Re: Fall/Autumn planting (was Hot wind)
Makes sense, David. I'll certainly wait before pulling anything out! I
was interested in your comment about Autumn planting. My short
experience also shows best results if I plant as soon as the Summer heat
dies down. Trouble is its tricky to get hold of plants from local
nurseries at that time. I'm considering buying some now and tending
myself until I can put them in the ground - it will mean shade and
tedious watering but at least I can plant them when I want.
Damian
david feix wrote:
>
>
>
> Damien,
>
> I would guess from your description of the effects of your sustained
> hot breeze, that you have not really lost anything in your garden, but
> are instead seeing windburnt foliage. This may look dead, but if you
> can wait it out, and ensure that the root zones of the newly planted
> shrubs are moist, you should get complete recovery. If you are
> growing dry, however, and cannot supply additional watering, you may
> lose some plants. I don't know when you planted the rosemary, but if
> they had the benefit of winter rains and a late fall planting, I
> wouldn't think they should have been much affected, unless you had
> marginal winter rainfall this past winter. In my client's gardens
> where minimal irrigation is practiced, (mostly due to lack of funds
> for an automatic irrigation system), I never plant anything except in
> late fall, to maximize the winter rain benefit. That and mulching
> heavily and a low, or no fertilizer regime is usually sufficient to
> get the drought adapted plants off to a good start, but weather such
> as yours may require a helpful hand to compensate in the first summer
> or two. I hope your garden recovers!
>
> Julie wrote:
> >
> > That sounds dreadful. I do like your phrase "the hairdryer
> effect"--it
> > could become a standard. So how hot was it?
>
> It wasn't very hot by our standards. Probably only low 30s
> (cent). The
> term wind is also a slight exageration. More a warm breeze.
> I think it
> was specially harmful because (a) it was *continous* and (b)
> because our
> natives haven't yet gone into Summer shutdown mode. I was
> particularly
> surprised by the effect on a four-year old broom, Cytisus
> scoparius,
> which was well establised and growing lustily. It just
> frazled it!
>
> And which plants survived
> > without ill effect?
>
> There seem to be defined patches which are most affected. We
> have, for
> instance, planted a hundred or so rosemary bushes over the
> past year.
> Only those in certain areas have been affected. Same with
> young Arbutus
> unedo. I presume the winds create flow patterns as they
> navigate through
> obstacles such as trees, rocks and bushes. I'm novice
> gardener myself
> but I understand that even in fairly small gardens you can
> map frost
> prone "cold spots". I supose something similar can be done
> for our "hot
> tunnels"!
>
> Damian
>
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