We bloggers have the luxury of showing the best points of
our garden on any given day. A reader might think that my garden looks great
year round, if she were to judge by blog pictures alone.
Inspired by the need for full disclosures during this heated
political season, I will offer full disclosure of my garden during this
heated gardening season.
 |
| My lawn! |
 |
Wonderful pomegranate (Punica
granatum 'Wonderful') - yes, I've watered it. |
 |
| Tropical sage (Salvia coccinea) - not irrigated. |
As I bare my garden, let me enumerate the gardening
conditions.
 |
Artemisia (Artemisia 'Powis Castle" and
Texas lantana (Lantana urticoides) - poor babies! |
|
One: Most of my yard is in full sun. Related
to that, it’s been in the upper 90s for most of the last two months.
Two: Our water comes from a well, so
watering plants is low on the priority list. I do water; however, it is done on
an emergency basis. As in, “Yikes,
that’s about to bite the dust!!” Our last good rain was almost two months ago.
 |
| Emaciated giant spineless prickly pear. |
Three: Central Texas.
Oh, you want more on that last one? Here in Hays County, we
subsist from drought to flood and back to drought again. The plants had better
be able to live with that cycle. As you can see on the right, we are in
moderate drought according to the U.S. Drought Monitor and we just turned red on the Texas
A&M drought monitor (which measures forest fire potential).
The weathermen are forecasting rain for the next few
days. My little plants surely need
it, as you can see.
Favorite spot in the
garden:
Well, I’ve already told you how the garden looks. So my
favorite spot today is a hardscape area. In an effort to spiff up the front
entry, I bought some tumbled glass and tumbled it among the paving stones
already in place. I love it and plan to obtain more. The grass is native
volunteer, suffering from the heat like everything else.
In looking for the bright side of a drought-stricken landscape, I think there's a certain beauty to the uniformity that drought produces. My un-mowed grassy areas (I can't really call them lawn) look better once the last plants lose their green and the area loses it's spotty appearance. I find the first photo pleasing!
ReplyDeleteOh,but that poor opuntia! You should do a photo record of it's resurrection once the rains come.
Well, it's really a weed-patch with delusions of grandeur. Yes, I love the color palette, also. Hey, it's raining a bit right now!
DeleteThat's what Texas looks like! It's a tough place to have a garden, and I understand about not wanting to run the well dry for a few plants! I've noticed, too, that the drought meter keeps creeping up. I'm hoping the cold front coming through this week will give everyone a little rain and some relief.
ReplyDeleteAmen, HG. It's actually raining lightly right now. Hurrah!
DeleteI've never seen a wilted cactus before--will it perk back up in the rain? My 'lawn' is utterly brown now too, in rainy western Oregon. I guess we just have to accept all the seasonal cycles. Nights are cooling down here now, and the hot afternoons are brief. Enjoy the rain!
ReplyDeleteYou are right, Linnie, it is the natural cycle. We still like to moan and groan about it, don't we?
DeleteYou are so brave and so honest! wow! I think my full disclosure would be far worse and I'm not sure I could do it just yet.
ReplyDeleteRains are coming! My goodness the radar has been absolutely 'glowing' these past two days and that stalled front draped across Texas is pure gold.
I often watch rain on the radar instead of TV. Far more fun for us Texas gardeners!
David/:0)
Oh thank you, kind sir! Yay to rain: we've had 2.5 inches so far, with more on the way tonight. Rain on the Radar - if they only knew the hit t.v. show they had on their hands!
Delete