I have been away during the 40oC heat. After two weeks I went to tidy up the dry bed. It was interesting to see what had done fine and what was struggling. The bed mostly sand, gets no extra water and had no feed or MPC or anything else since creation almost exactly two years ago (Aug 1st 2020).
Conclusion:
Jupiters Beard (Centranthus ruber Alba) was surprisingly on the ropes; Surviving but yellow and looking unhappy. It commonly seeds into gravel and paving, so I'm not sure why it should be grumpy. I guess its extant root system is not yet sufficient to cope with high heat. This summer might toughen everything up and push the extending of root systems to reach out for water.
The Welsh Poppies karked. There is dramatic lack of success with Californian poppies direct sowing. Dozens of packets over two years has resulted in just two adult plants, one of which was trodden on. Possibly snails have eaten the seedlings.
Rozanne is doing well. Much smaller blooms than usual. Flowering continuously (in full sun) since Feb. No sign of shrivel, strop or stopping with blooms any time soon. It's not as sprawlling and set on world domination as usual, which is fine for the small position. It usually needs cutting back to let the other plants thrive. I am impressed.
The sedum is fine, half having had the Chelsea Chop in May; maybe less ... exhuberant than usual. Pests are not really a problem in this pavement bed, but snails do seem to love the sedum. The leaves get into a right mess. I clean them up every week when I visit and export dozens of snails.
Verbena bon dong fine. The bloom heads have gone over, but it's been flowering since May ish, so it maybe their time to be dead headed anyway. I'm hoping, with the trim, they will rebloom at a shorter level. V Lollipop would have been less of a hassel as less likely to lean.
I decided to keep the seed heads on the alcoholic mollies. They look quite pretty in real life.
Half the erigeron is not thriving - half is fine. I guess this must be to do with how long the plant has been established - none put in this year. I think most will make it to next year.
We are praying for very wet autumn, winter and spring.
This is an interesting summation of 20 ways to support wildlife - from Flock community land in NY state. The species are different but the means of support are the same.
Two weeks on - watching to see how the plants are tolerating drought - and things in the dry garden (sand bed) are certainly suffering now. The sedum is starting to wilt, the leaves now not succulent; they are pale and lank, like cloth. I don't suppose the drought will kill the plants and hopefully the root system will be stronger, going forward. In previous years the sedum has happily flowered from May to the frosts, with constant deadheading. This year it has struggled to flower well once.
The erigeron put in two years ago is thriving. The rest has karked and is brown and crispy.
The alcoholics are are fine, jupiters beard is fine, but not rebudding. No poppies. The geranium Rozanne is hanging on. The leaves are ok but there are less and less small blooms. Such as they are, they are covered with a mass of bees, completely rejecting the other flowers. With a bit of rain the Rozanne will rebound. I'm amazed it has done so well in sand with no watering.
- -
The verbena and Savlia Lemon Pie are happy as pie. It was good to see butterflies enjoying the nectar.
This below was the dry garden around this time last year. - good cover and peaking. This year it's very sparse - interesting to compare. I will need to add feverfew next year. I will also put in some Salvia Lemon Pie and Clotted cream for some drought-happy autumn bulk.
I would normally expect the Autumn Joy, Rozanne and Verbena bon. to be peaking around now. The verbena is thriving in the zero watering bed - not batting an eyelid at drought. Surprisingly, the Sedum Autumn Job is the worst off of all - still flowering, but only just. It's looking awful between drought and snails. Rozanne is hanging on; about a third of its normal size but blooming away with little flowers about half the size of normal; I am really impressed - no water, full sun, little soil (mostly sand) and no food.
the dry garden is doing ok. The Rozanne has sprung back to normal after a bif of rain with large flowers - which is quite impressive, given it's had no food or extra watering this year.
----
The Jupiters beard is flowering again and has seeded about and feverfew is coming up everywhere - though there was none in the bed this year.
--
It's quite a 'wildy' plot (self seeding and left to its own devices. Kind of) but it is a public bed, so has to be fairly tidy. It's an interesting balance to try and strike.
I'm putting in four creamy/peachy bushy salvia as soon as we get some rain. There is no easy tap to hand. If we get more very dry summers, the sedum will have to come out.
Posts