High Summer at Chickadee Gardens

High summer here at Chickadee Gardens means we are in full swing. Finally the vegetable garden is giving us some produce and the drought adapted plants throughout the garden are pretty happy. Late August does mean watering, however, so drought tolerance is at the forefront of my mind. I have seen a lot of discussion online about drought adapted plants and would like to chime in that when I post information about this subject, it is in reference to my West Coast garden which is entirely different from the East Coast or any other climate, for that matter. We are in a summer dry climate, nothing new about that, it's been this way long before climate change kicked in. We have clay soil (well, ours is Cascade silt loam to be accurate) and very low humidity generally speaking. So what is drought tolerant in the Midwest is not necessarily so here. There are so many variables! Nonetheless, I do hope that wherever you garden that there is some fun in seeing what grows in another's locale. OK, on that note, here is a snapshot of the mid summer garden and many drought adapted plants.

An entrance to the labyrinth garden flanked on either side by Acanthus mollis (the left one is out of shot). Plants in this part of the garden are all (by West Coast summer standards) fairly drought tolerant. The acanthus had to form tap roots before it was weaned off of summer irrigation which took a couple of growing seasons.

Arctostaphylos silvicola 'Ghostly' has grown considerably in the last year. Once an arcto I would have described as weak, I have changed my tune. I am not certain why it improved so radically. It was spotty and diseased looking for three or four years before it grew out of that phase. No summer water at all and on top of a berm, so good drainage. 

Agapanthus inapertus 'Nigrescens' in the berm garden. Although it does well with low summer water, reflected heat from our metal siding house burns and bleaches out the lower leaves during heat waves. The flowers are not impacted, however.

Geranium harveyi in the gravel garden. The original plant perished last winter but many seedlings showed up this spring and I'm quite happy about it. Very drought tolerant and charming with purple flowers. With foliage like that, who cares about flowers? Very low and spreading at about 5" tall.

The arctostapylos are doing their exfoliating bark thing! All receive zero supplemental water from me.

Aster x frikartii 'Mönch' is, like many asters, able to keep going with low summer water.

Melianthus major leaves. This giant of a plant was hit hard by heat dome last summer and died completely to the ground with our April freeze and snow. It has rebounded nicely, however it will likely not bloom this year as it has every other year. It gets a little summer water a couple of times but not much. It too, like Arctostaphylos 'Ghostly', is planted on top of a mound so has good drainage.

Foreground Teucrium chamaedrys, behind it asters then Pennisetum 'Karly Rose, Verbena bonariensis and Stipa gigantea. To the left the silver shrub is Teucrium fruticans. This is in the labyrinth garden and all plants here are very low water in average soil. In fact the teucrium, stipa and pennisetum never receive direct supplemental water.

Also in the labyrinth is my Echinacea purpurea with Asclepias speciosa field. The echinacea are always sold as drought tolerant natives, but if you consider where they come from, summer water prairie lands and the humid eastern US, it is not particularly adapted to our summer dry environs here. It needs some summer water or it sulks. Still, it is valuable to pollinators and is pretty, so I give it a little water once a week or so in high summer. The same is true of rudbeckia. They are the first to flop in the heat.

Pelargonium sidoides, a South African "geranium" with fabulous foliage and dark magenta flowers.

Here they are. This has, very surprisingly, been hardy in my garden for many years despite all the weather challenges.

Containers on the driveway with Origanum 'Kent Beauty' and Diascia 'Lucy' in the other pot. These are up against our metal siding and get hot afternoon sun, but do fairly well with just a weekly watering.

Fremontodendron californicum, flannel bush, native to the West Coast. This is supposed to get huge, and I believe it, but oddly this particular specimen was planted in 2016 and struggled (it had a bit of a run in with garden equipment if memory serves) but I knew its roots were still good so left the 2' stub. This year finally it is now about 7' tall and growing. It gets absolutely zero summer water. 

Artemisia frigida foliage. This is very drought adapted and prefers well drained soil. In fact it will rot in wet heavy soil in summer. I have killed one by watering it too much. Lesson learned.

Petrohagia saxifraga, a sun lover, but it does like a bit of a summer soak to stay pretty.

The end of the line for this year's eremerus or foxtail lilies. I love these dried spikes with seeds, they are kind of sculptural so I leave them for a while. They are in extremely well drained soil and while I don't water them, they do put on most of their growth during the damp spring season.

Canna musifolia does appreciate summer irrigation, but I am surprised at how well it holds up in high heat.

Rudbeckia laciniata ‘Hortensia’, also known as outhouse plant (what?) at nearly 9' tall. There was a chunk of it here on the property when we moved in, I relocated it to the gate where it pretties up the entrance. They do sulk if allowed to completely dry out, so yes, I schlep the hose down here every couple of weeks for a good soak.

One of several Calluna vulgaris 'Firefly' blooming. They are in a flat heavy clay area and seem to do very well there.

The middle of the berm garden as seen in late afternoon light. There are a few plants in here that appreciate some summer water, but most do fine without or with very little.

Rudbeckia that have self seeded in the berm garden cascade down between two Hebe 'New Zealand Gold' shrubs. I observe that these self-sown plants are much more tolerant of low water than ones I planted in the labyrinth. Perhaps high overhead late afternoon shade helps.

Evening light at the top of the property caught my eye.

Now for a few shade lovers. Strobilanthes atropupureus is an unusual but lovely plant at about 3' tall and constantly in bloom this time of the year. Its hairy leaves catch the light and give it a soft appearance. It receives summer water about once every other week.

Hosta 'Guacamole', an amazingly fragrant hosta that doesn't receive much extra water at all and holds up really well in heat and against slugs. While I appreciate hostas, the slugs and water so many seem to want tend to deter me, but these have been fantastic.

Begonia grandia ssp. evansiana 'Alba' in the evening sun.

A path through the shade garden. The mossy path stays green primarily because we do irrigate up here in the dry soil under the fir trees. 

The blue hydrangeas were pruned down to almost the ground this year in late winter/early spring. I knew that doing so would sacrifice bloom (so I always thought) but it had to be done. They are by far the most wimpy plants when it comes to water. They were getting huge and requiring a ton of irrigation. It was either remove them all together or chop them back so they don't require as much water. I opted for the latter knowing it was an experiment of desperation. I am very surprised they bloomed at all and frankly, they look better than ever as far as shape and leaves. Plus they aren't watered even half as much this year as in years past. That's a lesson for me, then - a reason to reduce size in some water loving plants.

Just a pretty Abutilon 'Orange with Red Anthers' in a pot on my blue shed porch. Not a drought adapted plant but in a container it's easy to give it a little extra.

A few apple trees in the orchard. Now that the orchard is established, waterings are deep and infrequent.

Happy bird-planted sunflowers in the veggie garden.

The veggie garden as I mentioned has rebounded with some amazing cucumbers, a few strawberries in August, herbs, some broccoli, starting to regularly pick green beans and beets. Oh do I have beets. In fact we are pickling a bunch to donate to the Pretty Kitty Holiday Bazaar which benefits the House of Dreams Cat Shelter in Portland (November 12 is the date if you are in the Portland area) if the crop is good, that is. The squash, gourds and pumpkins are on fire this year and are frankly taking over. The onions are a bust and the cauliflower is hovering in neutral. Lettuce was awesome this spring and a second round has been sown. Nearly zero fruit on fruit trees but the leeks looks great and will be ready soon. So some successes and some failures. It's as if the growing season is shifting and I have to adapt to that. I mean we're just getting broccoli and strawberries now. The experiment continues.

Since this is Chickadee Gardens, I thought I would end this post with one of my customers enjoying a wee little bath. The birds and critters have been plentiful this year and taking lots of birdbaths. It seems even the critters are dry so we make sure and supply an abundance of fresh water all over the property.

There's a quick snapshot of the garden in late August. The subject of drought tolerance and adaptation is a great one to familiarize myself with, even more the list of plants that can handle both extremes of severe heat and drought along with record winter rains and late freezes. Yes, the experiment continues and I shall keep on recording it all.

I would also like to mention that if you are interested in groundcovers, I am giving a presentation for the Master Gardeners of Columbia County on Thursday September 22nd at 6:30 p.m. Come on out and say hello! I see they don't have me listed yet but will soon, I'm sure. It's in the extension building off of Hwy 30 and Pittsburg Rd.  I'll also have a few plants for sale with me.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting, we do love connecting with the wider gardening audience. Happy gardening to you all.