Hey, Radovey, just curious is your Ninebark Summer Wine in full sun? I have one Ninebark Summer Wine on the south side of my house in full blazing sun all day, and it does fantastic. I have another Ninebark Summer Wine literally 10 feet from the first one, but it is in morning sun and afternoon shade, and it gets dead branches in it every year. I don't worry too much about it, because the foliage looks good and it keeps growing numerous new branches every year. But my theory is that Ninebark Summer Wine shrubs need full sun to grow their best. Shade may be the cause of the die back. And yes, I cut the dead branches out.

FWIW -- Some years ago, in another drought cycle (tho, one less lengthy, and less-severe than the current one) we did buy and use silicon granules. We found them to be most-effective if used when planting bare root roses, because the [completely hydrated] silicon chunklets could be evenly distributed through the soil. (NOTE: DO NOT MIX DRY GRANULES IN THE SOIL, AND THEN PLANT IT, AND WET IT. The granules increase asonishingly in size, when fully hydrated.) They can actually push the whole plant right out of a bed, or a pot. If you want to add them to an established planting, you can "drill" a narrow hole close to the plant, and drop in just a few granules. When used optimally, the granules really DID make a difference when a bed of roses went un-watered. This observation, when a section of an automated watering system failed, un-noticed. We found that fine feeder roots really did attach themselves to the hydrated silicon chunklets, and thus were able to suck water from them. But whether or not they make a difference in a three-year or more drought? That's difficult to say. Over time, the granules became difficult to find locally, AND more and more expensive. We took to using them ONLY for small, potted, own-root plants -- and finally stopped using them altogether. If you have a very large rose garden, they may be helpful, but you will need to have very deep pockets.

3 inches of mulch on your beds will help retain moisture and some rain barrels to catch some of that 5.96 inches of rain. You could get really creative and try to recapture some of the grey water from your house (ie Used Washer and Shower water). I dont think soapy water will hurt your plants Dean

What to use as mulch depends on where you are and what is readily, and inexpensively, available. Straw or hay (different materials) are good as is pine straw, grass clippings, shredded leaves, shredded bark, wood chips, etc., or newspaper or cardboard covered with something to hide them. It just depends on what is out there. Any mulch material can make it more difficult to get water from a spray nozzle to the soil, because you need to saturate the mulch first, so the suggestion that a soaker hose be placed under the mulch is good. I have not found a need to spend money on a moisture meter, I use my index finger to judge if the soil is getting too dry and that has worked quite well for me. In a recent issue of Fine Gardening magazine two researchers from Michigan State University wrote about their 9 year study of mulched and unmulched planting beds and concluded that mulching is much better. Plants grew better and produced better in mulched beds. Putting mulches down on planting beds where seeds are scattered is a bit difficult but can be done, with care. Maintaining an evenly moist soil is much better for the plants, which need that moisture to uptake soil nutrients. kimmq is kimmsr