Roll Call: What Looks Good In a Bad Year
Man oh man. If I haven’t talked much about my garden lately, here, on Facebook or Twitter, it’s because my garden is mostly depressing this year. Why? Because we’ve had appallingly few soaking rains since June, along with heat and humidity that’d make ANY good Southerner request a cold drink. It’s brutal out there, and to be honest, I’m mad. Mad at having to water, even from the rain barrel; mad this could be a product of climate change (Did I mention we had the wettest summer ever last year?); mad my hard work in adding plants this spring is just wilting. Yes, I’m keen on drought tolerant plants, but few plants are drought tolerant until they’re established, and I planted a lot this year. Ugh.
Still, I guess there are bright spots. Let me show you some.
A handful of plants are weathering this heat instead of withering in it. Some might even surprise you. Here’s a big slideshow and a big list.
- Aralia cordata - I covered this one in the latest issue of Fine Gardening magazine. Others of my beloved Aralias are looking pretty parched, but cordata takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
- Baptisia Twilite Prairieblues™ - You know I love this plant. Add this to the laundry list.
- Buddleia ‘Black Knight’ - Ditto.
- Calamintha nepeta - A little division I got as a passalong this spring all of the sudden came into its own and couldn’t look more more fresh amidst its scorched bedfellows. I wonder how many divisions I can get out of this one little plant?
- Carex muskingumensis ‘Oehme’ - Gifted from Scott Hokunson, these guys have proved to be WAY more drought tolerant than I’d have thought. I suspected they might be when I saw then growing in full sun at Tower Hill Botanic Garden.
- Centranthus ruber - Planted in July, of all times, it’s not blooming much, but Amanda Thomsen told me it could take the heat, and she was right.
- Cephalaria gigantea - From Annie’s Annuals and planted last year, these bloomed without a second thought. I think they’d be taller if it had rained at all, but at more than 5 feet and NOT sunburned, I’ll take it.
- Chasmanthium latifolium - I divided up some pots of river oats two ears ago into bits I know now were too small to amount to anything quickly in dry shade. This year, they’ve finally come into their own. It was well timed.
- Comptonia peregrina - Thinking of replanting my entire garden with sweetfern. It could NOT be happier. Now if it would just spread…
- Eleutherococcus ‘Variegatus’ - Whom you may know as Acanthopanax really is as good in dry shade as they say, once established.
- Hydrangea ‘Little Honey’ - No one is more surprised than me that three ‘Little Honey’ babies I planted out in spring have not even sniffled in this heat, unlike their French relatives.
- Magnolia tripetala - Jill Nooney from Bedrock Gardens gave me four seedlings of this awesome magnolia in July. They’re in the shade, and they couldn’t care less about the heat.
- Miscanthus x giganteus - My plants in sun burned at their bases, but a couple in shade are just fine. Of course, they’d have grown more if it’d rained at all.
- Mystery grass - A gardening friend gave me a division of this grass this spring. Any takers? I’d love to know what it is, because it’s doing great.
- Panicum virgatum - Sigh. This is the Panicum that was supposed to be ‘Shenadoah.’ It’s not, but you know what? It looks so good I wouldn’t dream of getting rid of it.
- Pennisetum ‘Karley Rose’ - My most favorite grass ever. This is why.
- Persicaria ‘Red Dragon’ - OK, so its green parts turned sort of a limey green I’m not wild about, but it looks outstanding otherwise. More, please!
- Physocarpus Coppertina™ - Has decided to spend the summer as an octopus. Still, it’s doubled in size this year.
- Phytolacca ‘Silberstein’ - Variegated pokeweed! This version isn’t as vigorous as its unvariegated sister, but mine have grown in leaps and bounds this year. (Also pictured in the banner.)
- Polystichum acrostichoides - You’d be hard pressed to beat Christmas fern in dry shade.
- Pycnanthemum muticum - Is my new darling. Another July addition (long story), and is pretty much unfazed by the heat and dry weather.
- Senna hebecarpa - Is getting moved to a more prominent spot next year, because it looks outstanding now.
- Yucca ‘Color Guard’ - Of course these guys are happy.
- Zanthoxylum simulans - A young ‘un I got at Stonecrop Gardens this spring, it’s all “Heat? What heat?” which bodes well for it.
So… How’s YOUR garden holding up this year?
- Posted by AK on 2010 Aug 06 at 0957
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Wow, you have been busy planting! I, on the other hand, seem to be unable to get anything in the ground. Let’s not let Kathy see how much you’ve done.
Glad to hear ‘Oehme’ is doing well, we rescued a couple dozen plants from a client’s garden where they were suffering from neglect, and potted them up. They are responding well!
Comptonia might be one of my favorite natives. I cannot get too many client to jump on the band wagon, though. I have ‘Shenendoah’ in 3 gal containers, mine are suffering a lack of color due to shade, but the more I see this grass out and about, the more I like it.
Thanks for the tour! I will reciprocate if i ever get to planting.
@Scott: Let’s not let Kathy see all the crunchy plants around here either! Actually, not all of these were planted this year, but yeah, ‘Oehme’ is doing GREAT. And I’ve seen it advertised as a pond plant! I’m going to have to pick some more up sometime. Thinking of getting a flat of Comptonia plugs at some point too.
Wow! The only ones of these I have are the yucca and butterfly bush. They are both doing well. My grasses in general are happy. My hostas are loving it. My Japanese maple seems to have grown another foot (which actually surprised me.) Anything related to sunflower is doing well. My St. Johnswort is beautiful. Even my veggies are thriving, but I go out of my way to make sure those are well watered because I just couldn’t take another miserable tomato season like the last two have been for me…BUT, then there are the dying azaleas and rhodies. My roses and potentilla are miserable. I went on a hydrangea kick last year and have been fighting all summer to keep 8 bushes from wilting…I can’t wait to try some of your suggestions. This is the first summer in seven years that I am not spending my self maintained plant allowance. I’m just afraid that what I bring home will die! Andy, what happens to these plants you’ve mentioned if we have another very wet season. Can they take that as well?
@Melissa: Hey! That is a REALLY astute question. All these plants would do just fine if we had another wet year like last year. Centranthus, or Jupiter’s beard, supposedly needs good drainage, but I think the only side effect of a wet year for it would be flopping, and all you’d need to do was pinch it back. I imagine the only difference for the rest would be that they’d have grown a bit more.
Hostas have been really hit or miss here. Those in deep soil and shade are just fine, if a bit dulled, but if they get any sun at all or they’re planted around tree roots, it’s Hosta flambe.
If there’s one type of Hydrangea I’m going to recommend up and down the block after this year, it’s going to be oakleaf, any variety. Our house came with a bunch of mopheads, and they wilt ever darn day, ironic since they decided to bloom their heads off this year. I’ve seen plenty of wilting peegees too. Oakleaf all the way! (And that goes for Oakleaf Green Landscape Design too, *obviously.*)
I couldn’t have said it better (worse?) myself. What a year. Ugh. My grasses are good but like 2/3 height maximum; the panicle hydrangea blooms are a relief (white looks so fresh right now compared to all the TOAST).
I cannot wait to start the cleanup, which I will do next week — yes, like almost a month early — because I cannot stand looking at some of it any longer.
@Margaret: Grasses 2/3 height, YES! A client from last year mentioned his shorter grasses to me and asked if that was normal. I told him nothing was normal this year. Ugh, I say! Aralia cordata is happy, though……