Proper planning will keep yard flourishing during a vacation
Bathing suit: Check. Hotel reservations: Check. Garden plans: Hmm. Making arrangements to keep your garden thriving is one of the more complicated aspects of a summer vacation. I know too well what it’s like to return from a week in paradise to wilted annuals, vegetables on their deathbed and an overgrown jungle of weeds.
The key to avoiding such a scenario is to plan, plan and plan some more. Before your departure, take a look around your yard and decide which of these strategies to implement.
Flowers and vegetables
If you have the luxury of planning ahead, choose plants that can endure a dry period. Established tomatoes and zinnias, for instance, can survive, but lettuce and impatiens will struggle.
If you travel every summer and cultivate a perennial garden, use droughttolerant species such as artemisia, Russian sage and sedum.
Whether you grow ornamentals or edibles, don’t sow seeds or set out young plants right before you leave; most need steady moisture.
In the veggie patch, harvest as much as you can before leaving. Immature tomatoes that are starting to show color can ripen indoors, and you could share a surfeit of baby greens or young veggies with friends or neighbors.
For all types of gardens, apply mulch to conserve soil moisture and discourage weeds.
Containers
Containers, though beautiful and convenient, can quickly become parched.
Right before leaving, give them a huge drink; if they’re not too heavy to lift, submerge them in a tub to maximize their water uptake.
To slow evaporation, move pots to a shady spot — under a tree, for instance. (Don’t place them on a covered If you’ll be gone for more than a day or two, take steps to keep container plantings from shriveling up. If hot, dry weather is expected during your absence, have a friend or neighbor water your garden.
porch, because they’ll miss out on any rain.)
With small pots, which dry out the fastest of all, partially bury them in the ground.
If you’re worried about expensive or exotic plants, place a plastic baby pool in the shade, set your containers in it and then fill the pool with water. Any rain while you’re gone will be a bonus.
Lawn
The last time you mow before your trip, cut the grass higher than usual. The taller blades will shade the ground and encourage root growth. Drought-tolerant perennials such as Autumn Joy sedum need little attention.
If it’s a hot, dry summer, your lawn might go dormant and turn brown. Don’t panic — the roots are still alive and will start pumping out new growth with the cooler, wetter weather of fall.
Throughout the yard
Consider setting up a sprinkler or drip-irrigation system on an automatic timer. You can customize such a system for any situation, including container gardens.
Weed thoroughly and cut back overgrown plants, or risk returning to an unruly wilderness.
But your best weapon
against any problems is a friend or neighbor who can water in your absence and perform basic maintenance.
Make the chores as easy as possible: leave written directions, have hoses and watering cans ready and write down contact information in case of questions or emergencies.
And, of course, offer to reciprocate when the friend or neighbor is ready to hit the road for a vacation. Showy milkweed
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USDA Hardiness Zones: 3 to 9 Origin: Western North America
Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) is a lovely plant that attracts butterflies to the garden.
Its blue-green, ovate leaves are about 4 to 5 inches long and have a coarse texture, with a large and slightly pink midvein. The leaves appear opposite on the stem.
The fragrant, pale, pinkpurple flowers bloom in rounded clusters, and each individual flower is starshaped. The flowers are found at the upper end of the main stem.
Flowering occurs from late spring and into the summer. Sizable, 2- to 3-inch seed pods follow the flowers and hold fluffy seeds that float about the garden with a breeze.
Like other milkweeds, named after their sap, showy milkweed will ooze a white, sticky latex sap from cuts in the stem or leaves. Its flowers’ nectar is a food source for monarch butterflies and bees and a vital host plant for monarch caterpillars.
The plant, which grows in well-draining soil, is drought-tolerant after it is established.
Showy milkweed — and maybe even a monarch butterfly — can be seen in the Scotts MiracleGro Community Garden Campus at the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.