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Watching your garden wither under the oppressive sun of a drought can be heartbreaking, but you don’t have to feel helpless. There are many tricks and techniques to help you and your garden get through a summer drought.

Gardening in Drought-Prone Areas
If you live in an area that is already experiencing a drought, or one that goes through summer droughts frequently, one of the best solutions for you might be to choose plants from the start that don’t require much water to thrive. Alyssum, Hollyhock, Marigold, Petunia, Phlox, Sage, Sunflower, and Zinnia are known to do well in low-water climates. A great tip is to choose plants that grow naturally in your area – these plants have grown used to the amount of water your climate naturally produces.

It is important for plants to have deep roots, especially in drought conditions. To grow deep roots it is recommended that plants get about 1 inch of water per week, preferably in one soaking rain (or watering). It takes about 90 minutes of solid watering with a sprinkler to get 1 inch of water. Do not give your garden short, frequent watering throughout the week because that will cause shallow roots that are much more vulnerable in a drought. Using a soaker hose instead of a sprinkler to water your garden is a good way to get most of the water directly to the plant’s roots where it is needed most.

Use a rain gauge to monitor the amount of water that your plants are getting; don’t try to guess. Early morning is the best time to water your plants because the soil is at its coolest and most absorbent. Using 3 inches or more of mulch around your plants will help keep the soil cool and trap the moisture next to the ground so your plants have a chance to use it before it evaporates.

Withstanding an Unexpected Drought

If drought conditions catch you off guard there are still ways to combat the lack of rainfall. Try to remove all of your garden’s water competition – this includes pulling weeds and even replacing the grass near your garden with mulch. Grass and weeds use water more efficiently than most garden plants, and if there is a competition for scarce water, your garden will lose.

It is also important to reduce the amount of fertilizer you put on your plants in a drought. Fertilizer will cause your plants to expend their energy producing new growth when the energy of plants in a drought-plagued garden needs to be spent gathering and saving moisture. Watch your plants for signs that they have been damaged by drought, like scorched foliage or severe wilting. If you see these signs it is a good idea to cut back the foliage of your plants by up to one half to reduce their need for water.

If your area is under a water restriction there are still ways to water your garden. Put water collectors under your downspouts – most areas will get some rain even in a [drought]. You can also collect water from your indoor faucets by catching the water you run while waiting for it to reach the right temperature or while you wet your toothbrush. To get the most from this salvaged water, take clean, empty milk jugs and poke holes in them with a pin. Fill these with your salvaged water and set them by the roots of the plants in your garden. The water will leak out slowly, optimizing the little water you have.

A drought doesn’t have to mean the end of your garden. With creativity and a little extra work you should be able to nurse your garden through the hard times and keep it looking as beautiful as always.

No matter where you live, you can select easy care plants for your garden. Even if you think you don't have what it takes to grow a beautiful garden, you'll be surprised how easy care plants thrive with very little attention. In fact, once established, there are selections which almost ensure your success.

In order to qualify as an "easy care" plant, the plant must be one that grows well in the environment you are able to easily offer. This means that a garden which will be in deep shade must utilize only shade-loving plants while plantings in direct sunlight must be able to withstand the intense sunshine and associated heat. Of course, most gardens offer areas of sun, partial shade, and possible some deeper shade, allowing you to choose from a wide spectrum of plants; however, even if this is not the case in your garden, you can still have a great garden that will be the envy of your friends and neighbors. You can avoid the time, effort and expense associated with frequent supplemental watering, by selecting plants which thrive in the local environment rather than specimens which demand only conditions you must artificially provide.

To make your easy care garden be truly impressive, you'll want to determine what areas of the garden will have the most impact and which will have the least impact. The high impact areas are those which are visible from the street, in landscape areas closest to outdoor seating areas and those areas viewed from your home's windows. Your garden may have other high impact areas, but using the guideline of "what is seen most frequently", you can easily identify which areas should be highlighted. The remaining garden area can be considered lower impact.

Let's look at some easy care plants which fit great in each of the high impact areas.

Street-Visible Areas

For street-visible areas, choose plants which create a defined border or specimens placed in groupings. Pampas grass offers feathery pale plumes towering over tall groups of thin, hardy leaves is impressive yet very easy care. Colorful, hardy crotons are foliage plants used to create shrubs and require almost no pruning; they become even more colorful when exposed to full sun. Well-shaped, low-growing evergreen shrubs make great plantings for bordering the street, driveway, porch, front steps, or under front windows. Add impact to trees by planting shade-loving groundcover around the base. Ivy, wild ginger, creeping buttercup or bunchberry, as well as ferns work well for this purpose and help keep weeds from becoming established under your trees; you'll also rarely have to edge around the tree trunk once these plants are established.

Outdoor Seating Areas

You'll want to enjoy your garden from your patio, deck, back porch or other areas where friends and family gather to enjoy the outdoors. Here, you may want to focus on adding color and flowers when choosing easy care plants for your garden. Visible fences can become high impact beauties when flowering climbing vines such as clematis or mandeville are added. Cypress vine can be planted along fences and you'll have plenty of hummingbirds come to visit and dine. If you do not like the idea of climbing vines, then consider creating a border of Ajuna "Caitlin's Giant" with its lush burgundy leaves and eight inch tall blue flower spikes.

Around the outdoor seating, flowering shrubs prove to be easy care choices yet offer color and focus. Spanish bluebells love shade while freesias love sunlight. Crotons provide colorful impact anywhere full sun is available. When shopping for plants for high impact areas, be sure to read the instruction spike inserts in the pot or ask the expert at your garden center for the exact requirements for that species.

Petunias make lovely blooming plants that area truly easy care and offer lots of color. "Supertunia Vista Bubblegum", a heat-hardy yet cold-tolerant hybrid pink variety, works great in containers or ground plantings, growing to heights of 20 inches and creating an easy care choice which requires no deadheading or pruning.

Hydrangeas are great choices for high impact areas viewed from windows. Available in periwinkle blue or pink, the large bunches of small blooms area truly impressive. With only a single fall pruning and spring fertilization, these shrubs will thrive in almost any condition. You can purchase varieties which grow to large heights or dwarf varieties which remain les than three feet tall.

Geraniums, marigolds, zinnias, four o'clocks, touch-me-nots, bachelor buttons, gerber daisies, and an endless variety of other beautiful flowering plants for garden areas near your outdoor family spots provide lots of variety. Hanging baskets of ivy, asparagus fern, and succulents also provide focus for high impact spots near seating.

Window-Viewed Areas: Garden areas which can be seen from windows which are located in areas that are frequently used, such as the living room, family room, kitchen, or dining area, also need to be high impact yet easy care. Choose from the easy care flowers and flowering shrubs for these areas. The taller flowering shrubs can be placed toward the back of these garden areas with shorter flowers planted in front. Then you can enjoy the easy care plants for your garden from indoors as well as outdoor.