The Rural Voice, 2002-10, Page 43s
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Gardening
How to reduce the damage from the drought
Rhea
Hamilton -
Seeger and
her husband
live near
Auburn. She
is a skilled
cook and
gardener.
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
The summer of 2002 will be
judged differently by different
people. In our house my husband
loves the heat and has thoroughly
enjoyed the bounty of hot sweaty
days. I, on the other hand see the hot
dry days as stones around the neck of
my garden.
We are stingy with our water but
by late August I hauled out the hose
and wrestled it around the yard
carefully watering trees and shrubs,
hoping and praying that I was not too
late. I have been ambitious over the
last couple of years and have been
planting a few native trees and
shrubs. In a grassy, oops weedy,
section across the front I have planted
viburnum, flowering currant, katsura,
and linden trees.
Tucked in this odd mix is a
weeping birch tree. During the early
part of the summer I could see it from
the porch and it looked like it was
waving at me for a drink. But closer
inspection showed that it was only its
natural tendency to be friendly and
wave. But the waving turned to
frantic gesturing in August and I was
not paying attention. Water was
applied but the poor thing dropped a
lot of leaves. Natural relief in the
form of rain was not seen and one
day in mid-September a scouring
wind ripped around the garden and
tore off the last of the weeping
birch's leaves as well as those on the
linden and half of the katsura's.
This fall many gardeners will be
worrying about the stress this drought
has placed on their gardens and trees.
We were concerned how losing
leaves in mid-September would
affect the growth or life of our trees.
Leaves are an integral part of a
plant's power house and the food
they produce is stored. Without that
normal stockpile the tree will be
further stressed.
Defoliation may lead to the death
of a tree, but wait until spring to find
out. As soon as the ground thaws,
soak damaged evergreens and trim
out brown, dried out branch tips on
deciduous trees and shrubs. Keep an
eye on the shape of the plant to
maintain a balanced shape.
Unlike a lot of perennials, trees
and some shrubs will start to shut
down early in order to protect
themselves. Trees will show damage
from drought in different ways.
Some, including spruce, hemlock,
beech and certain ashes. maples and
pines have predetermined growth.
Their buds expand the year after they
were produced. Therefore if there
was drought when the buds were
forming it will show up as stunted
growth the following year.
Then there are those trees that
have winter buds that grow during the
current season. This includes birch,
poplar, elm, apple, silver maple and
some ashes. They will leaf out
sparsely and show the effects of the
drought during the season when it
occurs.
Some of the evergreens like
juniper produce several flushes of
growth each year and can start or stop
growing'as the weather changes. So
they look normal.
We have noticed a browning of
the needles on some of our pines.
This is normal but lost needles will
not grow back. Our consolation is
that pines grow from their tips.
To help reduce drought -induced
stress we will continue to water all
the one and two year old trees
through the fall. Part of anyone's
regular preparations for winter should
include heavy watering of
evergreens that continue to lose
moisture during the long dry winter
months.
Mulch is a good idea but should be
applied after the ground has frozen.
Be careful not to pile it up against the
tree trunks. It makes for nice nesting
spots for rodents that then spend the
winter munching on the bark.
I have not even thought about
protection for the perennial border.
Some early blooming show stoppers
like peonies and iris will survive the
drought while others like a showy
thistle (I can hear the retired farmers
sucking in their breath) bit the dust
and will not grace the border again.
We are on a drilled well here and
are very careful with our water. If a
plant can't make it here then it is just
not meant to be. This may sound
callous but it is practical. It has
challenged me to seek out native
plants that are drought hardy and that
is just another part of the joy of
gardening, the challenges we love to
tackle.
Well, back to the hose and water
bucket. It is going to be a long fall if
it does not rain.°
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OCTOBER 2002 39