I have a bed under some trees (silly place I know) and when I dug into the soil, it was BONE DRY so I watered that. Also a raised bed was pretty dry. We have not had a lot of rain in this s0-called Spring, so I think it is wise to keep an eye on places that tend to be dry.

I started watering in February. It has misted a lot but has not rained heavily at all. In fact for the past 2 years we've had below-average rainfall.

Have over 300 baby trees, been deep-watering their wells and root balls. They are responding with beautiful new growth and vitality. It will be hot and sunny soon and all these other poor trees I see around have no water in their roots. The ground is dry.

This is the Spring Push when plants need a lot of water. It used to rain heavily and abundantly in April and May but no more.

I'm only watering a couple pots that got dry.

The original Grant & Grant, Trees and Shrubs for Pacific Northwest Gardens I think is where I saw them state that it was necessary to start watering in February around here.

Dry areas under coniferous trees in this climate often stay dry all of the time. Repeated dampening of the base of the trunk can be fatal, promoting attacks by pathogenic fungi that invade and rot the wood. Last winter a number of old growth conifers blew down in some wind that hit a valley on the Olympic Peninsula. These stood for centuries only to fall now because of fungal infestations.

Low-branching conifers with dense, conical crowns can be great for standing under during downpours.

Yes, today in fact, I have sprinklers going. My soil is almost pure sand, although I continually try to improve it, and I was horrified when planting a Westerland Rose, to find out that it was virtually dust! After the long, wet spring it still seems we need more water. Amazing!

Soon it will be summer. Adequate precipitation for gardening without irrigation (or planting only drought-adapted plants) is considered to be one inch per week. (Multiply that by the weeks per year to get what amounts to an adequate annual total). If you follow precipitation accumulations many areas here don't get that much rain for months at a time - with the driest weather being during the warmest part of the growing season. Plants native to (or derived from those native to) the majority of forested regions of the world do not have to cope with less than one inch of rainfall for all of July.

Thanks, guys. I did get the hose out today and gave everything a good soak. It does seem counter-intuitive, with those hail storms we experienced only a blink ago. Things transition more quickly in Spring than i was prepared for, i suppose ... :)

Thank you again all, and happy gardening!

Funny that it has only misted in Oregon City but over here in SE Portland we've a ton of heavy rains.

I am watering my hanging baskets and that is it so far.

I think I'm in a rain shadow or banana belt or whatever it's called when there's not as much rain. However, even the official totals are 1/100th of an inch or less recently. Not even caterpillar spit!

Now the weatherman is saying it will be 92 degrees in a week -- hot hot hot -- I mourn for all the plants and trees because everybody thinks it's been such a wet Spring when in fact it has been very dry, just cool and cloudy and a tiny bit of wetness to trick the eye into thinking it has rained.

Look at the official rainfall amounts. Dig around your plants. Use a water meter and like Ken always says, your finger. DRY. And right now the entire root zone needs a good soaking so the tree can leaf out fully.

Bboy, what's a good site for official rainfall amounts?

My lawn squishes when I walk on it except for the last few days when it has finally dried out.

I've been weeding and planting whenever it stops and the beds are wet except for the one with mature Doug fir roots. It is almost always dry.

>Bboy, what's a good site for official rainfall amounts?Ian's the real weather geek here.

OK, I Googled this to find out.

http://or.water.usgs.gov/non-usgs/bes/
City of Portland HYDRA Rainfall Network

This shows a wide variety in the amount of rainfall throughout Portland.

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr/pdxclimate/PG61.html
PORTLAND's May & June Daily Precipitation Data
(averages 1941-1999)

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr/pdxclimate/PG70.html
PORTLAND's Water Year Precipitation Data (1871-1999)

Looking at all these charts gives a way to compare.

The general pattern is for rain to come off the Pacific and hit the mountains more than the lowlands. Low elevation areas immediately northeast of tall mountains, such as northeast Olympic Peninsula may have quite low annual totals (below 20 inches). Like Seattle, Portland sits between coastal and interior mountains, so it is not as rainy as the coast. Some storms manage to rain on Portland despite the coastal mountains being there and others continue on to the Cascades before again cutting loose substantially. Within that overall pattern there is enough gradation that hillier neighborhoods will be high enough to pick up more rain than downtown. I've heard that in Seattle there can sometimes be a dusting of snow on the top of Queen Anne hill and nowhere else right in the vicinity, because it pokes up into the atmosphere just high enough to have this difference in temperature and precipitation.

I watered my "ornamental" lettuce garden yesterday evening and am watering a few slightly bermed beds today. I have never watered this early before but seeing the 90 degrees predicted for Thursday and hot through the weekend and watching today's possibility of rain produce nothing more than clouds I have given in. jwww

I think it is absolutely essential to have a rain gauge, available for just a few dollars at any hardware store. I live in the Cowichan Valley and withing this small geographic area we have an amazing variety of weather. We seem to be in a rain shadow and it is often raining just a couple of miles away and we get nothing. I keep a record of rain dumped on my gardening calendar and we are much less than even Nanaimo and are in a different weather pattern than Victoria. We've had very little so far this year -- about 6 inches in 5 months and this is supposed to be our rainly season.

That's quite a deficit. If you want variation, in Hawaii there's a rainforest and a desert about a mile apart. Closer to home the drier Island County environment of Camano Island is visibly different from that of the mainland just east of Stanwood, WA which lies on the flats between. It's not rare to drive through rain east of town and look over to see sunshine somewhere on or near the island, end up leaving the rain behind at some point.

Cascadians, here you go:

http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMONtpre.pl?or6334

Unforunately some information is missing from this chart... that is what all those letters are for as it explains.

All that information can be found through this web site. http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/Climsum.html There is lots of useful information here, pretty much everything short of the daily stats. This is also the page where I figured out that last summer was warmer than average.

This spring has seemed rather cool and dry, but I guess if you are in a wetter area or have heavier soil you could have the perception of a cold, wet spring. I haven't watered anything in the ground yet but I'm getting close... maybe next week if it actually gets warm.

THANK YOU Ian! You actually found exactly what I need -- Oregon City monthlies, wow!

If I hadn't watered many of my trees would now be expired. After it hits the 90s next week many of the neighborhood trees will expire. It's very sad and it seems nobody is paying attention.

BTW all the Eucs are doing really really well so far. Will be taking more pictures middle of next week. The babies survived and are growing! The older ones are rocketing.

Ian thank you!

Ian, if you are the weather wizard, can you find me some stats for Bainbridge Island? Just moved here and am trying to get a handle on the rainfall--is this a banana belt? Is it different from Seattle? Thanks.

Yesterday and today it only misted here and I did just water all container plants and all newly planted but the beds are still plenty wet.

'Weather wizard' hmm, I like the sound of that. It sounds like someone who controls the weather... ha ha.

Lisa, there is a meteorological recording station in Winslow but I don't know how to get any historical data from it. Having lived on Bainbridge for a couple years though, I got a pretty good feel for what the island is like. The eastern part of the island is mostly pretty mild, as are the south facing shores and the north tip. I would say these areas are banana-beltish enough and would be comparable to a favorable gardening spot in Seattle, with probably about the same amount of rainfall too (on average). The valleys in the middle of the island are actually quite cold in witner, and colder at night year round, but some areas seem to be hot in summer in the daytime. The west side of the island has some higher topography. Although it is mild near the water, the higher flat parts are not so mild and the whole area receives less summer heat accumulation than the rest of the island (it is also more heavily forested). I think it is wetter there too since the higher topography catches more rainfall. Bainbridge isn't that big but an educated guess might be that the island receives anywhere from 35-45 inches of rain annually, on average, with the higher points on the west side of the island being wettest.

Thanks Ian, that's helpful. I'm still trying to get a handle on what to expect--when rain is predicted for the general area, we seem to miss it. I'll keep researching--thanks again for the start.

Hmmm...after reading this thread, I think I will go out and water my fruit trees today.

Looking out the back window I now see I have a bunch of stuff starting to flag, after today's heat.

I had quite a few plants wilting in yesterday's heat. I didn't drag the hose out yet but I did spot water the wilty ones. Most of the ones that were wilting had buds or flowers. I guess the sudden heat was to much for them. It is nice to see the sun and feel the heat after that unusually cold spring. The cool temperatures were great for my spring bulbs though. They bloomed beautifully and over a long period. Now that the heat is here my tulips are toast. Oh well the heat will make all those spring perennials pop.

Inspect soil, you may find it is dry. Sandier soils here can be dry much of the time, lack of a thick litter layer also allows the sun to bake exposed ground. But soil texture has a big effect, down the hill from me is a lacecap hydrangea in full sun on an exposed clay soil that may not have been watered in decades.

I am watering like a maniac. Everything is pushing new buds, new needles, new leaves, new flowers. I inspect everything every day for any signs of overwatering. None in this scorching heat. Very thirsty plants here, over 300+ trees and shrubs, flowers, etc. Rhodies are starting to pop, red horsechestnut candles are starting to burst open, ceanothus on the cusp of fluffing the yard in an electric blue haze, peonies getting ready to bloom, hydrangea starting to form blossoms. Very beautiful time of year! Conifers adorable with fluffy new growth. Purple robe locusts starting to drop their purple long flower clusters, wisteria exploding in periwinkle hanging boughs that smell heavenly. Mimosas just starting to leaf out.

Time after working in yard all day to take pictures this evening. I am continually amazed at how much water these trees and plants demand and how much more beautiful they become each day with more water. I water by hand with the hose when the sun is out to not get water on any of the leaves or scorch anything, and run sprinklers all night, from 9/p to 7/a.

2 years and 4+ months after planting first batch, this place is beginning to have jungle characteristics!

It is wild and lush and GREEN.

We just moved to a new home location in Beaverton.

I planted 3 trees two days ago, and the soil was moist.

Moist in the lawn, moist in the bed. No need for water to the lawn for at least another week or two.

And I hold off longer for trees.

Watering under trees encourages surface rooting, which means less stable trees in fall and winter.

Watering less often, leads to roots growing deeper.

The house we moved from near Jacksonville, Oregon, had part of one lawn area starting to brown last week. But green on the uphill side.

The universal recommendation for watering landscape plants is, "Water deep and less often" and "avoid light shallow watering". The argument against light shallow watering is that a very shallow root system will result. This does not occur as the root system is very shallow anyway. Watering during a dry period, even if it extends for two or three months, will not alter the normal root growth for the species during the remaining nine or ten months!

--Whitcomb, Establishment and Maintenance of Landscape Plants (1987 (1991), Lacebark Inc., Stillwater)

Many woody plants make most of their root growth in late summer and fall, which almost corresponds to our dry season.

I'm not watering anything in the ground yet. My soil is still reasonably moist.

Annual fall root elongation rush (60% of annual total) occurs when top growth has ceased for the season and overwintering terminal buds have been set. These produce hormones that prompt the roots to grow longer.

Plants that have set overwintering buds in July or August, like drought-stressed vine maples may be found to be making their heavy "fall" root growth at that time. Many other kinds, or even other specimens of the same species receiving ample summer moisture, would be expected to extend their roots later.

The rest of the time other parts of the plant are hogging the energy supply, except in winter when not much is going on. New roots do come out of cut ends of bare-rooted stock in spring, when the overwintering buds open and send hormones to the cut root ends. But these do not grow nearly as much as existing root tips do in fall. That is why the tops of bare-rooted stock planted in spring do not resume a normal rate of growth until the second spring after planting. Not enough of the root system has grown back until then.

So what are you guys saying--to water now or not? I don't quite follow the quote; it seems to say that watering will not make a difference. Elaborate, please. Thanks

Assuming you have plants that need irrigation, it just depends on how moist your soil is. Some of us have had more rain lately than others. Here in Poulsbo my soil is moist enough that I wouldn't water anything in the ground, if I were growing any plants that needed it. But if you have very sandy soil, perhaps it is already getting dried up.

I'm finding that this wind is just dessicating our soil! I wonder if I leave it too long to water -- you know how water doesn't penetrate dust, perhaps I should water more, sooner so that it doesn't dry out totally. I had the watering system on the perennial bed and after 45 minutes, I checked under some plants and it was still dry. I just can't keep everything watered with our summer restrictions. We have 9,000 sq. ft of lawn, flower beds and a veggie garden. Plus there are hanging baskets and pots on the patios. We are allowed to water 4 hours, every other day. I think it is hopeless to try and keep everything green.

>>We are allowed to water 4 hours, every other day. I think it is hopeless to try and keep everything green.

Sounds like it to me! Maybe it's time for a new plan of attack.

>>We have 9,000 sq. ft of lawn,

There's your first problem. How about a large rock patio and a gravel garden.

>>flower beds and a veggie garden.

Convert the flower beds to drought tolerant perennials and shrubs. Then you only have to water the veggie garden, which is the most important thing since it gives you food... ha ha. That ought to be a lot easier to handle than watering everything.

>>Plus there are hanging baskets and pots on the patios.

These could be replaced with hardy cacti and succulents.

Ian, you are right and I am trying to change things over to drought tolerant shrubs and plants -- after all they have been tolerating drought for years! And, we are planning to enjoy beige on the lawns, especially during July/August. I'd love to get rid of the lawn completely but DH is too traditional. My frustration comes out at this time of year.

It was very windy on Friday the 16th here and got up to 95* I watered off and on all dang day. The wind dried up all the blooms on my crabapples, my last daffodils and my rhodies, now a week later I've got burnt foliage and damage all over the yard. I did not need that little hot spell! The lawn wasn't watered and it looks fine but every time I turned around something was wilted.

I run sprinklers early in the night -- actually start just as the sun sets because if there's water on leaves when the sun comes out hot my leaves burn. Cloudy cool days are a Godsend because then I can deep-water my tree wells and not worry if some water splashes on the bottom leaves. It's been sprinkling but not enough to get into the roots -- just enough to water the thick long grass and mist the trees, which they like, but need a lot more water in this Spring Push.

Been watering since February, hope the soil is just right to withstand this scorching heat wave starting today. It's hot hot hot and windy out. Desiccating. Everything in my yard is moist and plump with water and exuberantly healthy leaves. Praying.

A lot of ppl are going to lose their greenery in the next few days because they haven't watered. It's bone dry out there. The earth is hard and cracked. 99% of the population just doesn't pay attention to the plants and trees, doesn't notice the suffering and drought. This year we have a lot of water run-off, not hard to water, but ppl don't, too lazy or don't want to spend a few extra dollars to save their plants.

It is so hard to plant a tree and get it to establish and grow well to maturity. Ppl move so often they are not invested in their yards and consider garden work something to avoid. It is tragic. When I moved here in 1984 it was green and lush and ppl took pride in their gardens and proliferation of plants. Now it's gravel and barkdust and "no maintenance" yards. The urban forest is disappearing and of course the natural forests are quickly disappearing.

Man is turning this once beautiful temperate rain forest into a desert.

Parklands with grasses, oaks and ponderosa pines are part of the natural vegetation of the Willamette Valley. The natural openness of some of it was surely part of what made it a big draw for pioneers. Agricultural and horticultural crops worth millions of dollars continue to be produced there, because of highly favorable climate and soil conditions. Some do have to be liberally irrigated, and there is sprawl as elsewhere.

Recently I picked up a copy of the 1955 edition of Grant, Trees and Shrubs for Pacific Northwest Gardens (Nourse Publishing Co., San Carlos) at Half Price Books.

A brief dry spell accompanied by warm drying winds usually occurs sometime between the beginning of April and the beginning of June. If it lasts for more than two weeks (and it occasionally lasts for as many as six), most gardeners are caught unawares. The majority of trees and shrubs are commencing to make their new growth at this time of year, and broad-leaved evergreens, especially, need more moisture then that at any other time. In spite of the fact that this happens almost every year, gardeners seem to feel that they should not need to water so early in the season. When the plants get to the point of wilting or showing unmistakable signs of being in a desperate condition, the gardener reluctantly gets out the hose, grumbling as he does it, about the unusual weather!!!