Most of my garden is getting ample water now, thanks to the new well. And things have started living again!
Look at those beautiful new red rose leaves. Gorgeous!
'Iceberg' has a horrible reputation for shedding its leaves any time it's unhappy. But, look at those beautiful green leaves! It must finally be thrilled to get a drink!
'Heritage' has had a hard time this year, but she's starting to get lots of leaves, and lots of little blooms.
'James Galway' is full of leaves. James never blooms much during the summer, but a bush full of leaves is still a perfect plant for near the walkway.
This is just a small sampling of the roses in my garden. The plants are starting to show their thanks. It's amazing what water can do!
The well could not have come at a better time. The family across the street ran their shallow well dry the other day. It recovered after a few hours, but it's still a scary thought!
That's very healthy looking roses! Mine have shed most of the leaves even though i water them everyday....
ReplyDeleteHolley, I am really happy for you that you have your well now and that you can water your roses sufficiently. Your photos prove that they surely enjoy the extra sip of water. I observe it in my garden, too, that my roses do better when they get plenty of water, but there are limits of what I can do with hand watering them for an extra dose of water in the worst heat of summer.
ReplyDeleteChristina
Congratulations on your new well, Holley! That's a huge undertaking. Your roses are so sweetly grateful! :) I lived in a country house once where the well would occasionally run dry (shudder). We certainly learned to be thrifty with water, but it's better when Mother Nature lends you a hand...
ReplyDeleteIt would be scary to have a well run dry. Lucky it recovered for your neighbor. Good too you got a new one. I bet your roses are thankful too.
ReplyDeleteYour roses are definitely beautiful and happy, HolleyGarden. What a good thing that is.
ReplyDeleteHow deep did you have to go to get water? Do you water by hand every day?
ReplyDeleteI have another internet friend near Midland and they have had days when the water is intermittent from their well. She's having to consider what to do with her menagerie of animals.
Malar - It's depressing when the roses shed their leaves, isn't it? I love to have blooms, but I would actually rather have leaves!
ReplyDeleteChristina - The heat of summer and the dead of winter are the two times that are most challenging for gardeners. I think if I can get my garden to look good during those two times of the year, I will be more than happy the rest of the time!
Stacy - That's scary to run out of water! We have been extremely conservative with water, so having sufficient water for the garden is such an exciting thing to me!
GWGT - Perhaps we will get some rain soon, and their well will fill up again. The fact that they ran out of water shows how low the reservoir is getting. That reservoir has never run out of water - at least for the past 40 years that I know of.
Sherry - It is wonderful, Sherry, and I am putting in a misting system like you have. I'll post about it soon.
Marcia - We have thought about drilling a well for years. Not sure about the rest of the country, but here in Texas, there are several aquifers, each supplying a different type of water. We chose to go to the Wilcox as this is our drinking water also. My husband put in a sprinkler system years ago, but we have never really had sufficient water to use it. We are now able to use it. I feel sorry for your friend. Perhaps she could lower the pump? There are also springs around here for public consumption - maybe she could find something like that to get her through? It's a tough situation with hard decisions. Maybe we'll get rain soon!
Oh, how scary to have a well run dry. We've been lucky here, so far, though I don't water much. The last two summers have been very wet so no need to, really.
ReplyDeleteYour roses look amazing! Even with a lot of rain, mine look terrible, it's easy to see you are a great gardener, I think roses are the most difficult of all the flowers to grow.
I'm praying that Don is going to bring us some much needed rain! Congrats on your new well; I'm sure it brings you peace of mind. And your roses look happy for it too :)
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to hear everything is ok we are on a well also even though it is a deep well I still worry about the (what if's)..Your roses are looking beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful weekend and
hugs from Savannah, Cherry
I was a grower of roses but since I relocated to a woodland setting no more roses in my garden sad to say however I am discovering new ideas and thankfully hydrangeas suit and are happy in my woodland shade!Your roses are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the new well. that must have been quite an expense but it seems it's working well for you. I'm not sure if you are used to wells but it's always a good idea to know how much water is being consumed in your neighbourhood from your water table. Someone filling a swimming pool down the road can affect how much water is available in your own well.
ReplyDeleteKaren - It's not me - roses do well in this area as they like our acidic soil, are really quite drought tolerant, and it gets too hot for blackspot here, so I'm just lucky.
ReplyDeleteCat - I hope Don brings lots of rain to you. Right now, they're saying it will go west of us. :( Yes, peace of mind is the right description. I know it's not foolproof, but we were on a shared well before, and I always worried about running everyone out of water.
Cherry - Deep wells are better than most, although there is always that chance that it won't last. Rain will always be the preferred method of watering!
Naturegirl - Oh, I love hydrangeas - as much as I love roses, I think. I just have a lot of sunny areas here. I bet your woodlands are gorgeous.
Marguerite - Thanks for the info. I'll definitely keep that in mind, and look around. Thankfully I don't live next to any golf courses or tree farms!
I'm in San Antonio now, afraid to go back home and see the carnage.
ReplyDeleteHey Holley,
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new well. How deep did they go?
When we lived out on our farm, we had nice well, but the storage tank was so tiny we had to run it like crazy. We never ran out of water, though. That is a very scary thought. I'm glad it recharged for your neighbors. We get our water mostly from Lake Livingston, Lake Houston, and a little from deep wells.
David/ Tropical Texana/ Houston
It's definitely scary to think about running out of water, especially at this time of year. Your roses look beautiful, and I bet they smell even better!
ReplyDeleteHappy dance for you and your new well. I am certain you are the envy of the block. Do you have city water for your house?
ReplyDeleteSo glad you have water now. Your plants look great. We have a well at my family's house in Maine so I know w hat it's like to think about running out.
ReplyDeleteEverything looks so great...the water must have really been welcome! I hope you never run out of water.
ReplyDeleteGreggo - I hope it's beautiful, and exceeds your expectations. I hope you don't have a shock like I did!
ReplyDeleteDavid - It seems everyone gets their water from somewhere else. Dallas gets theirs from Lake Palestine near here. Since we had thought about this for a long time, we decided to drill a deep well - about 600'.
Bumble Lush - I've often wondered what we would do if we were to run out of water. There is a natural spring near here, and I suppose we would fill up milk jugs of water!
Tufa Girl - No city water here. Our house is on the well too. That's why it's so important to us, not just for the roses!
Carolyn - My great-grandmother ran out of water at her well, which was never good water anyway. She was quite old when that happened, and it had to be scary and discouraging. She relied on the neighbor's well after that.
Sage Butterfly - The water was very welcome! I am tough on my plants. I had watered very, very little this year, which is my normal routine. Usually my plants will squeak by, but with no fall or spring rains, they were just not making it. It was get a well or start completely over with the gardens!
I'm with Karen--Roses are the most difficult! I don't like to use chemicals and systemics, so Roses are especially challenging. Yours are enchanting!
ReplyDeleteyour roses are gorgeous! I really should have added my roses to my montage of "garden failures" photos! rust, fungus, aphids, crazy lopsided shoots, stunted blooms, you name it.
ReplyDeletePlantPostings - I'm with you. I don't spray my roses, or use systemics, so there are a couple of very sad looking roses in my garden. But I've learned which types of roses grow with no special care, and I'm getting more of them and less of the picky types!
ReplyDeleteWendy - haha Your list of garden failures with roses is quite long! But I have garden failures with almost every plant I've grown, so if I have a few rose failures, I don't worry about it. I just get more of the roses that work for me!
Your roses are lovely! Many times I have wished for a well! A neighbor had one he used for his large garden, but continuous problems finally made him give it up. Fortunately, we had enough rain in July. We will see about August.
ReplyDeletedeb - Sorry your neighbor had problems with his well. That must have been discouraging. I hope we both get abundant rainfall in August!
ReplyDelete