On a recent walk through Bedrock, I heard the Zipper tootling along the Sugar Bush, tools clattering and jostling in the back of it. It pulled up to the slope below the Tea House, and out hopped Jill with a beat up old five-gallon bucket. She dipped it in the Petit Pond, and used the liquid to water the mayapples, Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty' and P. delavayi.
Really? The keeper of 20 acres of gardens spot waters?
Jill uses manure and compost to amend, the organic matter of which improves soil structure and fertility, and increases its ability to retain moisture. Watering infrastructure --water hookups, pipe access and miles of hose--exists at Bedrock, but it is only used on an as-needed basis. She tries to spot-water newly planted perennials and shrubs and some precious plants.
Dry times aren’t all bad. They offer gardeners a chance to raise a critical brow and assess which of their plants can tolerant drought. These may be ones that you want to use more of in future garden endeavors. Typically, plants that conserve moisture or are frugal with its use are those covered with tiny hairs, or trichomes, which limit evaporation from the leaves (Salvias; Stachys). Other defenses include waxy surfaces, thick, fleshy leaves (Sedums; Baptisias; Euphorbias), and root systems that reach both wide and deep (Asclepias tuberosa or butterfly weed; Liatris). Many ornamental grasses survive by having thick roots and narrow leaves (Sporobolus heterolepis, or prairie dropseed).
Watch them at different times of day, advises Jill. "Lots of plants wilt in mid-day but by the next morning are perked up, like Cimicifuga [black snakeroot and bugbane], Ligularia and bronze fennel." Not many will die in drought, she says, they just don’t thrive.
Droughts also prompt us to reassess our watering practices: Are we watering plants that don’t need to be, or not watering enough? One thorough watering a week is all that is needed, according to the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension (those folks have a bit more experience with dry spells than we do): Light watering "only settles the dust and does little to alleviate drought stress of plants...Instead...allow the soil to become wet to a depth of 5 to 6 inches.”
Echinacea 'Purpurea" stands hardy during drought. Jill's sculpture, Ring Toss, circles around the drought.
“As you get older, you roll with the punches,” she says. So, too, does her garden.
~ Lisa Peters O'Brien
In June's Out of the Ordinary post, I described Jill’s stand of Pineapple Lily, Eucomis ‘Sparkling Burgundy’, by the back door of the house with its curly parsley (Petroselinum crispum) ground cover. Wisdom has it that in order to keep the plants bushy, they shouldn’t be allowed to flower, but sometimes it's the plants right under your nose get overlooked with the pruning shears.
“I am loving it,” says Jill. “The umbels are the BEST.”
Along with the Allium ‘Hair’ that's mixed in, we all agree it looks fetching.