Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the garden, …  It is!

It is.  Really!  In Chatham County most of our soils are wet.  Our reservoirs are in good shape.  Many of our smaller ponds are in good shape.  Last week we moved from Exceptional Drought to Extreme, a less severe category.  If you have been wishing you could replace some things that succumbed to the drought, do.

One major caveat.  Trees and shrubs, plants that form a woody stem, typically grow roots when the soil is cool, i.e. not in summer.  Summer is the time when those plants typically put the most demand on roots to provide water, oxygen, and other nutrients.  It follows that the more root growth you have, the better the plant is able to survive whatever summer throws at us.  In order to get the most root growth before summer, late fall is typically our best window for planting.  I planted a Gardenia last fall.  I also planted a Daphne last month.  It’s not too late to plant woody plants.  The soil is still cool enough to grow roots.

Spring is not the best time to plant trees and shrubs, but you can do it.  You just have to remember as with all plantings that they may need you to insure survival for the first year or two.  That doesn’t mean they have to be watered all the time.  It does mean that you need to apply the judgment of an intelligent human to determine WHEN the plant needs water and to apply it then and only then.  Smaller plants will be easier to handle and establish. 

We’ve learned a lot about how to manage water over the past year.  In many cases those plants that were accustomed to frequent watering were the first to have trouble.  They had been “trained” to grow roots in the top two inches of soil where the irrigation gave them their daily fix.  When the irrigation supply ran out, then those plants had trouble.

On the other hand, we have some plants at home that have never been watered, plants that some consider to be moderate users of water – redbud, Hosta, ferns, Solomon’s seal.  You can see some pictures that I took of them last September when we were nearing the end of a tough summer of high temperatures and little to no rainfall.  The plants look OK, not great.  But what you should know about them is that after the initial watering in when they were planted, they have never been watered again - Never.  Have a look at the pictures at

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/drtsurv.html

Yes, you can do it.  Years ago, I even transplanted a small tree in early summer – one of the worst times to do it.  And the act of transplanting (not a container plant) means that the plant lost many of its most important roots when dug.  It was the worst situation for the plant but it couldn’t stay where it was.  One key to success was planting it at a place where I would have to notice it daily.  That made me pay attention so that I could water it on an as needed basis.  I didn’t set up an irrigation system and hope; I paid attention and provided care as needed.

When you need to water, do it slow and deep.  Then don’t do it again until the plant(s) need more.  Quit scheduling and pay attention. 

You can do it.  And many people in the Green Industry actually need you to get back outside and be gardeners.  When people didn’t aerate and overseed their lawns last September, when people didn’t plant pansies last October, when landscape renovations were put on hold, businesses had to change their plans.  Nurseries have sold fewer plants, and landscapers have been less busy than normal.  Employees have been laid off.  If you think the drought was hard, imagine losing your job because of it. 

We may again have restrictions on how much water we can use.  That doesn’t mean you can’t grow plants.  It means we have to be better managers of water.  The strategies I offer on managing water aren’t just about being conservation minded; it’s also about what’s best for the plants.  We can do both.  Buy some perennials, plant some vegetables, prune the dead stuff and reevaluate.  We don’t have to continue being victims.  We can have it all.  There’s work to do!

Subscribers to my newsletter Green Thumb Prints will find a new edition in the mail soon.  It’s available on line now.  If you’ve read this far, you may be interested in the article on Getting the Most out of Drought Tolerant Plants.  You can view it at  

http://chatham.ces.ncsu.edu/files/library/19/GTPSpring2008.pdf

And I know I haven’t answered all your questions.  Let me have it.  If you have a question, chances are good someone else does too. 

alcooke