Will They Survive?

This has been one HOT, dry July. The weather folks call for a chance of thunderstorms nearly every day, but we hardly ever seem to get rain. Last night we had gusty thunderstorms and I couldn’t help myself from going outside on the back porch to enjoy the sound and smell of the long-awaited summer rain. I could almost hear my garden saying “thank you!!!” to mother nature.

I have several plants that I am worried about during these endless heatwaves we’ve been having. Here are a few. Be warned, these pictures aren’t for the faint of heart. These plants are suffering big-time. And no matter how much I try to water them on my own, it just isn’t enough.

This, my friends, if my beloved Smokebush. I was so excited when I planted this beautiful specimen last year in the back of the flower garden. It looked so content there...until the past couple of weeks. Whole sections of it are drying out and crumbling. I know it doesn’t help that it’s in the back of the garden and hard to reach with the sprinkler or the hose. I have tried to pay special attention to it. But alas, my love is not enough. Will it survive? Only time will tell. 

Sufferin' Smokebush

By comparison, this is what it looked like just a few months ago in May...

Healthy Smokebush.

You see why I’m worried?

My daisies are usually very happy-go-lucky flowers that last awhile in the early summer. Not so much this year. The heat got to be too much for them and they now look quite sad. Will they survive? Yes, I am certain they will. They are one of the first things I planted in my garden and year after year they never let me down, my faithful friends.

Sad daisies.

Do you even recognize what this plant is? It’s a hydrangea. The past two years my hydrangeas have gotten literally KILLED in July and end up looking like this. Last July was hot, too, so is it the heat? Or is it a disease? I have four hydrangeas in my flower garden that all have looked like this by the time July rolls around for the past two years. Will they survive? Well, I thought I lost them last year and they came back. They were beautiful in the spring. So yeh, I think they’ll survive, but I’m beginning to wonder if there’s something wrong with them.

Guess what this is?

Another hydrangea, but not quite as bad as the first.

These are the hardships we face as gardeners every year. I dearly love ALL my plants and to lose any is always heartbreaking. Will they make it? I hope so, I really hope so.