I'm so glad you have some re birthing going on!
It gives you some hope doesn't it?

I hope you have many more surprises, Mara.............plants are wonderful and forgiving, aren't they???

A YESTERDAY TODAY AND TOMORROW that I bought in Fredericksburg in April has been leafless almost from the time it was planted. I just neglected pulling it up.
Now it has 4 or 5 blooms, but still no leaves. It may not be suitable for Zone 8.

I may not have any more surprises as I am one to quickly pull up or shovel prune nonperformers.

Y-T-T is not hardy here in North Texas, soxxx, I overwinter mine and it blooms in the Spring for me.

Wow--Mara! So glad to hear about how many plants can resurrect! That's encouraging. Thank you!

I garden within natures rythms and I want to find and get plants that establish themselves within the system. All gardens are unnatural systems, since we have to disturb the soil structure to plant things so maybe I am destined for failure even because of the inherent beginnings of the gardening act.., so just because I plant xeric plants, maybe things won't work If I have this philosophy then I have to step back when things go wrong and have faith that things will revive. Or I can change my philosophy, but then I will have to get money to pay for the water. That means a change in lifestyle. LOL.

Ya gotta stick with your philosophy and beliefs and make your decisions accordingly. Gardening is so personal. I don't know for sure what I would do in your situation in the country as a gardener but your philosophy sounds like that of a custodian with an environmental conscience and that is very good and admirable.

I bring natives plants into the city and make what grows wild and unnoticed along the side of the road into a well kept garden, my philosophy reflects that so I water when needed. My goal is growing native plants, rather than nursery stock, but in conditions to look their best ornamentally and striving to arrange them in an organized, well designed manner which is my understanding of what a garden is as opposed to the surrounding landscape.

In the county, knowing myself pretty well by this time, I would probably make the distinction of where the garden ended and the natural environment began on the watering issue.

CG,I have those areas of Beds of non native xerics, but they get treated as Natives, ignored in times of stress. After this year I am thinking my beds as some form of plant concentration camp. The Vegetable garden is even arranged into ethnic neighborhoods of walled (raised beds) ghettos. I am even guilty of ethnic cleansing with my acts of weeding. And I give them not enough sustenance to exist on. In my ornamental native areas, I do a certain amount of watering if I am trying to establish something but otherwise......It is painful watching them die knowing that $90 will buy them dinner for a month. Afterall, I Don't want to spoil them. Al sorts of things go through my mind. Like am I being so self centered putting my philosophy before their lives when it is in my power to change my actions, my lifestyle and learn how to nurture. I guess if this is a grand experiment , Do I I have to stick with it through to the end or will I recognize the end when I see it?. Things did revive a little. Is this success and the bottom of the drought or is this just a blip on the downward decent to the next blip. Where will bottom be? I guess I need to be accepting of the brutality of nature if I am to play this game. Or resilient enough to see the seedlings availing themselves to this rain.

I went out and the Bamboo muhly is showing some more life YEAAAA!!!!!

I am interested in what plants are making it and what plants aren't. Even my Lavender and rosemary are dead. Mediterraneans need winter rain. They did not get their winter rains last year. I think That was more destructive to them than the absence of the summer rains. Some surprises were that my snakeweed broom died. I think it was old and on its way anyway. My desert mallow was old and seemingly the stress was too much for them also. These were xerics but I think they had other things going on with them that made them vulnerable. I do not know what the natural age of these plants are but I suspect they are a perennial that is good for only a certain amount of years. My Calirhoes have disappeared and so have all my calylophus berlandieri. Maybe in spring I will be surprised. More will be revealed

My Calirhoes disappeared too and looked very dead. They started coming back from the crown about three weeks ago with that rain we got when you were still without any and they have come around pretty good since then. Rosemary isn't a big surprise, I've killed many in pots I let got too long without water and my lavenders bit the dust last year with little water so that isn't either. Lavender is very unreliable in the heat here from my experience. Too hot for them I always decide every time they die (which is every time and always in summer heat) My 4 year old rosemary in the ground didn't get extra water except possibly from that one time I deep soaked the big barberry in July but its in afternoon shade. Red Hot Poker bit the dust and hasn't shown any signs of life in two months- bare ground there. That was a surprise. Zero watering.

Sounding like the broken record here, I do not think that Silver King Artemsia can be killed or even slowed down by drought. The dude simply needs no water as far as I can tell and its pretty. I didn't think it was native but now think I was wrong on that. The Mormon Tea seemed like a happy plant on no water. I was careful to not give it any accidentally. Same for Apache Plume.

Sadly, the Neomexican Agave got dead leaves on the bottom four rows and I finally gave it a drink the minute I saw it once I noticed that in horror.

I have been told by more than one person I garden like a Nazi, and it wasn't joking either, it was angry. I am a thrower-awayer and vicious weeder. I constantly edit and have no mercy. Heck, its my garden isn't it? I do survival of the fittest too. However, I do make a distinction on some things. I will baby some things but its pretty much Survival of the Fittest here on established plants. I won't let it go more than a month, however, without water in the heat of summer and I always have to water most summers here at least in August. This year I was establishing those new grasses and some stuff got more than it would've otherwise.

I was worried about your Bamboo Muhly. That was so pretty in that photo, ethereal in fact, and would have been too sad to loose those. Glad about that (even though I can't grow it & am jealous)

I will say this, at least you are not one of those people who mow their land regularly. That makes me crazy when I see that in rural areas, got that one out of my craw. Gotta get the duct tape out for my mouth when I see that going on.

Want to know how hot we got? My 4" plastic pots I use for wintersowing I had stacked and laying behind the shed all melted. Looks like they were in a fire. I saw that last weekend. That was a first.

It is a sound principle to not water too much, I believe. You say spoiling, I absolutely agree. I hear stories about daily watering and frequent watering and I believe its because the plants are spoiled, have made too much top growth and shallow root growth and now need it. Less is better. Deep watering once a month is much better in a drought, going by my own philosophy and experience, than constant watering. Unless they are babies. Babies need coddling. Or plants that have no business growing there in the first place. If you know what I mean. I also believe some plants are killed by all this watering in a drought because it doesn't allow them to cope in a normal way by forming deep roots, going dormant or less top growth etc, but maybe its just the Nazi coming out.

I have noticed that the trees that are by stream beds are dead and the ones that are ontop of hills are doing fine. I guess their roots staid at the level of moisture from the stream and now that the stream is gone the trees are left with shallow roots.

I had my rosemaries for 10 years. Maybe they were too old. Strange , MY Artemisia valery finnis looks very dead too. To bad, the rosemary and artemesia were such a complement of each other and were tough as hell till this year. Again I think it was the no winter rain. I keep saying "we will see" .

I was talking to a botanist from NM OKlahoma at the LBJWildflower show and he said it was green in OK, no where near the dammage that he was seeing in the natural areaS here in Central Texas.

My gardening style is very hands off untill I get my chaisaw out...... Yikes it is getting to that time of year again.

Mara,
Thankfully, we gardeners are seeing some recovery with the cooler temps. and a little rain. Hopefully, we will have a mild, moist Winter and a much more pleasant Summer next year! Lavendars, Hybrid Tearoses and Delphiniums (all flowers that I love) have never been very successful for me, just too hot and humid I would assume. Flowers, like people, grow old and tired and will succomb to age and climate conditions. Xeric gardening is my latest passion, even though, in all honesty, I prefer Gertrude Jekyll landscaping, but why wear ones self out, fighting the elements?!

Janet,
Sorry that I drive you crazy and "stick in your craw" by mowing my acreage to keep down the rattlers, copper heads and cotton mouths and to avoid possible devastating fires. Being a city girl, I just felt it was wise to follow neighbors' advice. Also, while everyone else was losing their pines, evergreens, etc. to the heat this last Summer, my "native" cedars and oaks stood strong and green. I still love them and the wildlife, even though it destroyed my flower beds before I ripped most things out and planted the cacti you so generously sent me. Again, thank you.........

Jeanie

Janet, I have mowed the grass, ALL of it around my house, even the once pretty stuff. The bamboo muhly will come back. After having a 1/2 acre wildfire on my land and seeing up close the difference how the tall dead stands of grass burned compared to the low weed wacked stuff. The fire moved quickly and and was much taller and fiercer. The same material laying flat on the ground was a creeper. This was on a fairly windless desertlike day. I can only imagine it on a windy day. I am weed whacking and chopping down shrubbery also. Cutting back trees from the house. It hurts my heart. That shade is valuable stuff when it is 110. The Fire men looked askance at several conditions around my house. By the way,The firehouse is a 25 minute drive from my house. We are very vulnerable. It is hard for city people to understand the change in situations for people in rural areas.

Jeanie, those Cedar trees are fire on a stick and an invasive problem especially in Oklahoma. have you ever torched a cedar tree. I have and it is exciting to say the least. I spend 3 months of my life each year controlling mountain ash cedars on my 17 acres. I live in fear of the fire roaring up my choked canyon on my north side. (The dry cold fronts come in with a roaring north and the canyon points right at my house).

Your few cedars will make more. I guarantee it. I would stick with oaks and find another border plant. Their screening capabilities are a welcome characteristic but their environmental dangers are insipid and can be catastrophic. It might be a slow process. The good thing is that One can use the trees to create a nursery for another tree. They will keep the deer away from it, make some shade for it and create good soil for it. Let the inside tree get larger , clearing out cedar branches as it grows and then chop that cedar down. Cedar trees are nursery trees for many babies. I often go in their cage and weed out the baby cedars and look for red oaks, madrone and escarpment black cherries. What other Native trees are good up there. I know you are a natural grasslands. The Fire break does not have to be your whole lot and if you have a good prairie established, One can mow it if the fires start popping up and then let it grow again.

Today, the dampness from the rains is gone, I see the slightest greening in the field, not everywhere. I doubt it will last long but it is good to know there is something alive under there. I drove 25 miles south and it is green EVERYWHERE,... like spring! I bet if I drove 25 miles west it would be green. or north. They got so much more rain than around here. I am in the burmuda triangle of rain shadows, The PISS ANT TRIANGLE. I watch the storm lines separate or dwindle in color intensity on the radar as they approach. I feel real crotchety about this. Today things are back to 18% humidity and the ground is dust. The green will not last long no matter how I will it.

For crying out loud. I apologize! I've had more than one person come by here telling me they would not grow cactus and hate them. My nose doesn't get out of joint. I don't care. Its my garden and I like it.

Once a year mowing or mowing during a fire season are intelligent and good prairie management. Mowing it like it a lawn makes me crazy. I don't care for dogs or lots of trees either if anyone wants to get their feelers hurt and pout about it.

As Humphrey Bogart said in Treasure of Sierra Madre: "Why not everyone just smoke their own".

I could not agree more, and my smoke is very differnt from yours............making neither of us wrong....just different.

Girls, girls, girls.... I love a good argument,,I mean...a good discussion

Oh, ha ha ha. I don't like one of those new plants you got. Wanna duke it out?

Meet you at the RED River , girl. LOL Pitch forks and shovels at sunrise.

The only problem with growing trees in this area is that the only ones that were here when I came were Red Cedars, Post 0aks and wild Native Pecans (which never produce). The soil is so horrible that, after hours of chiseling a few holes and planting three Leyland Cyprus (two died), a beautiful pine (forgot which one), (died), an ornamental Cherry (died) and various shrubs that, mostly, died, except for some Abelia, some Photinia ( some of which died) and a Crape Myrtle, which lived, I became just a wee bit discouraged. It would be very expensive to take out the cedars and replace them with something that would, most likely, die. Bit of a dilemma, unless I want to live on a barren plain. As I have said, repeatedly, I would LOVE to have a "Little House on the Prairie", with wildflowers everywhere, but they just don't seem to take root in this concrete soil, and I have no power equipment to cultivate and work soil. The damage was done to this soil long before I got here by terraced wheat fields. I think it is called, "Makin' Do" with what I got!
I said NOTHING about hating cacti. I said my passion ( under the circumstances) was now Xeriscape gardening, which does include cacti and succulents. No pouting here. Just defending my stand for necessary mowing and exclaiming I have NOT committed the unforgiveable sin!
Anyone who wants to help me turn my little acreage into a little "Prairie Paradise" is more than welcome. HA. "Smokin' my own!" ( love that movie!)

Jeanie

Just kidding about the plant. Not a dog in the bunch. Bring your chainsaw. I don't do chainsaws like you Tomboy types so you'll have a big advantage. We cut up that tree the guy left laying like a carcass using a circular saw. I thought about you and figured you'd be impressed. I wasn't easy either. Waiting to see if he has the guts to come pick up his extension ladder. I hope he's not hurt though.

Pallida, No need to defend your choices or reasons, BTW. Who said you hated cactus?

Jeanie...Red cedars don't grow here...too hard a country. Pecans wither and die on my hill. Even the wild ones. They grow east of here where the ground is richer and wetter and in the River plains. There is not a inch of ground here that does not need a pick or construction impulse hammer to dig in. Find a masonry guy that has a Jack hammer who wants to pick up a few dollars and you will have a great hole dug in 10 minutes. If you are on hard soil, learn to deal with it. It is possible.

If you can grow red cedar there are a million things that you can grow.
Cedar elms , black oak, Gambel oak, Texas persimmon, Desert willow, Red Oak, Shummard Oak, Lacey Oak, Chinquapin Oak, Common persimmon, Soap berry, Toothache tree, Eves Necklace. Do stay away from the things that come out of the East coast European garden tradition. Look around , find a native plant society, ask questions. I am way south of you and my things won't do well for you, most likely.

It is about ground preparation and choice of tree. Are you planting trees too deep and are you doing weekly waterings of 10 gallons and mulching their tops to keep the roots cool and keeping grass away. I did learn an invaluable trick about planting trees in hard soil. Dig, chisel your hole large but with SQUARE straight sides and clearly defined corners. This is because the roots get to the edge of a circle and then grow in a circle strangling itself on the path of least resistance. If you dig a square hole, the root gets caught in a corner and forces the way out into the big world of hard dirt. I have planted plants like this into hard pan caliche and limestone with success. We deal with hard crappy dirt all day long here.

Have you tried placing compost several inches deep on your soil and Leaving it, thus letting the bugs break up your soil and take the goodies down into it. Another thing that land restorers do is spray compost tea onto the ground. It increases the microbial bug life , thus starting the food chain at the lowest chink. This is a Holistic Land Management practice.

Wow! Love the square hole. I mean, Wow! I am impressed with all of it.
Ba-Ra-Vo!

Congratulations on the tree clean up. I wonder what happened to the disappearing tree guy. I start my year chain saw fest tomorrow. It is finally cool enough to feel like cutting. OH I panted all the seeds from New Mexico AGAIN and I planted your seeds that you sent me. I was out by the rosemary and saw that the Artemisia Valerie Finnis sending out a few shoots today. I don't know how many of them, but there are some there.

Mara,
I, too, an impressed. With the square hole idea. Thanks for the tree list and the ideas. I, of course, know the soil is the secret. Watched Victory Garden for years. HA. Yep. In all my years of gardening in OK, this is, by far, the worst soil I've ever encountered. Jumping into Spring next year with renewed inspiration...........

Jeanie

Best tree planting time is now. or it is for Texas. It gives the roots time to grow before the big heat hits. The trees planted in Spring really suffer. Is that what is recommended up there. your winter is 10 -15 degrees colder than us.

No. Same here. Autumn best time for planting trees, shrubs and perennials, IF you can find anything in the nurseries! When I worked in the OKC nurseries, Spring was biggest, busiest season, Summer slump, Autumn slight revival (mostly Mums, Pansies and Kale) and then, totally dead in Winter. That was when you planted seeds and potted up seedlings. Of course, if that nursery carried them, you sold Poinsettias.
I hate Winter! I know it is neccessary for rest for the plants, but now that I live small, I don't have room for starting and keeping alive dozens of seed flats. Used to have a bedroom dedicated to shelving and lights for seed starting. Such fun! Kinda miss that.......

Jeanie

In Oklahoma the best time to plant trees and shrubs depends on luck and rain. Usually early spring is very good when its a wet one like we ususally have and especially so with a once in a while wet summer. Don't count on that wet summer though. Usually all you have to deal with is late July and August on the serious regular deep watering.

Sometimes its dry in fall and winter, then you have to freeze fingers and water in the cold and can get critter damage on the small trunks which should be wrapped for protection. I imagine spring is much easier here than in S. Texas for establishing new trees and thats why so many are sold then.

Those tent things they sell to wrap around the trees to hold water are invaluable for regular deep soaking the first year, which is advised. They had to replant the parks and used them on all the newly planted trees for two years after the ice storm and drought killed so many. They were deep watered by volunteers for two summers. Stakes are a must here or else they will all lean south from the wind.

I have seen them for sale at the nurseries around here, people lost stuff and the nurseries are making up for a dismal summer. I always see them for sale in fall.

I think why most things are sold in the spring is because stores are reacting to the customer who gets that spring time planting bug in them, not necessarily selling when it is best to plant . Actually my nursery that I go to is very well stocked with trees and shrubs now because they know and they have a huge educated client base. They have spent years educating us.

I went there this summer to buy some fertilizer and pots, and they were almost empty. I have never seen them like that before . the drought almost killed them. They were busy this weekend. The rain got everyone to the nursery.

Sounds about right. They plant trees in mid summer here at new home additions all the time and do OK with it as long as they water well and regularly. Fall is probably best for most trees but spring is fine too. Some more southern types might do better in spring, depending on the severity of the winter temps. I think I would wait until spring to plant a Desert Willow for example or anything that is at the edge of its range.

Precure's Nursery and TLC Nursery have lots of trees anytime of the year with an impressive variety of sizes and types. TLC has at least two or more city blocks long of trees to choose from and lots of variety. I think the place takes up a whole acre or two. Now if you are talking Walmart or Home Depot and the like, thats a different story.

You are both right. Your "up-scale" nurseries carry trees year round, although probably not quite as many as in Spring. When my son worked at Precures and I worked at TLC, there were trees year round, albeit, sales were briskest in Spring. Still believe Autumn is best time to plant for less stress on plant. HCG doesn't sell Desert Willow til Spring, so assume it is frost tender. The "experts" used to say DW was hardy only to Z8. Something tells me that, in a harsh, holly-killing Winter, DW's might bite the dust, but, "no sweat", as of this previous Summer, looks like zones have slipped further North. "Oop!". Zone maps may have to be re-printed.
Even though, not my favorite Spring shopping thing to do, since I now live on SS, I have to shop at WM, Home Depot and Lowe's, unless I want something really special. When I lived on my houseboat in Eastern OK. I worked at a large "supplier" in the area, and I know, for a fact, that ALL the nursery tree stock for WM, Home Depot and Lowe's come out of the same field. The price difference at the stores makes NO difference where the plants came from. Monrovia is a big supplier for "up-scale" nurseries, and ship excellent plants. You WILL pay the difference, but with an experienced eye and some judicial shopping, you can get decent plants at the "po" man's stores. Of course, cheapest of all, is getting sapplings or "off-shoots" from friends, gathering seeds or digging in woods after a good rain is most economical of all.

Jeanie

Salvia madrensis is poking its head above the ground. It usually is one of the first of my salvias to say adios but it looks like it is one of the first to say Hola. I doubt very much that it will perform sinse now is the time for it to be budding up. It is now considered a winner in the surviver catagory, so far.

I had to look that up. Yellow? I have never seen that before. Forsythia Sage? Never heard of it. Saw another madrensis called 'Redneck Girl'. Interesting. This year will be separating the men for the boys. Maybe ought to have a star rating system for hardiness like they rate movies.

"Zone maps may have to be re-printed"

The zone maps IMHO were fine until the government wanted to back up it's "global warming" claim. Now all the zones are a zone off. Pretty soon they'll re-label the plants to less hardy but not change back the zones. My area here and the area my mom spent 50 years gardening continue to occasionally experience colder than expected winters here and there just like before they started in with "global warming" and changed the plant zones.

They grow Desert Willow in Albuquerque and CG sees them growing in OKC. So they are definitely colder than Z8. What I do notice about how NM gets cold is that the lows progress slowly down whereas You in OK and we in texas dive head over heals in drastic cold fronts dropping 50 defrees in a day

What I hear about the Zone maps changing is that they are based on 25 year cycle or something like that. The number of years might be slightly different but it is approximately that . Well the 80's and 90's WERE mild and they have now dominated the cycle.Now it appears if the sun cycles are right , that we headed into a cooling period for the next 35 years.Unfortunately we are showing a preponderance of mild years in the mix that they use to make the maps, and It will be awhile before these cool years will effect the cycle. So yes, the results are skewed away from what we are experiencing. It is because of the system that they designed, not because of the politics of global warming.

We were in Wyo. this summer and missed the terrible heat in Texas this summer. But, my yard felt the heat and several things died. One 25 yr. old Holly fern that was damaged this spring with a careless shovel was pronounced dead in my absence as were most of my Autumn Fern in my shade bed. With slightly cooler weather , I cleaned out the beds, but could not bring myself to throw out the dead looking roots. Replanted and added a little Miracle Grow. Those dead looking roots are ALIVE AND WELL THANK YOU, and sending out new frons. Lesson learned, don't be in a big hurry to dig up and throw away what you worked so hard to plant.

My NEWLY planted (in spring) Stachys inflata looked like it was a burnt white stick but with that last rain did poke a little something out. It got small 2 0r 3 small small small drinks of water. It is not established but I am frankly amazed at its survival. It is a Iranian mountain plant. Maybe Homeland security will look askance at me. It is a thriver.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stachys inflata

This is sort of opposite of risen from the dead but.....

I did some digging around my Kniphofia and I think it is dead. I cannot believe it. They recommend these for hot unwatered medians in Arizona. I also noticed my Red Chief Barberry (its Japanese, not native) has dead limbs pretty far in. I just noticed. Wouldn't it just be too bad if a new spot opened up in my garden for a native shrub to replace it? I'm just terrible enough to hope its dead so I can justify its removal to my husband, who likes it. Well, the blackish red coloring is nice but still, I can think of many plants I'd rather have.

Lots of trees seem to think its spring here. I see blooms. I have a macrocentra cactus turning purple for winter and forming blooms. Two have opened. Weird year.

I had some kninofia started that you sent me seeds for a while back and they died this year. They were still small. No water. I think I watered them half way through to the beginning of the hot part of the summer and just gave up.BUT the same seed batch that I planted at this garden that I care fore is thriving. It has clay beneath a xeric mix and it did get a but more water that I gave mine here. Maybe I will steal some back. But I have some others large Kinofia bulbs that girlfriend sent me from Washington state and I think I gave them two drinks of water this whole year and they are coming back. They are in nicer soil and part shade. Of course my IRIS are coming back. They should be called a xeric plant.