My garden and I made it through the hottest day ever recorded in June in Indianapolis. Toward the end of the day, the garden fairies and I, in consultation with the Board of Directors decided to move into Drought Survival Mode.
This means,
We water for survival, and not for flourish and lush.
We won't be buying more plants until fall, and then we will probably buy many new plants.
We'll tell people that tan is the new green for lawns. We won't let the lawn die, but we'll let it go dormant, as it likes to do in warm weather anyway, and give it just enough water so that it doesn't die.
We'll take notes and look at this as a learning experience, a chance to really figure out how little water some plants need to survive.
Oh, and the garden fairies agreed that there will be no fire in the garden except for fireflies. But it took a bit of negotiating.
Comments
I checked the plant for obvious indications of insect and disease issues and found the tree to be apparently in an otherwise very healthy state.
since birches tend to be shallow rooted and in this particular situation, numerous other mature plants in very close proximity, the only conclusion I could logically determine was that the tree was experiencing a stress situation. Obviously shedding leaves to prevent extreme transpiration, I determined that extensive watering had to to be followed and recommended watering at least three times weekly with healthy amounts of watering. In addition, I recommended an application of a systemic insecticide and accompanied with a diluted application of liquid feed to support the tree throughout the heat of summer and the tree should come back quite nicely. Over all the tree is extremely healthy and with minor adjustments in maintenance, the tree will survive very strongly.