Re: best plants this year
- Subject: Re: [SG] best plants this year
- From: L* K*
- Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 09:24:33 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: Claire Peplowski <ECPep@AOL.COM>
To: <shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2001 9:04 AM
Subject: Re: [SG] best plants this year
> In a message dated 8/12/01 4:22:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> Rcstrumpet@AOL.COM writes:
>
> << Well, my hostas did terribly. Most dried out and turned
brittle by the end
> of
> July, and what were left got a bleached appearance. I had
nothing thrive
> exactly, even the weeds hated the weather.
> Rachel, zone 5, OH >>
>
> Interesting, the dought conditions around the eastern half of
the country.
> AOL reported on a weather summary that northern Vermont had the
driest summer
> since l933. We here in the Hudson Valley have been rained on
repeatedly
> making it a good garden year with the exception of the 90
degree+ weeks just
> past. One day we hit 100 degrees which is not normal here.
Apparently we
> have some rain not fallen elsewhere in NY/New England. The
garden needs the
> combination of rain, sun and cool nights. Here's wishing you
all get some of
> the rain soon.
Here in Central Coast California we also did not have a drought.
That is, the summer was dry, but it's always dry, and we had
low-normal rain last year, so while there was the usual talk of
possible rationing in the early spring, we only had to use normal
conservation methods. I wasn't going to say much about this,
because I didn't want to seem gloaty in the face of weather
troubles elsewhere, but I thought maybe I could share a little of
my dry shade experience in case those of you who had a dry year
have reason to think you're going to have another one next year.
Dry shade plants are hard to find. But I have found that all the
violas I've tried and all the campanulas I've tried do well for
me. I do not have hot summers, though, so I don't know how they
do in those conditions. I thought we were going to have a hot
summer this year because we had a big heat wave in May, which is
early, but it didn't happen that way and this August is
altogether cool -- cool enough so my heater, which is set at 59,
has gone on two or three times!
Surprisingly, salvias -- which are sold as sun-lovers -- and
oregano also do quite well in light or part shade and little
water. Even the penstemons I planted are doing pretty well,
though they seem to grow a little slower in the shade, and they
don't need a lot of summer water. I have a "Catalina perfume"
ribes species which is supposed to tolerate a very large range of
sun and water conditions, but it was poking along until I gave in
and started watering it.
I'm looking for a dryland fern that doesn't go summer dormant,
for the side of the house where the ground is in fairly deep
shade: the violets are pretty happy there but I'd like something
else to share the space.
There are a lot of California natives that tolerate drought, but
the way they do it is to go dormant in summer, and I would like
to have some things blooming and flourishing at that time!
Lucy
