Many of us are singing that song right now.<\/p>\n
Berlin\u2019s \u201cheat wave\u201d was generated by an unnamed human temptress.\u00a0 Our current heat wave is generated by Mother Nature.\u00a0 Unless you have an in-ground sprinkler system, a network of soaker hoses, or are getting your daily exercise by moving a lawn sprinkler around your property, your garden is in danger of becoming a collection of crispy critters.\u00a0 The peril grows as the heat wave lengthens.\u00a0 It is enough to make you pray for an old-fashioned gulley washer.<\/p>\n
Inevitably some plants will die.\u00a0 Gardeners tend to suffer grief, guilt and self-doubt when this happens, but it is important to remember that plants will die even under the best of circumstances.\u00a0 It has happened to me many times over my long gardening career.<\/p>\n
I have killed plants in every category except trees, and that is only because I haven\u2019t planted large numbers of trees.\u00a0 Annuals have withered, perennials languished unto death, and shrubs declined into leaflessness.\u00a0 Sometimes these deadly incidents were my fault; other times the causes were mystifying.<\/p>\n
Tony Avent, proprietor of the Plant Delights Nursery in North Carolina, has long said that you should not give up on a plant until you have killed it at least three times.\u00a0 I don\u2019t usually have the patience to try a particular variety three times.\u00a0 One death generally convinces me, but if that death was my fault, I will give the plant another try.<\/p>\n
So what do you do when a plant dies?\u00a0 First of all, you can grieve, but not for too long.\u00a0 After all, every dead plant opens a space in the garden for something new and different.\u00a0 Second, try to figure out what went wrong.\u00a0 Sometimes you can see damage from insect or animal pests or evidence of disease.\u00a0 If a plant is really worth it, try again, but protect it with physical barriers like deer or rabbit fencing, or organic repellant sprays.<\/p>\n
If you have taken good care of a plant and it is not threatened by obvious pests or diseases, think about the plant\u2019s situation.\u00a0 Sun lovers may languish in shade; shade lovers may get singed by the sun\u2019s harsh rays.\u00a0 Prevent this by reading plant tags carefully and observing the specimen\u2014especially when it is new.\u00a0\u00a0 Try moving it for a week or so and see if there is any change.\u00a0 Sometimes this is all that is needed.<\/p>\n
Soil chemistry and composition also play a role.\u00a0 Some plants, like lavender, need excellent drainage.\u00a0 If your soil is light, sandy or full of small pebbles, the lavender will probably be happy.\u00a0 If your soil is heavy clay and holds water tenaciously, lighten it with sand, or lots of organic material like compost.\u00a0 Actually, organic matter is helpful whether your soil drains too quickly or not fast enough.\u00a0 When in doubt, add it to planting holes.<\/p>\n
Water is important even when Mother Nature is not systematically depriving us of it.\u00a0 More plants have been killed by overwatering than by any other cause.\u00a0 Many of the most popular plants\u2014especially the currently-hot succulents\u2014will rot and die if they are overwatered.\u00a0 If plant tags don\u2019t give you enough watering information, go online and check out the requirements.\u00a0 Some plants, like hydrangeas, are perennially thirsty.\u00a0 Others, like annual portulaca, should not be watered until the top inch or so of soil is dry.<\/p>\n
If a plant is properly sited and watered appropriately, it\u2019s likely the plant was sick when it came from the nursery.\u00a0 Plant diseases don\u2019t always show themselves right away.\u00a0 Diseased roses, for example, may look great in the nursery and even appear to thrive the first year, before dying in Year Two.\u00a0 The killer was hiding in the rose plant long before you purchased it.<\/p>\n
These days, plants are most often bred to look good on the plant pallets during the growing season.\u00a0 Frankly, some are bred to be disposable, but that may not be immediately apparent to the gardeners who buy them.\u00a0 The best insurance against this is to shop at a reputable nursery that takes care of its inventory.\u00a0 Big-box stores can offer great bargains\u2014and I often take advantage of those bargains–but generally plant care is not high on their list.\u00a0 When a plant stops blooming, it goes to the back of the nursery area, to be replaced by something that has arrived in a more recent shipment and is about to burst into bloom.\u00a0 For best results when you shop at the big-box stores, buy plants that have been delivered within the last seven days.<\/p>\n
If plants die on you, remember that gardening should be about discovery, not guilt.\u00a0 Garden equipment is heavy enough without the added weight of lugging around the burden of guilt.\u00a0 We all have our horticultural b\u00eates noir.\u00a0 Mine happens to be ornamental sweet peas.\u00a0 Sometimes I blame my lack of success on climate, which is certainly a factor.\u00a0 However, I also seem to have bad sweet pea karma.\u00a0 I have accepted that and moved on to things that succeed better in my garden.\u00a0 If you are discouraged by plant mortality, I recommend finding a different route to success.\u00a0 Everyone can grow something\u2014usually many somethings.\u00a0 The only thing to fear is fear of plant death. Way back in 1939 Ethel Water\u2019s sang a set of torrid lyrics written by Irving Berlin.\u00a0 The first line goes: `\u201cOh, we\u2019re having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave.\u201d Many of us are singing that song right now. Berlin\u2019s \u201cheat wave\u201d was generated by an unnamed human temptress.\u00a0 Our current heat wave is generated … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[57,2346,494,2345,2347],"class_list":["post-3134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-summer","tag-hot-weather-gardening","tag-overwatering","tag-plant-care","tag-plant-death","tag-sick-plants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3136,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3134\/revisions\/3136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"marigold](\"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/marigold-bi-color.jpg\")
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