Master Gardener Judy Moskoff shares her thoughts on maintaining beautiful gardens, even in the hot and dry summers of St. Louis. Visit Judy’s blog, A Gardener’s Home, at agardenershome.blogspot.com.
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Our garden looks pretty bad.
Most of it is my fault for being out of town and not arranging someone to watch over the watering. It does make me wish I had thought of drought resistant plants.
Can there possibly be plants that get through our wet springs and hot, dry summers? Sure! Natives!
Betty Struckhoff, master gardener and member of Wild Ones www.for-wild.org, has had wonderful luck with native plants at her sailing club at Lake Carlyle and will be showcasing native plants at the Museum of Transportation in September. She suggests Slender Mountain Mint (Pychanthemum tenuifolium), Side Oats Grama (Boutelona curtipendula), Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Wild Petunia (Ruellia humulis), Gray Goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis) and Rough Blazing Star (Liatris aspera). (Rose Verbena photo courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden, www.mobot.org.)
The garden won’t look nearly so brown next August.
Happy Gardening,
Judy Moskoff
www.agardenershome.blogspot.com
