Recently we went to a concert where we also had a beer (it was so hot!). The bottle made me laugh and I knew right away that it’d make the perfect vase…for a sunflower! ☺️ Oh what a mad year. Or rather a mad couple of years. The head gardener and myself spent a week in Brittany and when we got back, autumn had arrived. The tired look of the garden after almost four months without rain finally matches the season. Come to think of it, I look pretty tired too. 😉 Don’t know when or if the garden will be green again. Probably not before next spring but alas, I’m ready for hibernation. Well, not quite as I still have to redesign and replant some areas which have struggled over the past few years. I’ll keep you posted. In any case the new plantings will need no watering whatsoever. As promised I share a list of the plants which have done very well this summer in spite of the drought and heat starting with shrubs and trees. If you want to compile and share one too, please feel free to leave a link below. It’d be extremely helpful to learn from each other which plants did well this summer which was both magnificent and very challenging. Thanks to Cathy who is hosting the Vase on a Monday, please pop over to her to see what others have come up with today.
Kürzlich waren wir auf einem Konzert und bestellten ein Bier (es war so heiss!). Die Flasche brachte mich zum Lachen, und ich wusste gleich, dass sie die perfekte Vase sein würde…für eine Sonnenblume! ☺️ Was für ein verrücktes Jahr. Oder eher was für verrückte Jahre. Die Obergärtnerin und ich haben eine Woche in der Bretagne verbracht, und als wir heimkamen war es Herbst. Das müde Äussere des Gartens passt nach fast vier Monaten ohne nennenswerten Regen endlich zur Jahreszeit. Ehrlich gesagt bin ich auch müde. 😉 Keine Ahnung, wann oder ob der Garten wieder grün wird. Wahrscheinlich nicht vor dem nächsten Frühjahr, aber egal, ich bin reif für den Winterschlaf. Naja, noch nicht ganz. Vorher gilt es, die Bereiche umzugestalten und neu zu bepflanzen, die sich in den letzten Jahren nicht gut entwickelt haben. Ich halte euch auf dem Laufenden. Auf jeden Fall werden sie künftig so ausgelegt sein, dass sie nicht mehr gegossen werden müssen. Wie angekündigt teile ich eine Liste der Pflanzen, die sich während der Dürre und Hitze bestens geschlagen haben. Im ersten Teil geht es um Gehölze. Wenn ihr ebenfalls eine Liste machen und teilen möchtet, hinterlasst einfach unten einen Link zu eurem Beitrag. Es wäre sehr hilfreich, wenn wir unsere Erfahrungen des Sommers, der sowohl wunderschön als auch herausfordernd war, teilen. Vielen Dank an Cathy, die die Montagsvase ins Leben gerufen hat – vergesst nicht, bei ihr vorbeizuschauen.
Plants which have resisted very well during the drought in our clay soil:
Pflanzen, die sich während der Trockenheit in unserem Lehmboden exzellent behauptet haben:
Liquidamber styraciflua
Parrotia persica
Osmanthus
Lagerstroemia indica
Melia azederach
Elaeagnus ebbingei
Heptacodium miconioides
Euonymus alatus/europaeus
Prunus sp.
Malus sp.
Jasminum nudiflorum/humile
Chaenomeles
Arbutus
Acca sellowiana
Pittosporum
Trachelospermum
Phlomis fruticosa
Lonicera purpusii/tatarica/nitida
Albizia julibrissin
Spirea
Akebia quinata
Chimonanthus preacox
Trachycarpus fortunei
Nerium oleander
Cercis siliquastrum/chinensis/canadensis
Cotinus
Acer griseum/tataricum
Camellia sasanqua
Mahonia japonica/eurybracteata ganpinensis ‚Soft caress‘
Daphne odora ‚Variegata‘
Escallonia
Passiflora caerulea
Ginkgo biloba
Ligustrum
Ceanothus ‚Gloire de Versailles‘
Syringa persica/vulgaris
Vitex agnus-castus
Choisya ternata
Clematis x jouiniana/aromatica/mandschurica/integrifolia
Yucca filamentosa
Teucrium fruticans
Paulownia
Staphylea colchica
Symphoricarpos
Exochorda macrantha ‚The Bride‘
Annettes Garten / Annette's Garden 
Oberschräge Vase, das Bier sollte man mal einigen Politikern einschenken 🤣. Danke für die Liste, tolle Tipps! Schönen Herbst wünsche ich dir und bin gespannt auf die neuen Beete 😁
ich glaube nicht, dass das noch einen Unterschied macht 😉 liebe Grüsse
Die Namen muss ich erstmal googeln – danke! Das mit der Kamelie hat mich überrascht.
mich auch, vor allem weil sie recht sonnig steht. meine Nachbarin hat eine C. japonica im Wäldchen, die auch nie gegossen wird. experimentieren kann sich durchaus lohnen
What a bizarre brand of beer! The sunny sunflower is certainly a good antidote to any grey days we might have 😉 I have found here that aspect played a part in how plants performed, and that it was the direct heat that seemed to make the biggest impact
you’re absolutely right, Cathy, aspect is the key player. gardening is certainly an exciting activity which keeps us on our toes. hope you’re both ok. take care x
Yes indeed and thanks, I am well, but the Golfer is still ‚chesty‘
Sorry, Cathy, I’ve been away and only see it now. Hope your husband is better now. Did he catch a cold?
Will email, Annette
Your beer bottle’s label is very funny, Annette. One of the major beer brands sold here is „Corona“ and I have to wonder how its sales performed during the pandemic 😉
Coincidentally, I published a post on what thrived and what died in my garden this summer last Friday. Drought, as you can guess, has been a major issue for us in Southern California but the conditions in my garden are different than yours in many ways – my garden soil is heavy on sand, for example. However, I share some of the plants you grow, Here’s a link to that post: https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2022/09/what-thrived-and-what-died-this-summer.html
Corona beer can be bought here too but at least I won’t be buying it any time soon. 😅 Thanks so much for your contribution. So interesting to see how plants cope in other gardens.
Thanks for making me laugh too…although life isn’t really that funny at present 😘
you’re right but it’s so important to be able to laugh, keep your chin up ❣️
Wonderful beer bottle and what an interesting array of drought tolerant plants. I gave up on watering this summer as well and was surprised at how little was lost.
Amy, just saw the damage Ian has done and hope you’re okay! Scary to see especially as we’re not used to hurricanes.
We are okay, 30 mph winds and very little rain here. The hurricane passed 110 miles west.
I’m glad!
Haha! Love the bottle! 😃 Your list is very long Annette, so you have quite a good basis for future planting/replanting. I shall be perusing it in detail later to see if any would be suitable here. Wind is also a problem here, but our winters can also be nasty some years which limits things. I hope you have some damp days to soften the ground for planting. We finally got a larch in the ground last week – it arrived in July just before that horrible hot spell (I was expecting delivery in October!!) so it spent all summer in the barn! Look forward to hearing what you are planting that will require no watering at all…. Sending you hugs and rainshowers! ☔️🤗
Your good wishes ref. rain worked, we had a fair amount and now I hope the grass will pick up again soon. Most plants have coped well enough but it’s the suffering, poor creatures in between that sort of spoil the aesthetic. Once cut back or removed it looked much better. I certainly won’t be replanting the species that failed. We do get a lot of wind here too but thankfully this summer we had less otherwise it’ll look worse. No point to start digging yet as the ground is still too hard. Lots of baby plants waiting…hugs to you too x
That bottle name must have been a great selling point, and a talking point too, but I think your using it as a vase for a Sunflower is unique.
thank you, Noelle, it certainly got us talking 🙂
Cooles Label 😁 und deine Liste ist ja megalang. Echt beeindruckend, wie viele Pflanzen diesen Sommer überstanden haben. Manche wären bei mir leider nicht winterhart.
Als ich die Liste zusammenstellte war ich auch positiv überrascht und getröstet 🙂
Is that an ostrich peering out from behind the mask Annette? I’m not a great beer drinker but I’m sure that himself would enjoy supping that. Certainly an eye-catching label and the empty bottle makes a most snug fit for the sunflower 😀 Not quite so dry or as hot here this summer as in some other parts of the UK but I did notice that my hardy geraniums flourished.
Lovely to hear from you, Anna, I was getting worried as you haven’t posted in a while. It’s an ostrich indeed, the label certainly conveys a strong message. We had a little rain since and thankfully the sun is lower now which helps. Hope you’re well and enjoying autumn 🍁 🙂