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LANGLEY GREEN THUMB: Stressful season for gardens

Drought conditions this fall proving hard on some plants
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Sedum is among the fall flowering plants doing well this fall, despite the drought. (Pam Erikson/Special to Langley Advance Times)

By Pam Erikson/Special to Langley Advance Times

This summer has been another one for the record books, with ongoing drought conditions that have been tremendously stressful on plant material.

It is times like this that we take a closer look at what plants are actually doing well with little or no water. We have great experience with this, as we live over the local aquifer, with a very shallow well, and have always practised xeriscaping (landscaping with plants requiring very little water).

When we moved here, we realized we had very little moisture retention in our soil (former gravel pit) – so while the drainage is excellent for plants like lilies or spring bulbs, we had to amend the soil with a lot of organic material in order to create a good base for other plantings.

We selected to grow daylilies, peonies, grasses, sedums, hostas, and lilies, among others.

While hostas enjoy moisture, they have a similar root system to daylilies – retaining moisture to use later. Both daylilies and hostas will go dormant when stressed, but will come back again reliably next year.

Peonies, sedums, most grasses, and lilies just don’t seem to care – and are still looking good at this point. The lilies have obviously finished blooming, but we leave the foliage on until completely brown, in order to feed the bulb for next year.

We have several large clumps of the ornamental grass Miscanthus Adagio, and it is still spectacular.

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Because we are so cognizant of water issues and being on shallow wells, we water nothing in our gardens – just those in containers. This year, I think Mother Nature will determine that we will lose a few things, and with conditions like this it’s understandable. But, I have to look at it as an opportunity to create new areas. We have a lovely collection of Japanese maples but they are looking very sad right now.

As for the lawns, they are crispy brown. While lawns also go dormant, an extreme drought like this may require extra work in the spring – power raking to remove the dead thatch, aeration, fertilizing, and some overseeding.

As for annuals, most of them require daily watering so that is not happening around here. The only annual I plant now are the geraniums. Not to be confused with the hardy perennial geraniums (also doing well in drought), but the colourful, ever-blooming annual geraniums. They require very little moisture – evidenced by the pot at my back door that has not seen a drop of water since early August and still looks great.

Going forward, a lot more thought should be given when planting new landscapes – if our weather patterns are going to continue to change, we have to be prepared. Plants are expensive, but growing those that reliably come back even after such weather extremes, are so worth it.

– Pam Erikson is owner of Erikson’s Daylily Gardens and Perennials and president of the Langley Garden Club.

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