May 4, 2011

No Xeriscaping in Ross County

Xeriscaping is the art of planning a garden area that doesn't require a lot of moisture, something you'd need to consider when landscaping in a drier climate such as Arizona.  Cactus and succulents in a rock garden is an example of a basic xeriscape.


Ohioans ordinarily need not be familiar with xeriscaping, although with the near drought conditions we experienced last year, I was thinking about it.  This year, however, is a different story.  We haven't had a dry day here in weeks and I'm sure whatever water tables were lacking in 2010 have been more than made up for thus far in 2011.

Southern Ohio farmers aren't able to get their fields planted because of the rain and further delay will likely hurt this year's summer crop.  According to the NOAA, the city of Columbus received 7.14" of rain last month, breaking the over 100-year-old record of 7.08" of rainfall during April 1893.  Only four days into May but no break in the weather yet.

Maple Grove Rd, Ross County
Wet field still unplanted on May 4, 2011

My own back yard is a combination of standing water and a mud pit, so no xeriscape for me.  Perhaps we should plant rice instead?

My Patio Under Water.  It hasn't been dry for weeks.

I should be thankful I don't have it as bad as these folks.

Flooded yard on Maple Grove Rd, May 4, 2011


I’ll be featuring 26 local Ohio businesses and attractions during May, starting with the letter Z on May 2 and working back to the letter A on May 30, while participating in the Z to A in May blogging challenge.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Wishing you folks lots of sunshine in the near future. Tractors would need pontoons to get into those fields.

Anonymous said...

Whew! The rest of the alphabet should be easy-peasy now!

I’m blogging my way back from Z to A and my “X” post is right here.

Unknown said...

I love the cactus in the rock garden arrangment...but yeah...there is no X-gardening (I didn't want to straight copy and paste that word) here in Northwest Illinois yet either. The Mississippi is just going down a little, little bit day by day.

Z to A Challenge
http://www.miscmayzee.com
http://www.beautyisfluid.com

Unknown said...

UGH! Your poor back yard! Cool way to work in an X.

I just keep crossing my fingers that I "might" get something in the ground my Memorial Day. The only farmers that Harry has seen have been turning the wetter areas trying to get them to dry. Then it rains again!

Linda McCloud said...

Hubby is dying to plant his garden. Normally we do this after Mother's Day, sure hope the rains stop by then. Great job on X.