Follow these tips to help your garden survive a drought:
- Become Water Wise. If you do not receive one inch of rain per week, it's time to start watering. Water your newly planted trees and shrubs first as they are the most valuable and the most at-risk. Next, water your permanent plants — perennials, vines and ground covers. Finally, water your annuals. Be sure to water your garden until the ground freezes in the fall.
- Mulch. Apply a few inches of finely shredded organic matter to perennial borders and around the root zones of trees. Do not let grass grow up the trunks of trees. Keep the wood chips from touching the tree trunks.
- Use Slow-Drip Hoses. These hoses put water where it's needed most—in the root zones. Avoid wasteful overhead watering. Water in the early morning if possible.
- Plant According to Your Zone. If a plant is not recommended for your Zone, it will be the first to succumb to stress.
- Allow your Lawn to go Dormant. Grass will survive and revive if the crowns of the plants are kept alive with 1/2 inch of water over several weeks.
Ornamental grasses, rosemary, lavender, licorice vine, dusty miller, sedum, lantana, blanket flower, gazania, nasturtium, verbena, marigold, cosmos, salvia, ornamental peppers, cleome, petunia, zinnia, scented geraniums, ageratum, celosia, hollyhocks and artemisia.
Q: What does drought-tolerant really mean?
A: The term drought-tolerant is used to describe plants that will grow well with little, if any, supplemental water. However, what is often lacking in that description is that these plants are only drought-tolerant once established. It's crucial during a plants' first year that they develop a healthy root system and become acclimated to the soil, the weather and the environment. So make sure you water new plantings routinely until it seems capable of supporting itself with only an occasional watering from the rain.
