Hi! Northam in Western Australia, while we are just into spring, we have had hardly any rain. Theres talk of full water restrictions in summer, Hopefully we get lots of spring rain. One of my most favourite things is summer rain. Crossing my fingers and tapping on wood i hope we get some this summer.

Just west of Colorado Springs, at the base of Pikes Peak. Being very careful about watering despite having a well.

Prescott, AZ about 100 miles northwest of Phoenix. It's high desert here and I can't remember when it rained last. The prediction for winter is horrible....no rain, no snow. The critters are coming in from the fields...rabbits galore, coyotes, antelope, and javalina (wild pigs).

San Diego, California, or Point Loma, 1/2 m. from the Pacific to be precise. Probably won't rain here til January.

This is really some list! We are dry everywhere..I am North of Toronto, Ont. Canada...I think it rained two nights but was more of a tease..lots of thunder but not much water..crispy walking of the grasses and weeds..I do keep watering late at night..thinking of the well and how long it will last!!

Southwest Nebraska. 11" inches in the last 2 years, usually get 15" yearly.

Hi Glen Forrest Western Australia. We had water restrictions for the first time last summer. Our restriction was only being allowed to water using sprinklers twice a week. We have NEVER in my lifetime had any sort of restriction before. It could be even tougher this comming summer as not much rain during winter. We don't get much rain at all over the summer.

Cheryl

Altadena California, about 15 miles north of Los angeles. I think we had all of six inches last year; was supposed to rain this weekend but didn't.

I'm about 40 minutes south of Chicago and it's been pitifully dry here. The grass is brown and crispy, dandelions are dried up. I haven't mowed the grass since the beginning of July! It's my first summer in this house too, what a sad way to start my new gardens here.

Hi, All! I'm in Sandston, VA, just east of Richmond. Woke up this morning to a beautiful mist and telltale signs of wonderful rain last night. Hope it keeps coming.

Angela

I am in Castle Rock, CO in between Denver and Colorado springs. We are always on Water restrictions, which is the way teh rest of Colorado should always operate drought or not drought. It rained here all night, kind of drizzle, but rain nonetheless!

I'm in Helena, Montana in the south central part of Montana. We're on the east side of the continental divide, Rocky Mountains. Our normal precipitation isn't much: 11 inches per year. We're in the 4th year of a drought and counting. Winters are so mild (read: very little snow) that we don't have enough snow-pack in the high mountains to get us through our normally dry summers. I still love it here. This August and now in early September, we're having a few lovely night-time rainstorms. Ah! I love waking up to the smell of wet soil and bird song. Glad to be in this forum!
Maureen in Montana

Hi. We're in Roswell, Georgia, just above Atlanta. I see a change now from day to day in the trees, grasses , shrubs- any and all. I worry about the trees. Other things can be replaced but it takes years to replace trees. Is it just my perception or does it seem that a larger area of the United States is suffering more drought this year?

Milford, Mi. I'm surprised to not have heard from anyone else in these parts. (But then again a lot of people here have sprinkler systems that they take for granted.) I have extensive gardens, but have been just watering what I must to keep things alive. I will be adding more drought tolerant plants next year.

Hello everyone,

Smitty in Connecticut where the drought has broken.
Our rivers and lakes are still low but at least with the cooler weather the soil isn't dust! I hope to learn more about drought gardening because I don't think we in Connecticut will be seeing the last of this weather pattern and we are not use to it. Smitty

Also Praising The Lord for the Rain

Hi gang,

We (Mr & Mrs Trees4Me) are living in Riverton, Utah...15 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, in the corner of the Salt Lake Valley, near the Kennecott Copper Mine (2nd largest manmade hole in the world--an eyesore, but spectacular in a "wow...thats big" sort of way).

It is windy in Riverton all of the time, because we live close to the pressure valve ("the point of the mountain") between the Salt Lake Valley & Utah Valley. The local joke is, "The only time the wind stops blowing is when it changes directions." All of the trees here tend to have a slight northward bend in them because of the wind.

My soil is heavy alkali clay, even hardpan underneath the north part of my lot. The soil is very frustrating here. When its dry, its hard as cement. When it gets very wet, it sticks to your hands, shoes, just about everything. Imagine a 4-inch layer of clay clinging to your boots that doesn't want to wash off! I believe I could kiln-dry the soil and make pottery out of it.

I've applied & reapplied "Christmas tree" compost from the local landfill several years in a row, to my flower beds and part of my lawn, but its still very heavy and alkali.

I grew up in Murray, Utah (in the center of the valley, near a natural drainage) and originally bought a house there before moving out here. My Murray house had beautiful loamy soil and no wind (except for the occasional microburst). I never realized how good I had it there until I moved here (soil-wise....my house & neighborhood are much nicer, however).

My parents still own a house in that area. I recently sprouted a bunch of annuals, perennials, & vegetables in a 3-tier lightbox that I constructed in my basement. I gave half the crop to my mom. Her plants are much larger than mine, now, and much healthier!!! We both have five varieties of Amaranthus ("Joseph's coat", "Love-lies-bleeding", "Illumination", "Aurora", & "Towers"). Her's are close to 7 feet tall....mine are about 3 feet).

I remember growing 200 lb Atlantic Dill pumpkins in my Murray garden by just throwing the seeds down and watering them. No such luck here in the land of clay, wind & alkali.

My yard is built upon a former alfalfa ("Lucerne") field that was owned by the LDS ("Mormon") church. When I planted my lawn from seed, alfalfa plants started springing up too!

The humidity is very low here. We don't get beautiful large deciduous trees (maples, oaks, etc), like the East does, because of the humidity. Large cottonwoods, poplars, quaking aspen, and boxelders are the "biggest" leaf trees around here...and they are sparse compared to the East Coast and the Midwest. As far as oaks around here, we can grow moderate pin oaks over a lifetime. However, the Gambel's oak ("scrub oak") is the main oak "tree" around here (20 feet tall...max). True cedar trees grow well here, although they are very open & don't weep like the ones grown on the Coast. They are also much slower growing than the Coast ones.

Juniper & pinyon pine grows great here.

Our mountains (real mountains, too, mind you....not those hills that you Easterners call mountains), however, have beautiful large pine, fir, juniper, & spruce forests, along with ferns, penstemon, wild lupine, & dozens of other beautiful wildflowers in the early summer. The quaking aspen display of gold on the mountains is spectacular during a Utah autumn.

I've read many posts on this website from people who live in higher humidity areas that don't understand why it is almost impossible NOT to have Kentucky bluegrass here. My kids wouldn't be able to play outside after it rains (without lawn), because they would be covered in that awful sticky clay. Also, the idea of never watering lawn or trees would kill most of the ornamental plants around here. The humidity and wind would kill nearly everything.
Remember, the Great Basin is a high desert or semi-arid area. It is naturally bland-looking (greyish & brownish) if you drive outside of the Salt Lake area (except for the mountains above 6000 feet).

I grow bluegrass, but I set my mower to the highest setting to conserve on water (it prevents evaporation & shades weed seeds, so they don't sprout). I water the lawn twice a week in the summer for 45 minutes a zone (to deep soak it). I have the greenest lawn in the neighborhood, and use the least amount of water. The neighbors wonder why.
I also deepsoak my trees once a week with a garden hose set on slow flow. I pay a local kid to machine-aerate my lawn 3 times a year.

I also shy away from chemicals. I accidentally killed two beloved and healthy trees by applying 2-4D concentrate to some field bindweed that was growing next to them. I guess it soaked into the soil and zapped the trees roots (because it wasn't windy & it was below 80 degrees when I applied the stuff).

Recently, I bought a good quality weed puller, the kind that helps get the taproots out in one piece (its hardwork in heavy clay too). The weedzapper also helps aerate the soil at the same time. I just handpull the bindweed every 2 weeks, and its gradually dying out. I set the lawnmower lower in the autumn, too, to zap the bindweed. I also use a pre-emergent in the spring and fall, which is preventing the weeds from reseeding.

I have tried growing all sorts of plants in my yard. I have a lot of natives. I also have several demanding plants (a magnolia tree, some ferns, etc, on the north side of my house). I like the challenge of keeping them healthy. However, I am moving toward a more xeric approach, while still keeping it pretty. This four year drought has made a big change in the local mindset.

Planting only native Utah plants as a garden isn't an option. Saltbrush is an ugly weed (not an ornamental), and sagebrush CAN be trained to be pretty (sort of), but I'm allergic to its pollen.

However, the local water conservancy district has a nice low water use garden, and I'm beginning to use a lot of their plants. The trick is, water conservancy...not water-free.

Next year, I'm thinking about putting drip emitters around all my beds, trees, and shrubs. The lawn will still need sprinklers, but I make the most of the water I use.

Sorry to ramble, but I really enjoy these threads....both reading your fantastic ideas...and hoping I can hand out some of my own...

I recently traveled to the Chicagoland area (Woodstock, IL) and was sad to see that very few people create flower gardens in a place with such high humidity. They have it soooo much easier. I won't even go into how jealous I am of Seattles gardens (even their "weeds" are gorgeous...they had a news piece on TV about how to control runaway ferns!). Lets not even speak about Hawaii's "weeds"....LOLOLOLOL!!!

I'm in Detroit, Mi. (Not far from Milford.) The weather service has predicted rain for yesterday & today but haven't seen a drop yet. Come to think of it, the same thing happened last time rain was predicted. Some of my friends in the suburbs got rain, but it stayed bone dry here. I sure am getting tired of watering. The grass has been brown for over a month, most of the perennials are either yellow & limp or brown & crispy. I am trying to water just enough to keep things alive & hope they'll bounce back next year.

Hi folks,
I live just south of Boston, Massachusetts, where it has now rained for about a day and a half. Actually the town I live in is Braintree, and we got more rain than most (3 in in this storm). This has had an effect on plants, grass, trees ans shrubs. Things are starting to look a little greener - but maybe that is my imagination - as I think it takes a little longer for the effects of rain to show!
Glad to hear from everybody,
Elly

South Central Alabama and hoping the weather persons are correct and it's going to rain all week. So far zilch at my place. I live on a 10 acre wetland that is desperate for rain. Tulip poplars went into premature dormancy in order to survive and it looks more like Nov. here. B.

Elly, it may not be your imagination, here in California the first good soaking of the rainy season often greens things up, seemingly overnight.

Temecula...several miles N/E of San Diego County. It is so hot and dry this year, going on about 5 years of below normal rainfall, the oaks and all the natives are really suffering. Our hills hold tons of dead buckwheat and red shanks....the fire hazard is really scarey!

I'm in Toronto, Ontario. We have had 25 millimetres of rain in the last 7 weeks. We usually get 25 millimetres of rain a week in that period. We have, however, had some good steady rain this past weekend so maybe the drought is over.

We also had 40 days over 30 degress Celsius, a record for heat and the smog was horrendous.

Because our water comes right from Lake Ontario, we had no water shortages and no restrictions. Most of my garden consists of prairie type wildflowers and they didn't seem to suffer for lack of rain. In fact, they thrived. I mulched the woodland wildflowers heavily and watered them well ever few days. They seem to be okay, but some of the ferns look a little brown around the edges.

I hope this isn't the shape of things to come with global warming.

I live near Enola, PA. We got almost 2in. of rain last night.

Melbourne in Victoria, Australia.
We are currently on level 1 water
restrictions. Even though the country farming areas have been in dought for ages. Weird that. We don't share the water responibility area for one of the driest countries on the planet.
Another thing of humor and sham, level 1 is described as.
5 minute showers
watering garden at night by hose, no sprinklers
no washing cars with hose
and wait for it, No Washing The Leaves Off Our Driveways!?!

I think it ironic that after 76 entries, none from one of the driest places in the country. Therefore, I will respond. Here in the Phoenix area, we just concluded 2002 with just over 2 inches for the year. That means we were 5.5 inchess below normal. That is in aditioan to 2001's total of 4 inches - 3.5 inches below normal. Aside from very minimal rainfall in the last week, there appears to be no relief in sight. Yet state and local governments do not really want to address the issue. 150 golf courses (and rising), tens of thousands of pools, thousands of acres of backyard grass, reservoirs dryng up, agriculture still using outdated and wasteful flood irrigation methods. Everyone in the Southwest is guilty of wasting water - present company included. We will all pay. The question is when.

Hi I am in the So. Cal high desert. In The Palmdale/Lancaster area. We get an average of about 9.5 inches of rain a year. The last few years have been way below that average. It is already quite warm during the day. I garden in shorts and a T already.
They are very strict with water here and our bills are pretty high.
I think we live in a donut hole because it always seems to rain all around us (when it does rain) but we stay dry. I am so sick of brown... I want to see green. As close as we get are Joshua trees. Which are unusual and nice. But what I would do for some lush greenery.

Middle Tennessee. Farm area. Drought did not affect this farm but it did most others this year in our county. I guess we were livin' right. Great corn crop while it was a record year for federal bailout for others.

We got some good rains in November and December, but we've been high and dry since. If high pressure over the great basin doesn't break down before the end of February we're in trouble.

sounds like ca may have had too much of a good thing this past week! the mud slides look ghastly. it seems like we have had nothing but wet weather here on the piedmont.our driveway is only three years old but now we have had to buy stone to fill the soft spots. the weatherman was saying it will rain fri-sun and that we still needed it to make up for 1" drought shortage. i personally think he is nuts. it was a four year drought and we are making up for it in one fall season. an old farmer saying "a dry year will scare you to death but a wet year will starve you to death." maybe i should make raised beds this year?

Hello! I hope we all get some moisture soon. I am in Colorado (front range) and we are 80% below average. No snow to speak of and no rain last fall. We can water one day per month through the winter and we will probably be on stage 2 water restrictions come spring (water once or twice a week). We may even be worse off than that if we don't get snow in our normally snowiest month of March. I will be digging up more lawn this spring and puttin in xeric perennials and mulch. I water my 3 young trees with leftover water from cooking, etc. I have to keep them going so I can get some shade to keep my yard from baking. We have already had high fire danger days, unheard of for winter.

Tucson, Az. here. We have been in a drought situation for 3 years or more. Thankfully most of the plants here are drought tolerant and with the help of forums like this we will be able to keep educating newcomers to plant native or drought tolerant plants. Many years ago, newcomers wanted plants 'like home' and those don't do well here, so more people are finding out what is wise to plant, in relation to water conservation and our weather patterns. Thank God for that, because it is so wasteful to try to grow high water use plants in Az.

rain, rain go away!!!!! id like to say that but we need all that RAIN we have been gettin. I live in Van Lear Ky. Loretta Lynns home town. Eastern Ky.

I live in the Boston suburbs. We had a relatively dry January and February and early March 2004. In fact we were deficient by about 9 inches. Mid-March the rains started and we are now actually ahead by almost an inch for precipitation this time of year.

Nice light steady rain for most of the day and through the evening yesterday. Heavy showers overnight. Glorious morning today, sun, clean and fresh looking. Everything is a thousand shades of green!

Hi, I live in the high desert in So. California (Hesperia). Windy but comfortable this week, in the low 80's, great time to be working in my yard. I've done MAJOR planting this spring, with a beautiful flower garden growing in the courtyard by the front of the house. Planted 10 trees as a wind break and privacy thing, numerous pepper plants in the garden, and a few fruit trees in the back...as well as other flowers and ground covers else where.

I live on Topsail Island in NC. It's rained all around us for the past few weeks but yesterday was the first time that it actually really rained where I live.
Starting June 1 our county will be under mandatory water conservation.

Chicago, Illinois. Yup, the windy, cold, boring city! yay! And believe me were not getting any relief! Record cold forecasted. Our low is going to be 47F, and the record is 46F. Our high was like 57F today. Meanwhile Fairbanks Alaska hit a record high of 90F. What is wrong with this earth?

Hello from the (Bee infested) Beautiful Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. We live on the nicest piece of waterfront property - purchased many many years ago. We look across Georgia Straight to the Comox Glacier on Vancouver Island. It's a real thrill to see the Cruise ships coming down from Alaska passing infront of the house. It's going to be another hot day today. The Wasps are dreadful this year, got stung again yesterday. Our lot is very rocky so over the years I (female) hauled out here all the broken cement I could get. Now we have beautiful rockery made of it. I use a syphoner in my utility tub and syphone all the washing machine water out onto the flowers. Being a tiny lot, we only have chickens and the cutest ducks AND a digging dog - but we love her.

Wow - I had no idea that places back east were in a drought situation....surprised by how many we have here from that part of the country! I am in the desert of Arizona, sweltering under 112 degrees with little rain relief (usually we get some during July and August). 5 years of drought and counting, and our community has not put in place any restrictions at. all. Amazing.

Houston, Texas here. It's hotter than a mutha here, 99 degrees as we speak. Need some soaking rain.
Doug

Hi,
I live in South West Queensland, Australia where the evaporation rate exceeds rainfall. The water (bore)is hot and salty. If you water too much the plants die, when the salts combine with the clay and form concrete. I have been here a year it is like learning to garden all over again. In the winter there are black frosts, and summer temperatures are too hot to grow much, therefore we have two small windows of opportunity in early spring and early autum to plant and sow. Everything has to be grown under shadecloth or light dappled shade from trees. At the moment we are waiting for it to rain -to fill our new water tank so that we can water the vegetable garden with good water and have some vegetable before the summer heat.
regards
Dorothy

Poway Ca. North of San Diego.

Hot/dry/dusty Phoenix, Arizona.

"Dry heat is still heat"
~Me

I'm in Eastern WA, annual percipitation averages around 17", summers are hot and dry. We been getting a good soaker since early yesterday morning! Whoo hooooo :)

Vera

South Australia here - Mediterranean climate. Trying to find more unusual varieties of regular palnts such as pelargoniums and agapanthus.

We've been getting drought busting rains here in Southern California. Last rainy season (Nov-March most years) we only got about 6 inches of rain. We've had about 16 inches since October this season and we haven't yet hit the wettest part of the year (typically the last week of January through the middle of March). Average yearly rainfall is only about 13 inches so I would have nothing to complain about if it didn't rain again until next November.

Ryan

Northwest México, Just ending a 10 year drought.

Las Vegas here, It's raining right now. Annual rainfall is usually only about 3-4 inches a year and we've been under drought restrictions for some time. However, we've already past our 4 inch annual rainfall for the year and it's only February.

I do believe I have the honor of being last ... #100.
Indio California. Near Palm Springs. I'm aobut 80 feet below sea level. Our summers alway get to 118 and about every other summer to 128. Now that's hot.
I grow everything on drip with mulch. Dates, citrus, a few novelties and next winter I'll finish planting our place with pecan.

Climax, North Carolina

Greater World Earthship subdivision 13 miles NW of Taos, New Mexico, NM USA.

All our domestic water comes from the roof and is stored in 3,600 gallons of cistern storage incorporated into the berms on the east and west side of the earthship style home. All greywater is stored in an indoor contained greywater planter system that runs the entire length of the south side of the house (rubber lined 4 foot deep trench up against a non-stop series of double pane windows from east to west).

The greywater is used to flush the toilet and the resulting blackwater goes to an outdoor conventional septic tank. The effluent or excess water drains into a EPDM lined contained blackwater planter that has trees grass and various annuals that grow like crazy when their roots finally hit paydirt (or paywater??) four feet below grade.

www.greaterworld.org

www.earthshipbiotecture.com