My Yard...Now and Then

This summer has been sooo hot and dry.

My yard is feeling a major impact from the drought. It is all I can do to keep the flowers watered and there comes a point when I have to let the "survival of the fittest" idea take over. It's really quite depressing as I water every night to see how sad everything looks. I water all my pots every afternoon and try to soak the flowers beds on a rotating schedule. I am the only irrigation system we have - so no timer will kick in and take over my job. I am trying to save the perennials and plants that have special meaning. (like the plants passed on from family and friends)



July 31, 2011

  There are a few bright spots among the brown ones... and these flowers have yet to be irrigated by me (other than the zinnias). You gotta love that! The sunflowers, periwinkles, and yellow four o'clocks have all self seeded and have taken care of themselves with the heat.

To be honest, I have NO idea were the yellow 4:00 came from. I only have hot pink and the yellow ones came  up by the steps. Farmall Man complains about having to walk around them to climb the steps... I reminded him of all his stuff I walk around and they are still happily standing by the porch ;)



July 31, 2011

The trees shouldn't be looking like this till fall, but I have had a red bud to die and the dogwood tree is ailing.

July 31, 2011

Summers in Texas are always hot, but last year my yard was still providing some pretty pictures. 

This is what my yard would normally look like this time of year (and some couch potatoes soaking up the a/c).



Last summer  - July 2010


Sunflowers were blooming in all colors and sizes last year...

Since there aren't any pretty flower picture this summer, I must return to files from last year and hope for a better summer next year. Hopefully the strongest plants will survive and next summer will produce more pretty blooms. After all us gardeners are an optimistic group...when we plant a garden, we are believing in tomorrow. Unfortunately, we are under an Excessive Heat Advisory instead of just a Heat Advisory for this week. Looks like I'll be spending lots of time with the water hose this week and dreaming about cooler weather and rain showers!

My favorite pics from the last week of July 2010.