I know myself well enough to avoid plants requiring too much moisture. Hanging baskets typically require far more attention than I’m prepared to give, so I’ve created a (relatively) drought-tolerant one.
photo by SVSeekins
It turns out White Stonecrop is tough enough to survive under my care. Yeah, baby! (It gets an 8 oz. glass of water every afternoon when I get home from work.)
This discovery was a fluke, really. A couple Sedum album were already growing in the moss I peeled off some rock to create the basket liner. I popped a small reservoir in the bottom before adding the soil & other plants. A few spare sedums went on top for good measure. They grew & exceed my expectations. 🙂
Have you got any other ideas for tough-as-nails, drought-tolerant baskets?
We were cycling along, minding our own business, when I just had to laugh out loud.
It’s a Hedge Monster consuming a street sign. Caught in the act! 🙂
It’s a funky neighbourhood place marker. Do little kids use it to help them find their way home from school? How big was it when it was first planted? How long has it been this big? So many questions…
photo by SVSeekins
The foliage density impresses me… as does the tidiness of clipping inside the shrub itself — around the street sign.
The stains on the sidewalk & driveway tell me the hedge sometimes overwhelms its allowed space.
It could easily impede
driveway access.
mower access on the neighbour’s lawn.
pedestrian access along the sidewalk.
How often does the gardener sheer this shrub to keep it tidy?
I giggle to myself & cycle away, on the lookout for more fun.
I planted Lithodora diffusa underneath the apple tree years ago. It flourished.
A few years later, a Garden Club Speaker told us Lithodora is far more drought tolerant than most people think. He said that, after getting its root system established, it pretty much took care of itself. I love hearing this kind of news from experienced local gardeners. He would know about the months of drought we get on Southern Vancouver Island. He would know what ‘drought tolerant’ really means to us.
photo by SVSeekins
Lithodora originates in Turkey & Greece – another area of the globe with long, dry summers. And temperatures there get a lot hotter than ours. (More clues that Lithodora can survive without me hauling the water hose out every other day. ) Sweet.
photo by SVSeekins
So, I shifted our 3 Lithodora plants to the shallow bed near the top of our rocky outcrop in the fall. They were all large enough to have decent-sized root systems, but I watered them occasionally through the following summer just to be sure they established thoroughly in the new bed. They survived. 🙂 The next year, with hardly any summer moisture, they did just as well. 🙂 🙂
Then I discovered some small Lithodora volunteers under the apple tree. I decided to risk them. So I planted them on a bit of stacked rock along the path leading up the slope. They survived. 🙂 They established themselves during our rainy winter… grew more… and even bloomed.
photo by SVSeekins
I’m so stoked.
Lithodora makes it onto my list of High-Value Plants.
The low-growing evergreen covers the ground like I want.
It looks even better draping down rock walls.
Each May, blue flowers brighten the spring garden.
It’s winter tolerant to -15 C — and that’s plenty cold for here.
AND the deer leave it alone.
Happiness blooms in our low-maintenance garden.
PS—Fast-forward a couple more years… the lovely patch of Lithodora in the shallow soil kicks the bucked. But the patches in the deeper soil beside the gravel path flourish.
Garden Variety Life 