$\"The$ <\/a>
The Diagram on the upper right shows average rainfall and average temperature–The yellow zone indicates our typical dry period.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u00a0 Dry summers can cause severe plant stress.\u00a0 Newly planted landscapes are especially vulnerable.\u00a0 It is a common sight to see dead plants in new landscapes that were not irrigated <\/span><\/span><\/span>sufficiently.\u00a0 If you plant in July and August, it is important that the new plants are watered adequately but not overwatered!\u00a0 Any plants that were grown in a greenhouse or shadier locations will need to be \u201chardened off\u201d before planting.\u00a0 This is done by exposing them incrementally to outdoor temperatures and increasing light levels a few weeks before planting.\u00a0 \u201cSun leaves\u201d need to grow to replace\u201dshade leaves,\u201d which will burn in the hot sun.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 Evergreen plants are able to grow whenever there is adequate water and favorable temperatures.\u00a0 If it is too dry they close the small pores, stomates, on their leaves that allow gas exchange, halting photosynthesis.\u00a0\u00a0 Evergreen leaves are waxy and often small to minimize moisture loss through epidermal surfaces.\u00a0 Dormancy can occur when it is either too cold or<\/i> too dry.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 Evergreen Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) <\/i>and Salal (Gaultheria shallon)<\/i> are the dominate undergrowth shrubs in our second-growth lowland conifer forests.\u00a0 They are both outstanding plants for the landscape that are adapted to our dry summers; with beautiful evergreen leaves prized by the florist industry and berries prized by people and wildlife.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Many of our native evergreens, although adapted to wet winters, do not do well with summer irrigation; examples include: Pacific Madrone (Arbutus menziesii), <\/i><\/a>Snowbrush, (Ceanothus velutinus),<\/i> Hairy Manzanita, (Arctostaphylos columbiana), <\/i>and Oregon Boxwood (Paxistima myrsinites).\u00a0 <\/i>Pacific Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum)<\/i> and Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium)<\/i><\/a> can withstand some<\/i> irrigation.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In some parts of the world, such as Madagascar and Costa Rica, there are summer deciduous forests, where shrubs and trees lose their leaves in the summer! Our<\/em> deciduous trees and shrubs prefer moister areas near streams and rivers.\u00a0 If summer has been too dry, they too will start turning color early and start shedding leaves before fall has even arrived.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The end of summer or beginning of fall is a good time to start planning new landscapes, so that you are ready to start planting as soon as there is regular rainfall. Trees and shrubs planted in fall and winter have a better chance of survival because they are able to grow roots into surrounding soil using stored food reserves.\u00a0 But remember, even natives may need supplemental irrigation the first couple of summers!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
(This article was first published in the Peninsula Gateway\u00a0<\/em>on September 8, 2010 as “Dry summers are expected in the evergreen state.”)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Climate plays a major role in determining what plants can be found naturally or can survive in any location.\u00a0 As children we learn that there are different types of habitats found throughout the world: deserts, grasslands, and various kinds of forests.\u00a0 I used to wonder why conifers dominate our forests here in the Pacific<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1029,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions\/1029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}