The Drought's Over

May was a wild and wet month. Unusual amounts of rain and its persistence throughout the month made this May the second wettest in Lubbock history. Many other parts of Texas and Oklahoma saw unusually heavy rainfall as well. Most of Texas is no longer classified as being under drought conditions anymore, which is a blessing after four long, very dry years.We had bouts of flooding throughout the month but the city's drainage system did its job in diverting the overflow into our playa lake system. As someone who loves rain this month has been the best one in a very long time. The local cotton farmers aren't happy with their fields being so damp but if the fields can dry out before the June 5th deadline for planting all this rain might be a major windfall for them this season.

Here some photos taken in early May of my backyard garden shortly before an evening storm rolled in and lit up the sky with lightning and thunder.

The photos are a little blurry, unfortunately, but with wind being a constant in West Texas it is hard to find a non-windy day to take photos. The grass hasn't yet greened up and filled it. That's certainly not the case by the end of the month.

 Incidentally, these images were taken close to 9 pm and the sky was so amazingly light for such a late hour.

Here's hoping we continue to get some rainfall in June too. I only had to run the sprinkler system once in May. How awesome is that!

So Ready for Spring

Today's a little chillier than I expected and the sun disappeared after about an hour. Gray clouds have moved in so the 20% chance of rain might actually happen tonight. I am so ready for spring to be here so I can start planting seeds and visiting the nurseries. Meanwhile, these vivid garden stakes will have to bring color to the otherwise dull landscape. Got the pair for a steal at Ross. Found one exactly like them last year though unfortunately the color has faded away to a coppery tone.

The first of the daffodils began blooming today. Two whole flowers with more to come. [This picture is supposed to be horizontal. For some bizarre reason Blogger turned it into a vertical image. Very annoying]

2015 is looking good precipitation-wise so far. More rain is predicted this week. Hoping it continues and later this spring I can begin replacing the lily bulbs that dried up during the drought. No cottage garden is complete without scented lilies. Also have selected bare spots in the garden for more miniature roses, which have become a favorite. Looks like this week's snow killed one of the two mini roses I planted in early fall. And of course it was the peachy-pink toned one that I like best of the two. Oh well, just means I get to do more plant shopping soon.

Old Man Winter returns

Today Old Man Winter returned to West Texas with a vengeance, dropping over 4 inches of snow in the city of Lubbock alone before 10 am. North of Lubbock received even more snow. Schools, many businesses, public libraries, and city offices were closed for the day. The inconvenience of all the snow will eventually be greatly appreciated in the form of moisture once it melts.

This area of West Texas finally got off of the national drought chart's abnormally dry ranking.

What's the drought been like? Lubbock's normal annual rainfall is between 18-24 inches.
2011 - 5.86 inches
2012 -11.43 inches
2013 - 12.61 inches
2014 - 22.56 inches

Fingers crossed in 2015 we will continue to receive normal rainfall and not fall back into the drought cycle.

Meanwhile, I'm rather bummed that the cold has killed off the flower blossoms on my 2 year old plum tree. The daily yo-yoing of temperatures in January-February from freezing to summer warmth is normal and unfortunately causes plants and trees, especially fruit trees, to start leafing out far too early. Guess there will be no plums again this year. All the rose bushes were heavily leafing out too but those will rebound by late spring. Ah, well, some moisture, even if it's ice cold, is better than none at all.

Let It Rain!

Today we in West Texas have been blessed by a day of measurable rain. I think I have received more rain today than any other day this year. The little sparrows and morning doves have been enjoying the moisture as they feed at the bird feeder and root around in the grass and flower beds. The plants seem to be loving the rain too as they are all standing at attention, such as the holleyhocks in the back corner.

 Since today is the last chance for rain for the next 10 days I set out a bunch of buckets to catch what extra rain I could. There's no point in buying a rain barrel right now since rain is such a rarity. Buckets will work fine.

Little by little the rain is bringing West Texas out of the sever drought from next year. Most of Texas has gotten out of the sever range and here's hoping that West Texas will achieve this by the end of the summer.

Fertilizer Friday, May 11, 2012

Here in West Texas we have been blessed to have several chances of rain in the last two weeks. In my area we've reach above 3 inches in rain to date this year. One of the local weatherman announced last night that we would have to get 30 inches of rain before the end of the year to make up for the several drought from last year and barring a major flood before December that's just not going to happen. We will be very lucky if we hit 15-18 inches before the end of the year. However, today I'm just going to celebrate the beautiful abundance that the rain has brought to my strolling garden.

My little book fairy statue tucked under a miniature rose bush, which is actually around 3 feet tall, and by lilies and daylilies.Growing on the trellis behind is a yellow Lady Banks which frankly hasn't seemed to have grown in the three years it's been in the ground. Fast growing rose my foot.

Larkspur Lane gone amuck. Beautiful though. Pulled up a bouquet of them from the walkway to take to a co-worker today. Three of my colleagues have asked for larkspur seeds from my garden. Can't wait to see what color the hollyhocks are that are towering over the garden bench in the background.

The Shasta Daises are loving the gentle rain we've received over the last two day. I'm loving it too!

The Gaillardia seems even brighter this cloudy day.

The Zebrina Mallow is blooming their little hearts away. They're shorter than I expected at less than 2 feet tall but their flowers are so abundant right now.

The Yarrow is spreading like crazy in the front bed. It's popping up everying in the grass. I knew the plants were hardy but I had no idea they would fast spreaders and crowd out the roses and salvias. The silvery dusty miller looks striking against all the shades of green.

The black of Nigra Hollyhocks is eye catching on a cloudy day but looks washed out on a bright sunny one. I plan to pull these out at the end of the year to put in some more colorful ones. 

The Ditch Lily, the tallest of my daylilies, is the first to bloom this year. The middle of last month I was noticing that all the daylilies were going into stress and showing signs of dying back but the cloudy days and gentle rains over the last two weeks seemed to have made a difference. Hoping this keeps up for the next two months as May and June are our raining month.

Visit Tootsie Time to see who else is participating in "Fertilizer Friday" and showing off what's blooming in their gardens.

Drought

The three-day Memorial weekend was a waste for this gardener. It's been three days of 100+ temperatures and starting last night through today we've had strong winds whipping around, draining moisture from everything. I was able to deadhead and do some handwatering for about 2 hours early in the morning but that's about it. Even at 8 at night the high temperatures are holding so I've not been able to sit in the cottage bench with a cold iced tea and enjoy the view. Heck, even the birds seem to be hiding from the heat. I have been diligent in filling up the bird baths for the poor things.

Strolling by the beds I realized that the intense, non-stop heat has really done a number on my garden. Several of the Asiatic Lilies, most of which were planted this spring, have burns on the upper leaves. Less than half of these damaged lilies have been able to complete the flowering process. Only one flower bud survived on this stem. These two have afternoon shade and still they baked. 

In the ten years I've gardened in West Texas I've never had this difficult of a time with my plants. Several plants have already croaked, despite hand watering in the late evenings. About half the seeds I planted never took. The 15-25 cilantro and parsley seedlings were doing good then just turned brown and died this weekend. On the roses several of the leaves are turning into a crisp. The miniature rose above has the most incredible pink roses and I've been babying it in the hopes it will survive. It's twin is down to two stems and hardly any leaves. Wah! 

 A large patch of dayliles are suffering too. The buds are turning brown, drying out and falling off. The leaves are also turning yellow. Never had this happen before and I don't know if it's because of lack of water or the lack of rainwater - there's a difference because our water is hard. Rainwater is important because it doesn't have all the salt. And with barely an inch in almost 8 months the garden has been relying almost solely on our groundwater.
The buds on these Shasta Daisies are not doing so well either. They were divided last year to make two clumps. The other clump, which is literally maybe three feet from this clump is doing great. Both are getting handwater but I don't know why the first clump is not doing so well. At least it's leaves and stems are healthy. These plants are really important to the garden. They add height, coming in around three feet tall, add brightness in the evenings, and the butterflies love to land on the blossoms. So far there is definately a lack of butterflies compared to previous years. My dill plant actually matured and bloomed because there were no large groups of caterpillars munching on it. Love that the plant is doing well but I sure do miss the butterflies.

The holleyhocks are all shorter than previous years. None have gotten more than 4 feet tall. Normally the stalks and their flowers can be seen over the top of the 6 feet tall fence. A few of the stalks also split and collapsed this weekend, probably from the deadly combination of heat, wind and no rain.

On the upside, there's a 20% chance of rain tonight through tomorrow evening. That's huge around here. So, fingers crossed for a good, long shower with no hail. Life requires water... and a healthy garden requires life. Butterflies, bees and bird bring a garden to life. So, bring on the rain... PLEASE!

Wet Wednesday

You know the old saying "Into every life a little rain must fall"? Lubbock has been in a drought since about October. In fact, the weather man two nights ago reminded the viewers that we've had less than an inch of rain since January and that the last time we've had this long of a drought was in 1950 to 1951. The cotton farmers around here desperately needed the rain to start planting and a prayer call for rain has been held. I guess many of us got our prayers answered today. I heard we might have gotten almost as much as .22 inch today. Not bad for a day that only had 20% chance of rain. Course we all joke about 20% being a better chance of rain than 100% around here.

Around 5 am this morning I was awoken by thunder and what sounded like massive hail assaulting the roof and windows. It was absolutely amazing! I was starting to think we'd never see the wet stuff again. A stroll around the garden found a lot of perky, happy plants. Our water here is really hard and salty, so I'm always thrilled for the pure stuff.

The roses are starting to wane out and have to be deadheaded for the second rush of blossoms. I fell in love with this rose after seeing it in several gardening magazines two years ago and was thrilled when I found it at Home Depot. "Paprika" ended up not looking quite as orange-y in person as in the photographs. In fact it's more of a lite apricot, which is fine, but I was expecting brighter blossoms that would stand out against the bright white of the Dusty Miller. It's still a nice plant but will probably be moved at some point.

 "Heirloom" has the most incredible scent, not to mention a beautiful color. I planted it off to the side of the yard and wish I had planted it closer to the front door. If I run across another one it's going in the front bed.

"Kordes' Perfecta" Rose is wonderful with cheerful blossoms. At least I THINK that's what this one is. I can only find a tag for one of my two large yellow rose bushes.

This is the other yellow rose blooms yellow and lightens up to a cream as it ages. Also has a nice scent.

Close up of one of the blooms.

This is an lovely pink rose whose tag I have long lost. It doesn't have much of a scent but makes up for it with an abundance of flowers.

I have two red Knockout roses that I scored for $3 each when I first moved into my house. Four years later and they're both over three feet tall and at least two feet wide... and very thorny! But they bloom into early winter, can't beat that!

"Iceberg" is one of my favorite roses. It has a soft, sweet scent and glows in the evening, which is why I planted it opposite from the kitchen window so that I can enjoy the flowers until the darkness sets in. I added a second one to the west side border last month. The first one took a year to really establish, I guess I should expect the same with this one. Plus, both seem to have the same problem with something munching on the leaves. I don't seem to notice the same leaf damage on the other roses.

This is one of my 15 miniature roses. There was no name on this one but it's a stunner when it blooms. A definate pop of color. I have five of the pink ones seen behind this bush. And they all were on clearance for a $1... and have thrived in the flower beds. I love a good garden deal!

There was a little damage from the rain. I lost two more stalks on the same daylily bush below my kitchen window. These are the tallest of my daylilies, with stems around 3 feet tall, and not only rebloom but also have a scene. In fact they are the only scented ones I have. Bummer to lose even more blooms. I plan to move them later in the fall to the front bed which will hopefully have more protection from the cursed wind.

I hope others who are facing drought have been blessed with some rain today!