Gardening in June

This spring didn't know how to keep an appointment, so our plants have been behind the eight ball all season.   Summer is fast approaching, the heat rolled in quickly and is oppressive as I write.  We had a few days of spectacular Stella D'Oro day lily bloom which was a joy, and now they have slowed down. I am guessing that the heat hinders their booming process instead of forcing them to open. The annuals I planted have not taken up the slack of providing color, they are struggling to fill in since they were held off by bad spring weather. It is a disappointment not to have waves of color all over the yard.  The watering system has helped in some areas, but Mr has not kept up with the retooling of the system to meet the needs of this year's plantings. As a result, our garden  is looking sad, not infused with color and bouncing greens as I would like. This photo shows about ten to twelve annual plants. Did you get out your magnifying glass to find them? The watering system does not reach them right now. It has so hindered their progress that they are about to disappear. The watering system makes a huge difference, when it is done correctly everything is beautiful, but when done inadequately everything evaporates...evaporation is what you see here. This planting can get rescued, but will it happen in time? Not sure, since the mechanic can't work on it right now.

garden with working irrigation

What does a planting with the watering system look like, see the next photo to the right. The difference is incredible. This watering system is so inexpensive, and its benefits are so obvious.
One of the problems with our watering system is that we have a huge iron content in our water, and it clogged the pores of the soaker hoses and some sprinkler heads we used last year. We have improved our water processing system, and the new irrigation lines work fine, it is only one or two of the recycled ones that is clogged and needs to be replaced.

The photo below is a dahlia that was purchased and planted last year as a seed dahlia. The seed dahlias were sold as an annual plant in a six pack of plants. It produces great color (orange, yellow, pink,red or burgundy) of one to two inch size flowers that bloom profusely all summer. Dahlias are not hardy here.  The plants in the photo below should have died over the winter. I considered pulling them out and storing them for replanting in the spring, but I decided not to do it.  I left them in the ground. When weeding this spring I discovered them sprouting and I didn't have a clue what plant it was that was coming up. I thought it was a weed. Choosing not to pull them up, I took a chance on what plant it could be. It was a good gamble. I discovered that it was the seed dahlias returning! I blew it on one, by breaking off the plant inadvertently. It did not grow back.  The other dahlias from the six pack, did return. The one below should bloom shortly, the others are a bit behind. They will give me great color, I'm sure of it.   The dahlia's I did dig up did not fare well this winter. I am guessing that I did not pack them well enough to be protected from bugs and the cold. I planted them all anyway, so the big reveal will be when and if they bloom. Just to be sure I have some color I planted one package of a new dahlia variety. I'll photograph them when they bloom out.