Drought and the Gardener

In Alexandria, where we used to live, it's been raining for a good portion of the late spring and summer. Those roaring, soaking, lightning-filled storms that I had a love-hate relationship with have been a regular visitor to my former hometown, and I know some residents are unhappy that the sun has not visited as much as they might like.

But here in Buffalo, the weather has been pleasant, at least in some respects. The low humidity and comfortable temps (punctuated with a few stretches of true summer heat) have meant it's difficult to stay indoors of an evening and take care of inside chores.

The sunny summer has meant another thing for farmers and gardeners like yours truly: a LOT of watering. I've pretty nearly given up on our grass, which has browned and crunches underfoot. I also simply can't justify turning the hose on the lawn when it would mean less water for my precious plantings.

I haven't always cared so much about the plants around my house. Perhaps it was due, at least in part to being a renter for about 20 years. The lack of property on which to grow things meant I was relegated to the land of pots and indoor cuttings of flowers.

But that changed almost two years ago when we moved into our home, and we discovered that we lived essentially in the middle of the Buffalo Garden Walk. One of the largest tours of home gardens in the country, it always takes place during the last weekend of July--right after we moved in.

After touring some amazing gardens and falling back in love with the Queen City in general, I felt the need to participate in our new neighborhood more.  Toss a bit of homeownership pride with a dash of competitive spirit, we started a plan to upgrade our landscaping to look more the part of a house on the Walk.

Last year, I kind of faked my way through landscaping by tearing out the old, overgrown evergreen bushes and replacing it with simple, but interesting plantings. I used pots to add dimension and interest. At the time, I was working part time at a local nursery, so also drafted a plan for new plantings in the coming year (how handy).

This year, we worked with a landscaping company to remove the bad soil in the front, put in new, and add in the plantings according to plan. Hooray, quick fix!

So far, I've done a decent job with watering, so my plantings are thriving (and blooming!), and I'm looking forward to the Walk this year and planning for even more plantings around the house next year.

In the meantime, send rain...