What is this 'watering' of which you speak? Water falls from the skies.

Seriously, you start with where in the world you are. That tells you how much rain you can expect, and how much additional water should be applied to the types of plants you expect to grow. Where I live, weeping willows are a xeriscaping plant, if you define a xeriscaping plant as one that does not need additional water once established.

Western PA. Mother nature waters. Hanging baskets and window boxes get watered via a watering can when needed. Sprinkler system are rair.

Mother nature waters. Since I’m in southern California that means that a large portion of my garden is plants suited for a mediterranean climate. These are relatively dormant in the summer - either not growing, or not above ground at all. For plants that are less appropriate for my climate I hand water with a hose during the dry season. I figure that if I don’t like a plant enough to hand water it I shouldn’t have it.

I should clarify that I'm not really asking how to determine how much to water. Just curious how different people deal with the necessity of water. I am in the Pacific Northwest, and while we get our fair share of rain from the skies, during the summer it is very dry, we get less rain than Dallas TX, and most of the herbaceous perennials, roses and such need supplemental water, at least they do in my garden.

Any plant description that says "moist soil" or "Do not allow soil to dry out between waterings" is a deal-breaker for me, because I know that I will probably not be able to keep up with the demands of plants like that. SENIOR BALLOON: because I am forgetful, no doubt!

@violetsnapdragon is that because you choose not to water, or are you forgetful? :o)

I choose not to water and select plants accordingly.

I water my garden with a hose. I have no choice because it is essentially a container garden and must be watered...every day, in summer. I really do not like doing this and have plans for change under way.

I have access to a hose at the allotment, so I try to do a weekly watering of vegetables such as potatoes. However, the water is switched off for half of the year and there is a possibility that the city council (who own the land) may enact a hosepipe ban.

Mostly though, I only water plants until they are established and the rest of the time, I rely on rain...which is not much in my area. There are a great many plants I simply cannot (and will not) grow...but as there are still many I can grow, it isn't so onerous.

At the wood, I have no access to water apart from what I can dip from the land-drains...so I only sow or plant in autumn, relying on winter rains. I have consciously attempted to grow waterwise plants...as this last summer was a wake-up call - water is a precious finite resource. I have also transferred most of the pots to my allotment, where they can go into the ground, leaving me with 2 raised beds...so I will, I expect, still be watering the many smaller pots which I want to sell from my hopeful plant stall.

Cecile more or less stated my position, apart from seedlings or containerised plants.

I‘m on a well and water my gardens with a hose or drip irrigation; I still have multiple plants I am trying to get established, so I water when necessary. I have several friends who are on city water and don’t even garden anymore, as water costs have skyrocketed.

I collect and use rainwater. I use it for containers and the edible garden beds. Everything else does not get watered after it's established.

I am in the right plant in the right place camp. I am on a well and do not water but the last couple of years have been very hot and dry. Wet summer or dry some plants will be happy while others will suffer a bit. Most plants that suffer on a dry year display their displeasure by flowering for a shorter period.

No watering of ornametals except, occasionally, those in pots. I’m in the west of England so I get more rain than rosaprimula. We have taps at our allotments but are not allowed hosepipes. It’s a case of lugging cans. Luckily it’s not needed much except for seedlings and newly planted things. But the way things are going more and more watering will be needed. This last season was very dry.

I have always taken "right plant/right place" to refer to shade plants in the shade, sun lovers in the sun, as well as hardiness. No Mediterranean plants in Canada (or most of Canada), but I can see it can be taken another step and refer to what kind of conditions you can or want to provide, especially with regard to water. In the PNW we have a bipolar climate. Swamp in the winter and desert in the summer. We can have stretches of 40 or more days with no appreciable rainfall. I have plants in both sunny and shady locations that if I didn't water they would not be plants, they'd be compost.

Thanks to all for sharing your water stories.

Thank you for starting this interesting (and timely) thread. Senior Balloon.

On my plot, inadequate watering is worse than no watering so last summer, I did experiment with dealing with drought. I would like to think I held my nerve but really, I think, I mostly threw up my hands in despair. But you know we all learn through the medium of catastrophe, right? Well I decided to do no watering and see what survived and what couldn't cope. Yep, I lost a

lot of plants.. nearly all the annuals or and a few perennials, but I was surprised and encouraged to see how many survived. A few went very crispy but just went into an early dormancy (hardy geraniums) while not watering encouraged plants to grow deeper roots, so when a heatwave hit, the roots were still protected in deeper, cooler soil. Anyway, the upshot was a decision to do no watering at all (apart from the initial season of getting established.) It does help that I have lean, free draining soil and an open and sunny plot, so I can grow waterwise mediterraneans or plants with taproots, tubers, corms, or those which have strategies for drought ( waxy or hairy leaves, glandular oil production and so on. I am excited and optimistic.

I am amazed at how some established plants can survive without being watered by me. We only have about 10 inches of rain per year, and that is in October through April. I have an azalea. I haven’t watered it, or near it, in years. I don’t know where it gets moisture, but it is thriving. I don’t water my lavender or rosemary at all.

Shrubs definitely cope better. We have some rhodies that are planted in pretty full sun, previous owner, and they are outside my "designated" watering areas. A few years back we hit 100 on several days in a row and it was very warm, near 100 for several days. The leaf edges curled and browned up pretty good. They never flower much, so no idea if it impacted them that way, but they are looking OK this year.

My watering mostly focuses on herbaceous perennials and newly planted.