I started out with the best intentions. Planted things with care. Fertilized them, weeded around their delicate roots. And most importantly, vowed to set up a good watering system with soaker hoses or the like.
But most of the soaker hoses sat unused in the shed, perfectly coiled in a neat stack, ready for use. And meanwhile the less hardy plants burnt to a sad little crisp.
Take this creeping willow for instance. It sounded like _such_ a good idea at the nursery. I mean, what an unusual specimen! It would make such a nice undergrowth surrounding my heavenly bamboo (which did make it, by the way). But think about it. Willow. These are the plants that thrive near waterways. And I am not known by my plants to be liberal with my watering, at all.
In fact, as the summer got hotter, I just got more active and did things away from the home, instead of tending to the plants.
Funny thing is, I actually had all the gear all ready for a poor-(wo)man's irrigation setup. I had the aforementioned soaker hoses, plus some splitters and faucet timers to allow different parts of the yard to get watered in succession, and with the right amounts (not too much to drown, and not too little to leave them thirsty). Ah well, lessons learned.
I think on the flip side what I learned is that gardening truly is a grand experiment. And plants that need tons of water are not the plants for me.
Some plants that were a real treat this year were those that did well without a lot of water (known in the biz as 'xeric' plants). So next year I'm going to continue focusing on the gaura, gaillardia and oh the wonderful succulents. God, I love succulents. Here's a planter I did with a large-leaf sedum and rockrose. It just thrived under my semi-neglect:
The bamboo took off too, and while I watered it fairly regularly, it didn't seem to mind the times when I didn't (nor did the sturdy sunflowers):
And one plant that was just a joy to look at is the rhubarb. Its leaves are totally enormous. And starting next year I can harvest the stalks and make rhubarb pie and such. Yum.
