Thirsty

the view from the "back bed" :: crispy dead :: living in pots :: hydrangea turning :: thirsty

We've been completely parched here. So much so that where we used to have some struggling grass, we now have big patches of sand. Even the trees are wilted and one of the viburnums I put in the new "back bed" has died - crispy dead.

The back bed is a spot behind some privacy "fence" between us and the neighbors. We aren't quite sure why the previous owner put it on and angle, but it makes a spot on the other side of it that we own but is disused. It is actually on the front side of the house. It gets pretty good afternoon sun, as much as one can expect for being in the woods, and I felt it was the perfect spot for big shrubs that make birds happy but aren't necessarily something we can put against the house. So far there is a viburnum, a chokecherry and where the other viburnum died, I will put a purpleleaf sand cherry. In between are some native daylilies, coral bells, and ornamental grasses that were all just transplants from other existing beds.

We still have a handful of bushes, berry plants and flowers that need to go in the ground. To put them there now would be murder on both our backs and the poor plants, so they sit in the driveway and get watered by the hose, awaiting their turn in the dig-compost-bury-compost-water-water-water routine.