They come back smaller the next year.

This is a theory I am considering employing as space management. For the 20 years we have been here and I have been planting/managing hosta I have dutifully watered each week when rain doesn't, making sure they get the needed 1" a week minimum. My hosta are glorious, large, TAKING OVER. We are getting more than enough rain this summer, thus far. BUT July usually signals dryer weeks. DH and I were discussing a watering system as I am getting too old to love hauling hoses and sprinklers. As we talked it dawned on me OR I could just STOP watering. See what happens. Perhaps the hosta will be more likely to stay in their spaces?!! I fear the companion plants the astilbe, ferns etc might not survive.

I did something similar for about 3 years overall and there are Hosta which never gets watered even now. Some Hosta will survive and look good. Some will dwindle to nothing. Astilbes will be likely goners. Ferns, many are resilient. Depends on a soil, root competition, placement and mulch.

Lakesides were clear winners as a group, interestingly.

Permaculture has a lot to offer if one starts looking into managing water supplies.

i SUSPECT ... that if you had not babied them .... they would be better able to tolerate the situation .... but thats hindsight ...

expect horrible damage ... and be pleasantly surprised how resilient they will be ...

and dont forget .... they are capable of total summer dormancy in the worst situation ... and would be able to resprout .. but as noted.. they would be using stored energy at a time of the summer... when they should be growing new roots and storing more energy for next spring emergence ... and as such .... they might be smaller next year ...

please keep us posted.. we might all learn something ....

ken

It sounds like you have no piped in water, so this might not be helpful. We had a year where we weren't allowed to water. I used as little soap as possible, and either scooped out the bath water or put buckets in the shower. I could get a few gallons for the younger plants, and it was enough to keep them going until the drought ended.

Good luck, hope it rains soon. We must be getting all yours, haven't had to water anything except pots and baskets.

Man, I'm sorry. I don't have any advice from my perspective, because I've always had access to all the water needed for gardening, etc. I just wanted to say good luck, and I hope for the best for your incredible hosta collection.

I am so sorry Dave! I, too, wish you the best and hope that this drought will be over soon.

I am not yet in the same situation over here Dave, but getting there, my water tanks have not run out as yet, I have aprox 1700 litres left out of 6000 stored, for everything including my drinking water. I need to buy even more tanks. My sister next door has a well but I don't want to put any pressure on it or she would be in bother too. Try to collect that trickle from the spring even if it takes an age to fill anything.

I have all my pots standing in saucers and am only watering in the evening enough to allow run through to fill the saucer and that is keeping them going for now, some have drunk it all by the next evening and others still have a bit left so only topping up is required. You have many many more than I do in pots and to have saucers for them all might not be realistic.

From reading on a weather forum it looks like there is no rain in sight until at least the 11 july (for me) and that would be thunder storms so could be hit and miss. I hope you get something soon.

I'm off to do a rain dance for us, good luck!

Denis

Best wishes to both Denis and Dave. Hope you both catch a break soon.

Seems we all have to do a rain dance, Denis.

My friends all over Europe are in the same situation. I can not remember when it had been that bad. It's not only the heat but the never ending wind dries out everything, shrubs and trees are already loosing leaves and the meadows are burned and dusty. Our well is still giving water but it's getting lesser from day to day. At least we can use pipe water, but the price went up last year and it might be forbidden to water the garden soon...

I followed Dave's idea of letting them soak in buckets and then I put them into the shady part of the garden to reduce watering...main focus is on keeping my Valley's alive...

Nothing to look at from the kitchen window now :-(

Dave, Denis and Karin..sorry about your dry weather..with your experience and care your plants will fare better than most in your areas..

Karin..those empty shelves are heartbreaking..

Ann, at the moment it is only something not so lovely to look at and the kindergarten hosta are safely hidden in the depths of the garden.

It is worse for Dave and Denis, both depend on rain to get water :-( 14 days forecast also says 'no rain' in Germany.

Drought here and fist sized hail in Don's garden...not a good year for hosta :-(

Thanks for all your words of comfort and advice.

I installed a diverter to collect shower and bathroom sink water.

All water used for washing up dishes and cooking is also collected.

The way the house supply works is that the water from the spring is stored in a holding tank. The spring and tank are much further up the hill I live on. I'm at 900ft above sea level and the spring and tank at about 1200ft . When functioning it gives amazing pressure. Because of our height as soon as ground level water drops the spring starts to dry up. The river on the valley floor is almost gone.

Under normal conditions the tank refills after I use a hose, now that trickle I spoke about is not refilling quickly enough for me to be able to use it or cans to water with.

I've just seen a forecast for 13 days time which indicates some light rain.

I'm not getting my hopes up.

Good luck Karin and Denis it's got to break sometime!

Dave

Good luck folks, sending rain your way!

Dave..as if "normal" gardening (is there such a thing?) isn't hard enough with a drought even tougher..your efforts will pay off..

Karin..I sounded too dramatic to say heartbreaking but I loved your display!..I realize that it's a temporary arrangement that's best for the plants..

There are a couple of things you can do to help your hostas weather the drought.

First, if you haven't mulched them, do so. This will slow the drying out of the soil, and you can water less frequently or with less water. A light colored mulch is preferable.

Second, move any potted hostas to the shadiest spot you have available. Less sun, less water use. If you can't move plants, consider putting up a temporary shade cloth area.

Third, keep watering the saucers. This promotes deeper roots, which will tolerate the drought and heat better than shallow roots.

Fourth, if you have certain plants that you are really worried about, consider bringing them inside until the drought breaks. They will do fine for a number weeks if they get some decent light.

Difficult as this can be, your hostas will certainly get through it, most likely with minimal damage.

Doin a rain dance , here in Illinois, for my hosta friends across the pond!

Sherry

Praying for rain for you.

tj

Sorry to hear about you all having drought conditions. Most of all, I hope you'll have enough water for your families and animals. They come first.

Just hope it won't be months on end like can happen over here. We have to have irrigation, and I've had to cut back in droughts but never gone completely without water. Like people are saying the hostas do come back smaller, but they don't give up too quickly so they'll hang in there.

What would really be bad is if plants go into an early dormancy and then get a deluge of rain. I found out the hard way that's a quick way to kill a hosta. .....Wishing you extended gentle rains soon.

Latest update on the forecast.

Remaining hot and dry for the rest of this month possible temperatures in the low to mid 30ºC

For Karin more of the same and also hotter.

Denis gets the same as me.

Thanks to everyone for their kind words and advice.

Dave

Dave I was hoping to open this thread and have it say you were expecting rain. I know you will do everything possible to minimize for the lack of rain and water. Thinking of you all.

You are making me very conscious to realize how much water I am using, and wasting on my plants. Water is such precious commodity...

Given your forecasts I would be building makeshift or store bought shade cloth protection system or place umbrellas, old chairs etc over sunnier located plants and mulch sky high what I can. Have done it in the past when I needed to transplant in the heat of summer...

Thanky you Dave, that really lifts my mood :-(

Don't shoot me I'm only the messenger!

Hi, Dave. Any sign of rain?

Oh wow, the draught in some places sounds just awful. We'd had a rough go the last several years, water running almost 24/7 on our gardens, but our town water just doesn't compare to rain, so it really didn't seem to help them much. We have spots where the hostas were big and lush and now some of them came back this year the size of my hand. Last year I told my husband that if *this* year was as dry as previous years, a lot of our stuff was going to go and it was going to be yuccas and whatever else we could find that deals w/dry. We had two blizzards in May, and then no rain until a couple weeks ago--torrential downpours in a lot of places. My uncle in Minnesota had 15 inches in like a week. Such a waste. And for all the rain *we've* gotten---I drained the stock tank where we collect rain water yesterday bc they're calling for 4 days of rain starting tomorrow, and the ground just sucked it down. Heat and so much wind..crazy how fast things dry out.

I hope those of you desperately needing rain will finally get some relief. I hate the thought of those beautiful gardens being so thirsty.

No rain yet, it's cooler today and there is a 50% chance of some showers forecast for later on today.

Showers won't do anything to help the spring but I have containers ready to collect any run off from my roofs.

Possible thunderstorms tomorrow, light rain showers Monday and then light rain Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Predictions this far ahead usually end up being just that and we get nothing.

This time last year we were bemoaning the fact there seemed to be no dry sunny days in the forecast for hay making.

Anybody who says climate change is not real is seriously deluded.

Dave

here's hoping the forecast is accurate and you get some RAIN!!!

It seems like everyone’s weather is crazy this year. I hope crazy isn’t going to be the new normal.

Wow, all of a sudden I feel incredibly lucky to live in Milwaukee WI USA on one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world! Usually we are moaning about the cold, 85% of the year, but when it's dry, I am able to easily water if needed. Best of luck my friends across the pond!

We finally had rain for a few hours and two cool days and you can see how the plants enjoy it.

But Dave is right, it takes much more to get the river and springs going again and the sewerage needs a good flushing as well...

Good luck Dave, hope the clouds wander off in your direction!

How are things going over your way , Dave? Thinking of you and your hostas.... Seems most of us are waiting for rain.

We are experiencing yet another heatwave and some hostas sure are sunburned here that never burned before, it is that hot, regardless of the fact that I am able to water and I have to, every day... and I am talking about hostas in the ground! The earth is so parched which is surprising as the vegetation should keep it somewhat shaded. I don't have soil showing but when my other perennials start to lay down (like my tradescantia for example) I know I have to water. :-( The pots remain under the tree shaded and huddled together from the intense rays of the sun. I can control that but It is just too bloody hot! Days like this and I think of snow, lol!

Let us know when you get rain and we will collectively do the happy dance for you!

Bad news, the predicted showers and thunderstorms for the end of the week missed me completely. Five miles north and roads were flooded, drains burst and verges collapsed.

A warm weekend with temperatures to 23ºC in prospect.

A 38% chance of a shower on Monday and even less of a chance the following Friday and Saturday.

There just seems to be no end in sight.

That said I haven't stopped watering completely.

I'm filling buckets and bowls with water and then standing individual plants in them to give them a good soak. They then stand in an empty bowl to catch the run off.

It's a never ending task, by the time I get to the last the first is bone dry again.

An expedition is planned for this weekend to get up the hill and go check on the spring and holding tank. Then at least I will no how much longer I can keep taking water from it.

Dave

Darn... to see the rain somewhere and not a drop by you

Hopefully there is some underground connections so some of that nearby flooding gets you at least something...

Hang in there.

so disappointing..I'm sorry :-(

I'm so sorry...With your spring on the hill it seems not likely that you get some water from the other region :-(

Took that picture yesterday on my way to work. It was foggy and the rainclouds come down on the small hills in the distance while we got only the sun coming through the clouds :-( The well is still giving water but I try to save what I can.

Dave, Ma Nature is not cooperating. A big thumbs up with the buckets and bowls! I often reuse water that way...and it is more effective I think when the roots absorb water from the bottom. That method serves me as I have less than 1/10th of the number you have. The pots become very dry, the water runs right down the sides of the pots as the media has shrunk(dried) away from sides of pots. I have used my largest bin which can accommodate up to 6 pots and place about 2-3" water in it, then leave them for awhile....do the heft test and if heavy and wet enough, in go the next set of 6... but then again 50-60 is nothing compared to hundreds and hundreds.

Hope the trek to the hill results in something positive for you. Hang in there, Dave.

Dave, so good to hear you got some rain! May your tanks always be full! Maybe my rain dance worked!

Sherry

Denis, hooray! Bet you smell like an Irish Spring, lol. I know, lame joke but so happy for your rain! We are having a thunder storm with lovely, gentle rain scheduled to last the day.

I have ordered Ma Nature to hightail it to Dave's pronto!

We climbed the hill yesterday.

The good news is the spring is still running and the holding tank is full.

Sadly because of that there is some run off being wasted by just running to ground.

It's a gentle trickle coming out which over 24 hours adds up to a fair amount.

No cause for celebration though.

Yesterdays rain was a 10 minute shower which amounted to nothing.

Weather reports are getting more desperate. Tomorrow is flagged as light rain and a gentle breeze. When I look at it in detail there is a 16% chance of a shower at 10.00am and that's it for the day.

Nothing after that until the 29th when there is a 24% chance of some light rain.

I now turn these predictions around and read it as 76% chance of no rain.

We really are clutching at straws.

Dave

Temperatures of around 30°C up to the polar circle and all over Scandinavia? That's what they said in the forecast today. 34°C for the next days here and no rain. There's still water in the well and I' really happy about it.

Glad to hear that your spring is still running! Your new way of watering may help to get the plants over this crazy summer...

Hot hot. We here in Finland have also 28-32 celsius several days and next 10 days is looking similar. I don't remember ever seen 32 celsius in shade. This is really not Finnish summer, usually much rain and much colder. In two months just one week was rainy and got rain in three days about 60ml altogether . I've been watering hostas, luckily I have enough water. Might have thunderstorm in weekend, but many times forecast has promised rain, but it never comes.

I really hope rain for all of us.

These oldies are tough. I haven't watered these Albopictas. They are not burned, little smaller than usually.

Saija

You seem to be taking the good and the bad in stride, Dave. Good that spring still running and tank full. Our forecasted all day rain didn’t materialize yesterday but some is better than none...so I am supplementing today.

Saija - those Albopictas look invincible! Very pretty with that long row of flowers.