Gardening Judith Adam No one feels confident about our recently unpredictable and changing weather systems, but it does seem likely that we may encounter at least a few weeks of summer drought. Plants and lawns get a rolling growth start with spring moisture, only to be checked by high temperatures and lack of rain in mid-season. Rain and lower air temperatures will return in late summer, but that is often too late for lawns that have thinned out and struggling container plants with cooked roots in hot soil. There are a few effective things which we can do to get gardens through the double stress of heat and drought. Water lawns at night or in early morning, allowing water to run for a longer period so that it will reach the roots. The roots of grass plants grow deeper toward ground water when their blades are allowed to grow taller. Let the grass grow higher, up to three inches (seven centimetres); the taller blade growth will shade the soil and decrease temperature in the root zone. Leave blade clippings where they fall when the lawn is mown, providing a mulch to further insulate the soil from hot sunlight. Container plants can be moved into shaded corners, and clustered in groups under trees to create a slightly cooler micro-climate around them. Shelter containers out of hot winds and water them every day, or even twice daily if necessary. In extreme heat, it may be better to put moveable containers into a garage during the hottest part of the day. If your containers are too big and heavy to move, shade the soil around plants by putting down a two-inch thick layer of shredded bark to keep direct sunlight off the soil. Direct your watering can or hose under the mulch to drench the soil. Cut back summer flowering annuals by half their height or length to relieve the strain on the roots supplying moisture to foliage. New flowering growth will spontaneously appear when temperatures are lower. With some consideration for plants during the hottest summer days, you can count on them being there for you right up to the first autumn frost. A summer’s worth of ‘Heavenly Blue’ (or cherry red, or deep purple, or pinksplashed) flowers in a seed packet is easy, as it gets to fill a garden with bloom. And when it’s just too darn hot, some quick action can keep lawns and plants from over-cooking. While at home for a short summer, snowbird travellers are on the lookout for easy-care plants providing maximum bloom power. For quick growth, variety of size and colour and almost no maintenance, you can’t beat annual morning glory vines. They grow from easily obtainable seeds, simply thrust into garden soil, containers or hanging pots, and require no care beyond watering. The reward is a cascade of heartshaped foliage and sequential, saucer-shaped blooms frommid-summer until frost. Twining up a privacy panel alongside the patio or scrambling along a split-rail fence, morning glories soften the appearance of hard garden architecture and keep pumping out their flowers even when nights turn distinctly chilly. The heirloom classic ‘Heavenly Blue’ morning glory (five-inch, sky-blue flower with creamy white throat) is the sentimental favourite, but the list of vine lengths and flower colours (including bi-colours, stripes, splashes and stars) is impressive. ‘Heavenly Blue’ and its companion cherry red ‘Scarlett O’Hara’ are long, 10- to 12-foot vines suitable for twining through a trellis or over an arbour. Midnight blue ‘Star of Yelta’ and deep purple ‘Grandpa Ott’ produce four-inch blooms with vibrant red stars and pink throats on eight-foot vines that will tumble and climb through an obelisk or trellis in a large patio container. ‘Split Second’ is a four- to six-foot vine with twisted peony-form pink-and-white flowers that can cascade from a hanging basket. Similar in short vine length, the Venice Series (‘Venice Pink’ and ‘Venice Blue’) are splashed with pink and blue on white petals. Morning glory seeds are available from hardware stores and garden centre seed displays. For a broad selection of the most innovative new forms and colours, a quick search of online seed sources will turn up new developments in these easy-to-grow vines. The seeds have thick coats which cause them to be slow germinators. The process can be significantly speeded up by using a nail clipper to make a small nick in each seed, and then soaking them overnight in water. Plant the next day, setting the seeds five inches (13 centimetres) apart and two inches (five centimetres) deep in garden soil or planting containers. Keep the soil moist and watch for sprouts in about seven to 10 days. Be sure that the young sprouts have something to climb on. Good climbing apparatus for morning glories include any form of trellis, hardware store wire, tomato cages, bamboo canes, pergolas, arbours and deck railings. The vines only require consistent moisture and are best without fertilizer, which can stimulate luxuriant leaf growth but possibly decrease flowering. Planting Morning Glory Preparing For Summer Drought 42 | www.snowbirds.org
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