Re: Still trying to love drought

Ben, 
A few years ago I went on a horticultural trip to the Pacific Northwest in the winter.  We went to some famous perennial gardens,  knowing there would not be much to see at that time of the year.  There was less than "not much".  There was nothing!  The perennials had all been cut down to ground level so they could burst forth into spring ro do their thing.  It was an eye opening experience for me, as my garden is really quite nice in the winter.  And I actually spend more time in my garden in the winter than I do in the summer.  In the summer it is SOO hot that I am often content to stare at it through glazed and depressed eyes through the window panes as I try to determine what few plants the gophers will leave intact this season. 

Since then, I reconcile my gardens miserable summer appearance by telling myself that our "garden dormant" cycles are just opposite everyone else's.  Their gardens are down in the winter months.  Mine is down in July and August. 
Yeah, I still have envy at times.  I try to offset it with grandiose feelings of self-righteousness.  It doesn't always work.  ;)


Rebecca Lance
Granite Gardens Rare Plants
Sonora California, USA
Zone 7-8




On Jul 21, 2010, at 12:09 AM, mediterranean climate gardening e-mail forum for gardeners in these climates throughout the world wrote:


Hi All,
After living 10 years in southern California, I find myself re-learning the same lesson every year.
Though I appreciate the subtle beauty of the browning hills, I can't seem to garden in harmony with them.

I'll reduce summer irrigation in the garden to mimic the natural cycle here, and find my garden just looks tired and bedraggled.  
Even drought-tolerant plants like lavender and rosemary look much, much better when they receive water once or twice a week (as opposed to once or twice a month), and softer-leaved plants will just go dormant.  
The monardella and fragaria I've planted beneath olives eke out a living, but would look much better if I watered them more.

I have never learned to love a garden with expanses of mulch between plants.  And I've tried repeatedly.

How do other gardeners cope with drought?  Do you all water your lavenders to keep them blooming, or do you let them go grey until they're cut back in September?  Do you envy the neighbors' lush stands of agapanthus beneath crape myrtles?  Or are you content with a garden that may look its worst when most gardens look their best?

Just wondering.
-Ben Armentrout-Wiswall
Simi Valley, inland Ventura County, southern California



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