Hydrangea Zone 6 Ohio during Drought Conditions

The gardening season has been the worst I recall for most of us in the country. The heat and drought just did not give us a break here. I lost lots of plants and the ones that are here did not do well. My Hydrangeas did not bloom as well as normal, I believe most of their buds just burnt up. I'm hoping next year is an improvement and I've just been glad for what I do have.

Hydrangea Pinky Winky. I love this Hydrangea. Nice big blooms this year so I expect it to get better as it matures.

Hydrangea Vanilla Strawberry. Love this one. Last year was the first blooms and I got I believe 3 on it. Still not mature but there are blooms everywhere. It's normally not this sparse of leaves but the heat and drought took it's toll on most of my Hydrangea and it lost most it's leaves, but it still put out lots of blooms.

Hydrangea Limelight. Thankfully can live through most anything. It didn't grow this year, but then nothing else did either. The blooms are smaller than normal but it does have them.

Hydrangea TarDiva. This one probably looks the worst for blooms. I have 2 and this one has the most blooms but they are very little.

Hydrangea Quickfire. In July and August going through it's changes of color. Unfortunately in this weird year, Quickfire started blooming in MAY, and the buds and blooms finally burnt up before we headed into fall.

The Caryopteris Blue Mist Shrub, in the Spirea family of shrubs is blooming well this year.

The burgundy Mums are doing ok as a rule, but a couple are pretty burnt up also.

Of course the trustworthy Yarrow. It grows and even blooms no matter the weather.

I've taken out almost 2 full garden beds this year. Between whirlygigs and droughts it's become a little much. Let's see if I regret this, although I do to some extent, I know it will be a little easier to take care of next year.

Hemerocallis Daylily Blooms in Ohio Drought

The drought and extreme temperatures usually in the 90's and 100's has really taken it's toll on my gardens. I thought I would show some of my Hemerocallis or commonly known as Daylilies which thankfully are dependable no matter what, although foliage has sure been burning up. I've lost a lot of plants this year and a lot of other plants have been dug up, potted and put in shade in hopes of saving some things. I have a lot of spaces empty because of this.

Wineberry Candy is a beautiful combination of contrasting colors.

Daylily Austintatious. This is a constant rebloomer. Blooms were done for and within a couple weeks it was already reblooming.

Santa's Little Helper. Very bright colors and did quite a bit of blooming this year.

Nancy Ligon is a lovely delicate blend of color that always looks good.

Plum Perfect is one that sends up lots of blooms and continues to do so for about a month.

An heirloom Daylily Kwanzo. The colors are outstanding and one of my favorites.

Daylily Bordello Queen closeup of this pretty little bloom.

Woodside Rhapsody a very pretty dark color that holds the color without fading.

Allegheny Sunset is such a beautiful large bloom and another one that always looks good.

Might as well throw in a picture of the Lily trees growing here. Not as tall as usual with the lack of water this Spring, but still lovely.

Summer Garden in Ohio Zone 6 Extreme Heat and Drought

The family garden is still looking decent even with the constant 90's and some days over 100, but it's taking it's toll. These are photos from a couple weeks ago. Afraid the last couple weeks with too many days in the 100's has really ruined my gardens for the year and I most likely won't have much to post after this.

The Echinacea, Daisies and Coreopsis are all blooming in the heat which they tend to handle much better than a lot of other perennials.

The backline is surviving but the extreme heat hit so early this year that I haven't had any significant growth on my flowering shrubs which is a big disappointment as I wait for them to grow up. Most of the Hydrangea are blooming and others have buds that are opening up now.

The back corner with the Viburnum Autumn Jazz is through blooming and setting up the berries for winter. No further blooms on my Clematis there so hoping again that this has not totally burned up this year as the second one is gone.

The shed garden was still holding on but again the heat has taken it's toll on everything in the last couple of weeks.

Daylily Ruby Spider. One of my favorite Daylilies as it's such an eye catcher.

Daylily Stella De Oro. Love how much she reblooms here with her bright yellow cheery color.

Daylily Bordello Queen is one of my first Daylily bloomers each season and always so elegant and soft.