life in a dry, brown place

 Still no rain.  Well...a five minute spattering of water doesn't count, does it?  The ground is so dry that it may take a month of rain at this point to saturate it again, and most of New Hampshire is now in a moderate drought per the US Drought Monitor.  The cottage gardens are horrid to look at.  Other plants around the property are beginning a slow death, as well.  The little water feature is going dry, and even the bog garden is starved for moisture. Now that the weather has at least taken a turn for the cooler, I need to get out there and deadhead and cut back as much as possible, which will stop the plants from trying to grow or flower, and send more energy to the roots, where it's needed. 

I've been forced to harvest the onions, shallots, garlic, and some of the potatoes.  It's a mixed bag of NICE! and ....what the heck happened here?  (Imagine my surprise when I dumped out a bag of potatoes and found...yellowjackets.  Will the hornet invasion never end?!?!)  But there's still enough of a harvest to share and some to store for winter.  I won't be doing any fall sowing, except maybe carrots.

garlic, cherry tomatoes, Hungarian Hot Wax and Shishito peppers

And it's not just the gardens that are suffering.  Our lawns are crispy crunchy, leaves have begun to drop from trees, and even non-garden spieces of plants are showing signs of distress.  Well, except for weeds, that is.  Grrrrr!

All is not lost, though.  Our generous neighbors have given us access to their water, so we've been putting tubs and tanks on our trucks and hauling water in to save what we can.  I've been concentrating on the beans, cucumbers, what's left of the tomatoes and peppers, and the squash.  Some plants continue to flourish, so I've begun to note which still thrive despite the heat and drought.  Coreopsis, gaillardia, tall garden phlox, black eyed Susans, and yellow toadflax are glorious.  The tall prairie coneflowers are drooping, but I can't tell if that's from being top heavy in an area without support, or from thirst.

 In the hot beds, the blackberry lily that survived bloomed, and it's so beautiful!  I definitely need more of these, because like daylilies, the bloom only lasts one day, then shrivels up.

 Even in the toughest of times, there is beauty if you look for it.