn brown and die. My soil is probably not sandy/rocky enough for them as ive amended it quite a bit.

wormwoods, mums, and lions tail seem to be doing fantastic in my yard so far. And they definetly tell you when they need water by sagging just a bit, rather then just up and dying.

I am definitely assessing which plants I will permanently banish from my garden. For many years I based my plantings on the cold hardiness of plants because I wanted to avoid frost sensitive plants that need protection. In the last couple of years, heat tolerance became the new requirement for any of my plantings. Water hogs were ostracized a few years ago

Molly

Quarzon, are you in clay or East TX gumbo with a bunch of rain this early summer. The rosemary NEEEDS drainage. They probably lost their roots due to rot and then when the dry weather came, they had nothing to bring water. It was the rain that killed them. Rosemaries love a good limestone rocky soil. I have kept one going for 15 years now.

Salvias are so diverse. I am sure their is one for your conditions. I can't tell where you live of your soil characteristics. I am still growing salvias off the ones I planted 25 - 30 years ago. I had to give up growing some of the S guaraniticas because they need a richer wetter clime. What kind of salvia were you growing?

I know it is getting dry. It is official, now. The coons are invading our shop. We have one that has sprung our traps 4 times and backed out with the food. I think he is too big for our normal trap. I had to go buy the next size up. It is HUGE.

Thanks to all for your responses on how your plants are handling this year's unusual conditions of first flood and then drought, and how you are handling those plants.

As for me I very much enjoyed and appreciated all the spring rains for once in my gardening 'career'. Right now my catchword is; "Don't keep anything that looks scraggly for a big part of the year". Nothing takes down the looks of a garden quicker than miserable looking plants. A few will be cut back and given a chance to recover, fewer will be moved to where they won't show so much when looking bad, many are being taken out for good.

Happy gardening!

texasranger2 and roselee z8b S.W. Texas, there is an insect that chews leaves and small stems from trees. It's the Walking Stick insect. See bugfacts for basic info. While you might consider them messy, they don't cause damage to the trees.

I just threw in the towel on my Blackfoot Daisies. They were healthy as could be and blooming like crazy. The summer hit. One by one, they've gotten scraggly and have dried up.

My Marcus Salvia are next. They did fine through last summer, but they just couldn't hack it this year. They finally just dried up and disappeared.

I'm about ready to throw in the towel and just pave over my yard. It's been a tough year...

When I moved down here, I was all excited about all the things I could grow in a warmer climate. Yeah, so warm (and dry) everything just fries to a crisp! I swear, gardening was much easier in MN, even with the winters!

Bressler, My Blackfoot daisies come back as soon as it rains. I never water them. They are wild here. They come and go and come again. Our summers are our winters. Things go into dormancy in the summer. Especially summers like this one. This was a tough (still is). What is your watering schedule and what is your soil? Hang in there, Gardening is a different animal down here. My yard is quite brown right now. Waiting for that slug of September rain.

Despite the harsh winters, gardening is easier in the northern states. The eastern half of Texas has humid summers, even during drought. With high daytime temperatures many plants cannot recover, and use all their food energy to simply exist. The soil is either half-weathered limestone to the west of Austin, or completely weathered calcareous clay. The Blackfoot Daisies are common on the limestone, but not on the clay. Too much water and insufficient drainage during extreme summer heat allows various disease organisms to flourish and attack stressed plants.

In temperate climates such as Minnesota humus buildup in the soil is easy. In the warmer semi-tropical southern states soil bacteria constantly consumes added humus. Crop rotation experiments confirmed it takes about 1 lb of dry organic matter per sq. ft. just to maintain humus in our clay soil. An excellent book explaining all of this, as well as recommending the best plants for our climate is: Gardening Success With Difficult Soils by Scott Ogden.

P.S. Our climate averages look reasonable, but our climate is one of extremes for temperature and rainfall. I don't remember the year (may have been 1951), but my parents told me Lake Travis filled up in a single day.

I am on my third copy of that book in the 15 or more years. I loan it out and it "gets lost". Sally Wasowski's "Native Texas plants" is another classic. This was a tough year because all that rain rotted the roots on xeric plants and then when this 2.5 months of not a drop hit, they had no roots to drink with. I like Tx Ranger's term of "spoiled brat plants".These brats were lulled into submission. They did not have what it takes to thrive.

Yes gardening is tougher down here. We commiserate with you, but it can be done. Talk to people with good gardens in your neigborhood and always be dumping compost on your plants.

texans are a breed unto themselves and part of the reason is this DARN LAND has made us this way. I am just a misplaced Yankee myself (LONG time ago). I grew up in my grandparents garden with water everywhere, and in June , the green will hurt my Texas eyes now. I have learned to adore my Central Texas yard, including the heartbreaks of watching it blow away in grey dust during the BIG drought and watching it rise from the ashes.

Now I have this . I have learned to love pokey things and wildness means something else now. I have lost the love affair to green and become a lot more accepting of brown.

I am hoping that after the rains, I will have this, but right now it is rather brown and crinkly. I have learned to live in the cycles. You had your snow cycle and now you have drought cycles. I am a lot more brown than is pictured here right now.

I do not live in a desert even though it feels like it right now, but I get a lot out of this

"The desert is no lady

She screams at the spring sky

dances with her skirts high

kicks sand, flings tumbleweeds

digs her nails into all flesh

Her unveiled lust fascinates the sun."

-Pat Mora "unrefined" The desert is no lady

-----------------------------

Sometimes gardening in Texas is like this.

I think while it initially helped them, the spring rains maybe played a role in the demise of my Daisies. When I pulled them up, I was surprised at how small the root systems were.

While I did mix in some compost in the planting holes, my soil is builder issue "red death". As I understand this is basically the clayey scrapings from the bottom of gravel pits. Sounds like for Blackfoots to thrive, they really need to be on rock or very well drained soil. I noticed a neighbor that had some a few doors down had the same problem, Oh well, I'll cross that off my list... My wife's happy they're gone anyway. Even at their best she thought they looked like ditch weeds. :^P

I'll just keep on trying until I find things that stick. While it's nice to try new and different things, there's a reason why plants like lantana and cherry sage are so darned popular. As time goes by, I've found the safest bet, while not exciting, are the plants you see growing everywhere.

While I thought it was so rough gardening in a cold winter climate, I now realize how spoiled I was up there. We had great soil and normally adequate rainfall throughout the growing season. That's the part that caught me with my pants down. I knew it was hot here in the summer. I just had no idea how droughty the summers are and how poor the soils are around here.

Oh well, at least you don't have to shovel sunshine!

That's why you have all those Blackfoot Daisies in your neck of the woods, Mara!

I don't so much mourn for what I can't grow here as much as that I wish I could get the plants that supposedly do well here to perform for me. The Blackfoot daisies and Coreopsis come to mind. I guess I just need to mulch some more!

Overall, I'd rather garden in clay than rock though. I don't know how you hill country folks do it! Lots of raised beds, I guess.

I am wicked with a pick axe and I really want a Jackhammer for christmas. What you are experiencing is our version of Cabin fever.

Mara, I hope you get your jackhammer! If anyone needs it you do ... lol

It's hard to know what black foot daisies want. Some I've had for years. They are the small ones that self seeded in soil like Mara has, but with others in better soil it seems if they ever get really dry they never really recover. Or maybe it's over watering them while they are dry that causes them to decline. Haven't figured it out yet.

Mostly I plant them in the fall, but this one planted this spring is still doing great, but what I'm really impressed with is the Verbena rigida that was passed along by Lorelei. It has bloomed wonderfully well all through the hot summer. Other verbenas have thrown in the towel way before now. Let me know how the colors look. I'm having a hard time getting used to the color on the new monitor, too bright and garish. I've adjusted and adjusted ...

While I'm 'at it' I'll show the fruit on the columnar cactus from Tally which have been a beautiful bright pink for weeks. They are starting to split now, but still look good enough to eat ...

Even when they don't last more than a season or two blackfoot daisies are something I will keep planting.

Yes, gardening is a huge challenge here, but we keep experimenting and finding beautiful plants that work.

Wow, I really like the color of those cactus fruit. It reminds me the color of Callicarpa Americana's berries.

Omar

- which are turning purple now too. I have both.

I have a xeriscaped small front yard where I have two largish Agaves as the focal point of the yard. They looked great and i got a lot of compliments on them. Last week I was checking on them and noticed they were completely rotted at the roots and I was easily able to pull them out of the ground whole. All the spring rain had deteriorated the Agave's roots. I was actually kind of happy as I was getting tired of getting poked by these things and they felt more like a liability then anything else, and the agave juice makes me itch every time i had to prune them. I'm thinking i will just plant some medium sized bushes in place of these, but I don't know my bushes very well so I'll have to sneak cuttings from various bushes in the neighborhood to help identify what i want to plant.

I just planted two 2.5 quart star jasmines in the same pot next to each other. Is this OK?

I would guess the pot is around 8 gallons and fairly wide. The nursery had a 2 for 1 sale that I couldn't pass up. Eventually i will plant them next to my deck once i get a lattice going this fall.

Quarzon; In the future , it is best to start these enquiries in a separate thread. It is a bit off topic AND you will get a response to your topic quicker, and the response will be about your specific issues. It would be best to plant them in their own pots if you are going yo divide them later. It would be less stress untangling the roots. 2 separate 5 gallons would be better but This is will do if you are planning to separate them for their separate holes soon.