Tag Archives: drought

Ten plants that coped with the drought

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Following on from my last post, in which I showed which plants had withered and died in the extreme drought conditions of the summer just gone, here are the ones that survived (and in some cases, thrived).

  1. Ceratostigma
    I’m not entirely sure on the variety (it’s probably C. willmottianum) as this pre-dates our arrival in the garden. We’ve split and moved it around the garden freely. It’s a lovely ground cover plant with glossy, deep green leaves and strikingly blue flowers in mid to late summer (this photo was taken in August). While other plants shrivelled due to lack of moisture, this coped admirably.

2. Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’
We’ve got a few plants of this, and they’re cuttings of cuttings – it strikes easily, and layers easily too. Its root system is quite extensive, which could explain why it wasn’t overly troubled by the drought.

3. Fig
No big surprise here, as fig is known to thrive in poor, dry soil. This is the standard ‘Brown Turkey’ variety. Although it’s growing well, in full sun, and as recommended, I attempted to restrict the roots by enclosing them with a cage of paving stones, it hasn’t produced any fruit for us yet. I took this photo after I’d pruned and tied in the stems – the growth was very lush prior to this.

4. Iris sibirica
The Siberian irises just seem to go from strength to strength here. I initially put them by the pond, in what was supposed to be a bog garden. But the clumps bulk up quickly, and I’ve split them and moved it all around the garden. It flowers in June, so had done its stuff before the drought had been dragging on, but the leaves died down no more quickly than they would do in a ‘normal’ year. Iris sibirica is generally advised to be a plant that loves (and needs) moisture. But of course, plants don’t read the text books. By August the flowers were long gone, but you can see the leaves are still fine. The flower stems turn brown and stand strong throughout the winter, giving what us pretentious garden designers like to call ‘architectural interest’.

5. Day Lilies
Day Lilies have been a revelation to me. I hadn’t seen too much of them until we arrived here. I moved them, somewhat carelessly, not being that bothered whether they survived or not, but they both survived and spread, and I’ve come to love them. The flowers are very attractive, and also edible – they look great on a salad. The varieties in our garden have only a limited flowering period, but the day lily season is eagerly awaited. Apparently the newer varieties flower for much longer. The photo is of my favourite (here at the tail end of its flowering), which I think may be ‘Stafford’. Day lilies appear to be bullet proof, muscling their way through on any soil, in any conditions. We will plant more!

6.Stipa tenuissima
Apparently this has been renamed as Nassella tenuissima, by those great friends of the gardener (!) botanists. The name suggests it might like a hot, dry climate, and it does. It seeds prolifically in our thin, sandy soil, and had no issues with the drought. You need to keep on top of the seedlings, but it is a pretty plant that looks good all year round, moves in the breeze, and works well as a background or companion to so many perennials.

Another stipa – Stipa gigantea – has been equally resilient.

7. Physocarpus ‘Diabolo’
I love this dark-leaved physocarpus, which has clusters of small white flowers with rich red surrounds. It has taken to our soil and grown well. By the end of the summer it was looking a little tired, but undaunted.

8. Skimmia
Another shrub that was in the garden when we arrived. Not one of my favourites, but it survived a move that was necessarily brutual (it was rather big to move at the time) and flourished. It does get shade until mid to late afternoon, which will have helped, but this glossy-leaved evergreen came through the drought with no obvious ill effects.

It’s turned out to be a bigger variety than I’d guessed it to be, so I’ve moved it again, this time to the back of the border. Let’s hope it survives.

And the last two are plants that might not surprise you…

9. Salvias
These are the type that are not always entirely hardy. But despite our living in a cold, windy area (thanks to the desolate, tree-less landscape created by the ‘custodians of the countryside’) the bright red Salvia ‘Royal Bumble’ has come through the last four winters. We added Salvia ‘Nachtvlinder’, which is similar, but with dusky purple flowers – less showy than S.’Amistad’, but you don’t have to buy it new every year. They need trimming back now and then, but will flower from June until autumn. We’ve acquired some other, similar varieties this year. This bright, sub-shrub could be one of the answers to the question of what we fill our garden with if the summers continue to be very dry – it is happy in our light soil, and copes well with low rainfall.

10. Sedum
The succulent leaves give this plant a mechanism for living for long periods without much moisture. Did I say sedum? I meant Hylotelephium of course (another botanist curve-ball!) The first is a dark-leaved variety called Xenon, from a cutting I was given when I volunteered at Dyffryn gardens in South Wales.

An extra to the ten is a plant that I grew from seed a few years ago. Datura metaloides is a highly fragrant, tender plant with large white trumpets, which is related to the highly prized Brugmansia. In fact, some sources suggest the two are one and the same species, with the sole difference being that Datura holds its flowers upright, while in Brumansia they hang down. Both are highly poisonous (reading between the lines, I think they mean hallucinogenic, but apparently people have died trying this out for themselves, so not recommended). The leaves and flowers are greasy – I would recommend you don’t lick your fingers after touching it (best wear gloves). But anyway, it seeds prolifically (from large spikey seed capsules that could double as a mace) and the seeds stay in the soil and germinate freely in late spring/early summer.

I moved some of the seedlings that came up, and they struggled somewhat (though they came through in the end). Those that were allowed to grow without disturbance flourished, and were apparently able to grow big and lush, and produce lots of huge flowers, regardless of the lack of rain (and we didn’t water them at all either). So if you want an annual that grows itself, and needs no input from the gardener, you could try Datura (if you dare…)

In truth, despite the sad state of the garden during this year’s drought, there were a surprising number of plants that did quite well. I could have included Gaura (sorry; Oenothera!), evergreen Euonymus and Calamagrostis ‘Overdam’. Though the garden was badly hit by the drought, more plants came through successfully than didn’t (and those that died will probably come back next year). So it wasn’t as bad as all that. All the same, if we get more years like the one just gone, changes will need to be made, and we’ll need to re-stock the garden with plants that will thrive in the new conditions. From experience in my garden, top of my list will be day lilies, grasses (particularly stipas), salvias, sedum and physocarpus.

I wish you all a happy horticultural 2026

10 Plants that struggled in the drought

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After a string of dry years, this spring and summer were the driest yet. And although we didn’t have the record high temperatures seen a few years ago, it was still hot, with more sunshine than we’re used to, and drying winds that stressed plants further still.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, I’m gardening on thin, free-draining, sandy soil, which loses its moisture very quickly. So which plants failed to cope with these exceptional (or perhaps, no longer exceptional) conditions?

  1. Viburnum (Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum ‘Mariesii)
    This is a glorious shrub, with fresh green leaves, a tiered branching habit, and branches smothered in clusters of bright, white flowers in late spring. Under normal conditions it’s dense and bushy, filling a large space. This year, by early August it had shrunk back, lost quite a few of its leaves, and those that remained hung down limply.

2. Phlox
This is Phlox ‘Peacock White’. Phlox prefer moist soil, so it’s no surprise this struggled, as it has done most years. You can see it’s trying to flower, but the flowers didn’t come to much.

3. Clerodendron trichotomum
A slightly rare shrub with white flowers and very striking berries, this too should have been full and lush. Shortly after I took this photo it went into early dormancy – we’ll have to see whether it comes back to life next spring.

4. Corylus maxima ‘purpurea’
A vigorous (normally!) large shrub with large, dark leaves. By early summer it was obviously suffering. This year it hardly put on any growth, and looked sick from early summer onwards.

5. Ligularia
Ligularia dentata ‘Midnight Lady’. This too is a moisture loving perennial. I planted it by the pond, in a bed with a pond liner beneath, to create a bog garden. Unfortunately the pond all but dried up, and the pierced liner beneath these plants couldn’t hold onto the moisture. The ligularias did eventually produce some flowers, but they didn’t hold up. The leaves would be expected to be large and lush.

This is what it should look like (as you can see, slugs and snails love the big leaves)…

6. Hydrangea (H. paniculata ‘Limelight’)
I have one large plant, and a few smaller ones, struck as cuttings. Hydrangeas are not known for their drought tolerance either, so perhaps not such a good choice. Having said that, planted in shade, it has been reasonably resilient. Until this year, at least. This photo too was taken in August.

7. Cornus kousa
A large shrub/small tree, grown largely for its showy white flowers (which are actually bracts – the flowers are tiny) followed by strawberry-like berries. Last year it only produced a handful of flowers. This year there were none, and the plant sulked from shortly after the buds broke. I’m wondering if there’s more to this than a lack of water. We do have honey fungus in the garden, so it could be this cornus is under attack.

8. Persicaria ‘Purple Fantasy’
Oh Dear! No amount of watering was going to save this rather vulnerable perennial. It puts up shoots early, which tend to need protection from the frost (unfortunately I didn’t get around to fleecing it). It’s first shoots were hit by frost. It sent out new shoots, but they too were killed off, by a late frost. It recovered again, but by August, despite attempts to keep them watered, all of the plants had shrivelled and died.
On the plus side, I split up some of the clumps and replanted them in shade, and with the wet autumn they put out some new growth, so there’s hope for next year. Here is one I moved (taken yesterday).

9. Aconitum
The flowers were poor, and the foliage withered before the flowers had finished. The late flowering ‘Carmichaelii’ varieties weren’t much better either.

10. Roses.
I’m beginning to wonder if it’s worth continuing to grow the traditional bush varieties in an open border. Rosa ‘Wollerton Old Hall’, a climber planted against a north-facing wall, did okay, as did Rosa ‘Clare Austen’ (planted against a shed, again facing north). ‘Dame Judi Dench’ (pictured), ‘Munstead Wood’, ‘Tuscany Superb’, and even ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ were sick specimens this year. On a pergola, ‘Constance Spry’ and ‘Lady of the Lake’ fared little better.

The flash of red behind gives a clue to the plants that coped well with the dry season.

In the summer, we did as much watering as we could. The four water butts ran out early on. I’ve been holding off, but I think it might be time to re-evaluate my planting plan. The problem is, of course, that if we switch to plants that like a Mediterranean climate, and then we get a few cooler, drier summers (because despite climate change, these things do go in cycles), we could find ourselves with the reverse of what we have now. I.e.; plants curling up and dying because it’s too wet and cloudy. Ideally we need plants that will cope with wet or dry, hot and cold – if such plants exist (actually, I think they do).

In my next post, I’ll highlight the plants that came through the drought unscathed…

A Few Late Spring Highlights…

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The garden is really beginning to get going now. The mixed hedge between us and the field that wraps around us is fully out, with blossom from hawthorn, crab apple and blackthorn. We had a succession of blossom from our fruit trees, starting with damson, then pear, then apple, but that’s finished now, and little fruitlets are beginning to form.

The tulips in pots and the garden are all but finished too, with the exception of a new variety we tried, in the white border, called ‘White Triumphator’…

The Viburnum plicatum f.tomentosum ‘Mariesii’. is looking at it’s best now too…

To it’s left is a Ceanothus (I think it’s ‘Puget’s Blue’), which is making a great combination with neighbouring plants on both sides. It’s set off beautifully by the purple hazel (Corylus maxima ‘Purpurea’) behind, and goes well with the pale pink tree peony in front. The rose in the left foreground, (Gertrude Jekyll’) is about to burst into rich pink flower – if the peony can hold on until then, this will complete the picture…

Fagus sylvatica ‘Dawick Purple’ is starting to take shape – it’s been in the ground for three or four years now…

In the sunny rockery at the end of the garden Lithodora diffusa ‘Heavenly Blue’ is stunning; here being raided for nectar by a busy bee…

This Laburnum is a seedling I rescued from a customer’s garden (they didn’t want or have room for another)…

Around the pond the camassias flowered almost unnoticed. In our thin, dry soil they have turned out to be weedy little plants. The Siberian irises are another matter, having grown strongly and been split numerous times in the five years we’ve been here, and now spread across the garden. They will soon be out and, unlike the camassias, should produce a spectacular show.

Things move fast in the garden at this time of year, and it’s easy to miss things, or feel that you haven’t made the most of them. We’re currently engaged in the mammoth task of pulling out the sea of pale blue forget-me-nots before they drop millions of seeds, and looking forward to waves of colour spreading across the garden. The only spectre is the potential for another damaging drought. We haven’t had rain for weeks now, and there isn’t any forecast for the foreseeable future. I guess this is what climate change looks like.

Plants to survive a heatwave

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For some years now, gardening pundits have been telling us we may need to move towards Mediterranean climate plants in our UK gardens. But this summer has imbued that idea with a powerful sense of urgency.

How many of us haven’t lost plants during this summer’s heatwaves? The true cost will only be known next year, when we will see what comes back, and what doesn’t. The heat wasn’t quite so intense up here in Shropshire. But even here, there were days when it seemed as if we were in Australia, or Arizona. The experts like to tell us what plants are most likely to survive those conditions. But you can’t beat first hand experience on the ground.

Plants in pots will always need to be watered regularly, along with those that haven’t been in long enough to have put down a good root system. But this year, I’ve also had to water some established perennials and shrubs, else they might not have made it through. There were some surprises.

Moisture-loving perennials such as Ligularia and Rodgersia were never going to like the heat. Mine are in a bog garden, but the water level of the pond that feeds it fell so low the boggy area dried out.

Border phlox, unsurprisingly, also suffered, but despite looking very sad, they made it through without being watered. I was surprised that Echinacea and Rudbeckia, which are prairie plants, needed regular watering. The RHS claim Rudbeckia came through well for them (apparently it has deep roots). They also said Eupatorium (which has, I believe, been re-classified as Eutrochium) did well, though it flowered earlier. My Eupatorium only reached 60cm, flowered late, and needed regular watering. Perhaps the difference is in the soil (mine is thin, sandy, dusty soil which drains quickly). The established Helenium got through (I may have watered it once).

Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’ – flowering after the drought (and regular watering)

I may have despaired at the sad state of so many of the plants, but there were successes. Echinops, despite being big, leafy plants, were barely affected (and we had seedlings coming up all over the garden too). Verbascum and Achillea proved to be resilient, as did Verbena bonariensis. Gaura (which is now officially known as Oenothera), continued its campaign to take over the garden. Sedum (now Hylotelephium), being succulents, were able to store enough water in their leaves to get through.

Salvia ‘Royal Bumble’

Salvias, which are Mediterranean plants, were mixed. The perennial blue Salvia guaranitica ‘Blue Ensign’ would have died if I hadn’t watered it regularly, and failed to flower. But shrubby Salvia ‘Royal Bumble’ was undaunted, and has produced masses of flower from June onwards. It’s also self-seeded all around the plant (which is nice).

Iris sibirica, which is supposed to like damp soil, came through as if this year was no different to any other. It flowers early – before the heat struck – but afterwards, the leaves continued unabated. In fact, it clumped up so well I’ve recently had to divide the plants.

Iris sibirica

And last, but not least, Symphyotrichum reliably produced their tall mounds of foliage in the background, and have now erupted into bloom. They are one of my favourite perennials. Aster Munch came through too, but only just.

Symphyotrichums produce a fantastic show of bright daisies when all around them is decay and autumn colours

When it comes to shrubs, Viburnum plicatum ‘Mariesii’ flowered beautifully early on, but by mid-summer was all but dead. Cornus kousa, and the purple hazels (Corylus maxima ‘Purpurea’) were hardly any better. Deciduous Berberis hardly put up a fight before their leaves shrivelled and fell (the sawflies that regularly strip them must have been very disappointed).

Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum ‘Mariesii’ – flowering before the heatwaves

This Cotinus has been in for a few years now, and hasn’t grown much (perhaps it doesn’t like the soil) but it wasn’t affected by the lack of moisture, or the heat…

Cotinus coggygria – taking on autumn colour

Hydrangeas are renowned for needing a lot of moisture, so it was surprising that Hydrangea ‘Limelight’ got through unscathed, and without additional water. Although it does have some shade – only getting the sun from mid-afternoon.

Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’ The flowers change colour and then stay on the plant over winter. This one has produced a couple of fresh flowers in October.

Predictably, Ceanothus ‘Puget Blue’ was at home in the conditions, flowering and growing on well. Roses don’t generally like it hot and dry. Mine muddled through quite well, though they did have a long break in flowering (all except ‘Munstead Wood’, which kept on producing blooms, albeit rather slowly).

Rosa ‘Munstead Wood’

To mis-quote the late Jimmy Grieves; it’s been a funny old year Saint. Too cold for too long in spring and early summer. Then too hot during summer. And too dry throughout. The plants haven’t known whether they’ve been coming or going. Those whose gardens are predominantly Mediterranean gravel gardens will be feeling pretty smug right now. But for those of us who like a more lush look, it’s been rather stressful. Who knows what next year will bring…

text & images © graham wright 2022

Datura – Part 2…

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I said I’d post photos of the Daturas when the flowers were out. And here they are…

This is a clump of four self-sown seeds, from a plant that is supposedly tender. The clump is currently 65cm (just over 2′) tall, by 150cm (5′) across. The individual flowers are 15cm (6″) across…

Perhaps the most astonishing thing about these plants is that despite having germinated and grown in one of the hottest, driest periods this country has experienced, I’ve never once had to water them. Perennials and shrubs you would expect to be drought tolerant have been shrivelling up in our dry, dusty soil, and have needed to be watered regularly to keep them alive. But these Datura have grown from seeds to big, lush plants, apparently oblivious to the lack of water and temperatures that have at times been in the mid thirties.

I think I mentioned that the seed packet said Datura meteloides are half-hardy shrubs that need a minimum temperature of 5C in the winter. Further research suggests they are perennials. From what I’ve read, they can be treated like a Dahlia, so that’s what I plan to do. I’ll let them be cut back by frost, then dig up the roots and see what I’ve got. Hopefully they will have tubers that I can store over winter. If that doesn’t work, I’ll still have the ones in pots indoors and in the greenhouse. And I’ll collect some seed for next year too – there are seed pods forming…

If our summers continue to be this hot and dry, Datura could prove to be the perfect low maintenance annuals – simply scatter the seeds on a bare patch of ground and let them get on with it. Who would have thought exotics could be so easy!

text & images © graham wright 2022

Sacred Datura…

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Or Datura meteloides; a tender plant which is very similar to the better known Brugmansia (commonly known as angels’ trumpets). I bought a packet of Datura seeds a few years ago. They germinated well, and growth was initially good, but all of the plants slowed down (I’ve kept some indoors, and others in an unheated greenhouse) and have never grown to more than about 20cm. But the flowers are spectacular. The buds elongate, and the petals emerge in a whorl…

The whorl opens to a star…

And then, finally you get to see the full trumpet…

The seed packet said that, like Brugmansia, Datura are woody plants – shrubs – but mine seem to die back in winter. Even the two I have indoors mostly died back. Some of last year’s growth survived the winter, but it clung onto life looking sickly and yellow, while new, healthy shoots from the base overtook it.

In researching this post, I discovered some very interesting facts about this plant, particularly here. I can confirm that the leaves are sticky, and do have a very strange smell about them. I wouldn’t call it unpleasant exactly. But whatever you do, don’t lick your fingers after touching it!

It’s a curious co-incidence that Datura meteloides has a synonym of Datura Wrightii, as Wright is my surname. I remember once seeing a cactus (an unpromising, ground-crawling thing) with the name Wrightii, so I guess there must have been a plant collector in that part of the world (North/Central America) who shared my surname.

Apparently D. meteloides (or D. Wrightii) is native to Arizona. Which explains another phenomenon. Some of my plants produced impressive, spiky seed capsules, similar to a conker, which burst open to reveal lovely big, round, black seeds. I must have dropped some in one of the beds, because earlier this summer, seedlings started to appear. They had long seed leaves (which threw me, as the seeds were round) and I couldn’t initially identify them. Worried they might be from a mutant perennial sunflower we made the mistake of planting two years ago, and now can’t get rid of, I pulled the first few out. When more came up I decided to take a chance and see what they turned into. And here they are…

In the eight days since taking this photo they’ve doubled in size, and numerous flower buds are forming. They’ve grown through two heatwaves, in full sun for much of the day, remaining lush and healthy, despite my never having given them a single drop of water. Apparently having evolved in the Arizona desert, I suppose our little hot spells are nothing out of the ordinary for them. But looking ahead to increasingly hot, dry summers here in the UK (more about that next time), these plants could be the ultimate easy to grow, maintenance-free summer bedding – throw the seeds on the ground and watch your beds fill with the most amazing, tropical-looking foliage and flowers. Then again, they could just be the next Himalayan Balsam. Oh my god – what have I done?!

When the flowers are out, I’ll post another photo. This could be amazing!

Text & images © graham wright 2022

Another Spring Drought…

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For the past few years I’ve written about a prolonged drought at spring – a time when you wouldn’t necessarily expect it. I wondered whether it was just in the Vale of Glamorgan, where I was living until last December. But now I’m in Shropshire, and this year’s drought is like nothing I can remember. Grass is going brown. The 250 litre water butt we installed a few months ago has long since been emptied. And the pond is becoming little more than a muddy puddle…

The alpine flowers look pretty reflected in the water, even if the surface is a bit messy. We inherited the pond, the bridge and an artificial hill with an imitation mountain stream waterfall. Not really our style, but I have to admit that at this time of year the alpine flowers look wonderful…

The darker blue flowers are Lithodora ‘Heavenly Blue’, but beyond that, and the heathers, I’m not sure – alpines are not plants I’ve ever taken much interest in. I suspect there are some alpine phlox in there. They don’t seem to mind the dry weather.

We haven’t had any significant rain for many weeks. Added to that, it’s been mostly sunny, and there’s been a strong, desiccating wind (my OED says ‘desiccative’, but WordPress isn’t so fussy). Not the greatest conditions in which to be creating a new garden. I’ve been moving turf around to set out the beds and the grassy areas, but struggling to stop them drying up altogether. Watering has been a major job, particularly as most of the plants we brought with us are still in pots.

I’m ashamed to say I’ve lost a few, including a small cutting of a fig, some phlox (the border type, rather than alpine varieties), and a yellow bottlebrush/wattle called Melaleuca squarrosa, which was one of a few grown from seed brought back from Australia). The one we planted in our last garden was around seven feet tall by the time we left, but we don’t have any left now. Maybe that’s an excuse to go and buy some more seeds, if ever we’re allowed to travel again.

The plants we bought from Burncoose nursery are all in now, and seem to be hanging on, with regular watering. The buds of the two upright beech trees are swelling and elongating, and I’m looking forward to them opening. The six fruit trees in our mini orchard have been in for longer and are also doing okay. This is Malus (apple!) ‘James Grieve’…

In the raised bed at the end (which will eventually be moved later on in the implementation of my garden plan) we’ve already harvested some of the rhubarb, and the reset strawberry plants are beginning to flower among the rubble…

I’ve been cavalier in moving rhododendrons that were in the way, but they’re coming out now, and I have to admit they are impressive. I may try harder to accommodate them under, and among the structural trees and shrubs in the design. The rich red will really shine out from the understorey. I’m almost excited to see what colours some of the others will be. I hope they survive, though some will need to be moved again, once they’ve finished flowering, and our thin soil is going to need some significant bulking up with organic material if they are to really thrive.

I was initially delighted to discover we had soil that is so easy to work. But in the last few weeks, with the continuing dry, sunny, windy conditions, I’ve seen just how thin it is. The tractors working in the field have raised dust storms, and as I clear more areas of grass and weeds I’ve taken to covering the exposed soil, for fear it will all blow away. It really is a bit like the mid-west here. All we need is some tumble weed. On the plus side, I am looking forward to growing a range of different plants from those I’ve been used to. Echinacea, for instance, and heleniums, which typically didn’t last the winter in the heavy clay of our last garden. Broom seems to do very well here – we have three large plants in the garden, and they are all full of flower, giving off a distinctive, heady aroma. Who needs Chanel?

And the magnolia is finally in full flower. I’m not sure of the variety. Despite having plenty of flowers, it’s something of a disappointment. Magnolia flowers can be damaged by frost; normally it’s the ones that flower early that suffer most. Despite flowering late, many of the flowers on our magnolia are frost damaged, with brown, rotten patches. Those flowers that aren’t affected look good though.

Here’s the full picture…

Actually, it doesn’t look to bad from a distance. It needs some structural pruning to improve the shape. The stems are crossing and congested. There’s another job waiting to be done. I’ll let it finish flowering first.

text & images © graham wright

Is it autumn already?

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With leaves changing colour all around us there’s no chance of pretending autumn isn’t on its way. All we can do is to embrace the season and enjoy the show. What’s your favourite plant for autumn colour?

Parthenossisus cinquefolia (Virginia Creeper) is early to colour up.

It’s been an unusual growing year. It began with an apparently very early spring, which turned out not to be spring at all; just a mild spell in winter. The cold and the snow that followed was harsher than anyone would have expected and the winter, far from ending early, dragged on.
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No Spring Drought This Year

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Marigolds, like miniature suns, have kept going right through the winter.

March last year was a good month, from a work perspective. By mid-month I was pretty much up to my full working schedule. How different it is this year. I cut a few lawns, and then wet weather set in. Lawns are now too wet to cut (or even to walk on),  and the ground is too saturated to work. At least there have been a few sunny spells today, between the showers. Over the past week or so the weather has been miserable.
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