The mornings are certainly cooler and darker these days which can only mean one thing. Autumn is coming. Parts of MY garden are looking autumnal already with falling leaves. They’re not falling because its “Fall” as the Americans would say – they’re a-falling because of the long period of dryness. Phil has been doing his best trying to keep the garden lush and green but the time has come to bite the bullet and water only the trees.
Deciduous trees can withstand long periods of drought and discarding some of their leaves is their way to lessen the stress they are under. Fewer leaves to keep hydrated means a slightly easier time for the tree. Mature trees can cope with most of our dry summers but this one is going on for rather a long time. With watering restrictions in place there are only a few hours you can water each day. Water your trees first. They are the most expensive part of your garden and they take the longest to establish. Evergreen trees find dry summers even more difficult – ensure that these also get sufficient watering time.
Perennial plants such as Geraniums, Phlox, Catmint, Helianthus, Day Lilies, Chrysanthemums etc will cope without any water at all if you cut them back. This week we will be going around our garden and cutting all the herbaceous perennials down to the ground. Herbaceous perennials are those that die away in the winter and re-emerge each spring. If you cut them RIGHT down to the ground now they will spring back into life as soon as we get some more rain – often mid-late March and by mid-April you will have another flowering from them and consequently a lovely late autumn garden. Woody perennials such as Penstemons, Gaura etc can be cut back by half – you can’t cut these to the ground. Cutting them back by half will make a huge difference to their well being and keep them happy till the rain comes.
Personally the lawn would be the last thing I’d water – but then my lawn is more like a paddock than a lawn and hasn’t cost me a bean to establish… Grass quickly re-grows – much faster than it takes a tree to mature and you can over sow any gaps quickly in April.
