The Dream Garden or A Nightmare Garden
The 2010 summer in my zone 6 garden has been challenging. The extreme heat has many of the late summer perennials fading earlier than normal. The coneflowers are brown and the daisys are just sticks.
The ferns hate the heat. I'm hoping that with the extra watering I've given them, they will emerge nicely in the spring.
Even the perennial sunflowers which are drought tolerant have given up the fight this year.
The lawn has not been a priority for me to keep green. My water bill will be bad enough just concentrating on shrubs, and perennials. (The rain barrel
has been empty for weeks!)
We fertilized the gardens and turf Sunday with an organic fertilizer ( 4-3-5) and some left over corn gluten (9-0-0).We were anticipating some rain which lasted 10 minutes and cooler temperatures. This is late September, after all! Forecast for this next week is 12 - 15 degrees above normal - near 90 degrees. Good thing that organic fertilizers will not burn the turf as chemical fertilizers can.
On the positive side of gardening this season is the second blush of the lavender. Since lavender thrive in heat and low moisture, I shouldn't have been surprised.
The pink fall anemones which bloomed a few weeks ago have finished their show, but the white anemones, which are over 5 feet tall, look great.
Sedum Autumn Joy is full and gorgeous.
Several roses are reblooming, including this "Queen Elizabeth".
These 'FejetaBells' are in heaven.
This aster is one of five varieties we have in the garden. I prefer the reliablity of asters for fall color over mums which do not over winter well for me.
So, building the garden of you dreams is not a science. Nature has a way of interjecting her will on us. We may research plants
draw diagrams of flower beds, and arrange plant varieties so we can have color all season, BUT, (lesson learned) brown is a color. Oh well, there is always next year. Relax and enjoy whatever happens. Remember we are not the center or the source. Just the caretakers.
How did your garden fair this year? Let us know. And thanks for stopping by. Claudia
2 comments:
Our extreme heat certainly took a toll on my garden as well. I chose to only water my annual pots and they are doing well. My lawn is finally turning green again after some much needed rain. Happy gardening.
Hi, Claudia:)
I loved the blog on your friend's second-story garden! That goes to prove - where there's a will there's a way! Very, very clever - and lovely as well:)
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