While the unprecedented heat wave that brought triple-digit temperatures to the Pacific Northwest has passed, it has left its mark on the region’s trees and plants. Fir trees with brown patches, rhododendrons with scorched leaves and grass the color of straw dot the landscape. Since we should expect wetter winters and drier summers in the future, it’s a good time to reconsider how we garden.
In Gardening for Summer-Dry Climates, Nora Harlow provides suggestions and solutions specific to Pacific Northwest gardeners. A large portion of the book is devoted to plants that can withstand hot, dry summers; and to preventative measures, such as ways to harvest rainwater and landscaping that minimizes the risk of forest fires, making this a must-read for serious gardeners.
Olivier Filippi, known in France as the “dry gardening guru,” brings his expertise to Planting Design for Dry Gardens. Instead of water-hogging lawns that require constant maintenance, Filippi provides gardeners with alternatives such as ground covers and flowering meadows, ornamental grasses and shrubs, and gravel gardens that simultaneously highlight attractive, drought-resistant plants while keeping weeds at bay.
Xeriscaping — gardening or landscaping that reduces or eliminates the need to irrigate plants — has been widely practiced in desert and Mediterranean-type climates; as Pacific Northwest summers get drier and hotter, it’s a practice worth considering. In The Water-Saving Garden, Texas-based Pam Penick suggests drought-tolerant plants that are showstoppers along with practical solutions like grading soil and embracing pots and containers. In the section “Oasis or Mirage? Creating the illusion of water in the garden,” Penick “squeezes water from stone” with ideas for using glass and other materials to enhance your garden in surprising ways.
~posted by Frank
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