more on the drought...

On vacation, with no internet - this was written on July 28 s

healthy Compass Plant

deadish Compass Plant

Well the rain barrels are full again – they had a lot of rain here in the County the same time as it was raining in Toronto.  On a quick walkabout I can see most things survived that bit of drought, but a few not so much.  One compass plant looks like it was November – Compass Plants are native to the prairies; supposedly they can send a tap root down 20 feet or more.  Other compass plants on the property aren’t nearly as bad  – so my guess is there’s a stone shelf not too far beneath the soil surface here and the roots haven’t been able to penetrate or find any cracks to get down into, despite this being its 7^th year in this location.  This theory would also explain why there’s standing water in this area of the field every spring after the snow melts – no where for the water to go.

deadish Black Eyed Susan

healthy Black Eyed Susan

The other major casualty are my Black Eyed Susans – almost everywhere on the property one particular variety is dead, dead, dead, although I can see new leaves coming up from the ground so I don’t think all is lost.  Just no flowers this year.  A different variety seems to have come through almost unscathed although that may have something to do with the location.

Drought

Heading out to the County Saturday with hopes that the rain barrels have been refilled by the rain we've had overnight and forecast for today.  Last weekend the Ninebark was so wilted - leaves and whole branches wilting, curling up - never before like that - I dumped a couple of buckets of grey water on them.  Rudbeckia in several spots were dried up and crispy - disintegrating when touched.  Whole Compass Plant flower stalks browning and dying.  Rattlesnake Master falling over.  Sedum Spectabile flower crowns falling over.  Not to mention Birch and Witch Hazel leaves yellowing and falling as if it were October.  I've been watering as much as possible but the old well isn't what it used to be.

Butternut

One of the trees native to Prince Edward County is the Butternut.  Four years ago we purchased two saplings - they were about a foot high and came in a plastic bag from a conservation authority sale.  They've both grown a little bit every year until this year, when one in particular just took off.  It must have liked the mild winter.  It's grown about a metre or so this year and has sent out 12 or 18 branches from the crown.  Just wondering what it's going to look like in winter, and if I'll have to do some pruning.  Here it is, just to the left of The Mound.

First week in July, 2012

The big gardening news this year - well, two big headlines, I guess:  DROUGHT and RABBITS.
It's been really dry this summer - only two rainfalls in the past three weeks, everything is wilty and the rain barrels are empty already.  That being said, nothing has died, yet.  I'll need to bring the pump out and start some irrigation though at the end of the month.  The main colour at this time of year is purple - with those small Alliums blooming, as well as Clematis and Echinacea. 

A success story - so far anyway - is the Lilac I rescued from the ditch.  Every year the County mows the sides of the roads once or twice.  A kilometre west of me is a lovely old house with a huge Lilac hedge in front - 12 feet high or so.  Every year it sends up seedlings in the ditch and this year I dug up two little plants (not so little - about three feet) just days, it turns out, ahead of the mowers coming along.  This little guy is getting most of my rain barrel water!

Rabbits Rabbits everywhere this year!! Where are the coyotes ???   Glad I didn't plant carrots!

Work continues on The Mound.  The Daylilies I transplanted there last fall are blooming now and taking over one section.  I have a bunch more I started from seed (including some interesting crosses between yellow and red) waiting in my allotment garden - I'll put them in this September.  I also plan to transplant the remaining Peonies (four or five I think) that once were so lovely but now are almost completely shaded out by my growing White Spruce.

Stilted Ninebark

I planted a pair of Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) a number of years ago and they've grown into a lovely shrub.  They've proven really forgiving of the secateurs - at first I pruned them for height, and then I thought I'd give them a weird sharp - start low to high like a wave, and now I've stilted them, pruning them up so you see their bare legs, and the lovely exfoliating bark.  This is a really hardy native species, growing in a really dry part of the field, shaded somewhat by some tall pines directly south.  I'll get a photo at some point of the bark, but here they are today, in full bloom: