By Master Gardener Volunteer Lesley Arrandale
mail@floridanewsline.com
During the first week of July the monsoon rains settled in. Hotter than normal temperatures led to stormy conditions in the afternoons and evenings, and sometimes overnight. If you have sandy well-draining soil, then you can appreciate taking a break from watering.
If you garden in a location over a high water table or hard pan, then you may find some of your plants or lawn areas are really suffering from poor drainage. This article explains how to recognize plant problems and how to help your plants recover from too much rain: https://tinyurl.com/4cd9u29r.
If the problem is ongoing, though, a rain garden could be a good solution. Since some plants are well adapted to intermittent wet conditions, you don’t necessarily need to do anything elaborate to make such a garden. For more information check out https://tinyurl.com/2s3p3ddv. However, if run-off from your roof via a downspout is exacerbating your drainage issues, you may want to manage the water more efficiently. If so, this article by Tonya Ashworth, our Duval County Horticulture Extension Agent, gives an in-depth account of how to construct a rain garden. She also supplies a great list of suitable plants: https://tinyurl.com/mu8k5k2h.
A major issue with run-off is the transport of excess nutrients and chemicals onto our streets into the storm drains, and subsequently into our rivers and aquifers. The ability of a rain garden to filter and clean rainwater as it’s retained in the garden is very important.
The summer heat can make us all crave an easier gardening experience. While “low maintenance” means different things to different people — mowing a lawn in high summer is not my idea of low maintenance — this is an aspect of design that appeals to many a gardener. For inspiration check out “Twenty-two Ideas for a Low-care, Low-cost Landscape” (https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/EP442). Some of the plant suggestions are more familiar in a traditional front yard, but native, wildlife-welcoming plants could be utilized in a similar way. If you’re a fan of free phone apps, UF has one for the gardener looking for Florida friendly plants while on the go: https://ffl.ifas.ufl.edu/resources/apps/plant-guide/. It should prove a useful aid at the nursery. For more gardening-related apps, check out https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/mobile/.
As the year has progressed, some of my plants have been growing faster and blooming earlier than usual. Although the dry weather should have slowed them down, once the rains arrived, coupled with higher temperatures, established perennials like ironweed have been flowering for several weeks. Although seeds would be useful food for our backyard birds, cutting back spent flowers as soon as they fade will encourage branching and more flowers. Since summer is a time of plenty for our wildlife, it makes more sense to leave seedheads for the birds at the end of the season. Firespike (Odontonema cuspidatum) is also beginning to bloom and is attracting hummingbirds. It will flower until cut down by a freeze.
While the summer heat is on, we should all take care to avoid over strenuous outdoor activities. If you can, avoid being out during the hottest hours of the day, take plenty of water, cover up, and use sunscreen. You know the recommendations make sense. If you need more information, see https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/features/extremeheat/index.html. Take care, especially if you work outside, and have a safe summer.
