Jeanie,

Every time we have a summer like this I think the same thing. Nature heals and everything comes back. Sometimes some trees or shrubs are lost but something new replaces it. This can be a good thing at times, a chance to try something you wished you'd planted instead or something you now have room for.

Maybe the deer population was getting too large and it will be more down to size next year? Insects reproduce so fast that I doubt we are in real danger except some butterflies are becoming endangered so thats a worry. Maybe they just migrated to a friendlier place. I think its likely this is in natures scheme of things because I read about the years of rain followed by the years of drought occurring in regular cycles when I read about the Dustbowl. Its been going on for centuries. That was why it was so bad when they replaced the prairie grasses with wheat, which was done when wheat prices were high, wet years and government encouragement. It perpetuated a natural cycle into an unnaturally long disaster.

If you planted some short prairie grasses instead of lawn, you'd be surprised how little water it takes to keep it green up by your house. A mix of blue gramma (extremely drought tolerant) some little bluestem, sideoats gramma and buffalo grass would be nice. The hardest part is getting rid of the weeds and introduced plants initially. My blue gramma grass is still green with just the rain we have gotten. Another very drought tolerant one is purple three awn. I think if more people did this it would help restore our state. It might be a good year to kill off a lawn with Round-up and plant a water wise native lawn like blue gramma next spring. Its easier to do when it looks awful already than it would be during a wet year and when its all lush and green.

One good thing is we are looking more and more into conservation and water wise planting. It usually takes an experience like this to wake people up and listen to the warnings they have been ignoring.

Changing the subject....
We ran into the Heating and Air man who told us last week that he has been mainly going around and spraying out peoples condensers. We did ours and it was really dirty. That evening they had the same thing on the news.

Jeanie,

The deer that are still alive likely are moving to the greenest, wettest areas they can find...if they can find any at all in our part of the state. I am seeing a lot of does and bucks, but not many fawns. One doe who mostly lives in our deepest, darkest part of the woodland is bringing her tiny spotted twin fawns up to the deer feeding/watering area to eat and drink every morning and every evening, but those are the only fawns I'm seeing. She is very healthy and is a very good mama and has twins almost every year. She always brings them up to 'meet' us in July, but even more so in drought years. I'm afraid the other does may have lost or abandoned their fawns. i didn't start feeding the deer in early July until the then-pregnant doe came and stood in the driveway every day demanding food. Her actions made me realize how much the wildlife are struggling to survive.

Because we maintain watering holes for the wildlife, we still have a lot of it and we put out food for them when we can, but in general all the wildlife population here seems to be down this year. That's not unusual. Most wildlife population cycles up and down regularly.

We have plenty of insects, both in areas we've watered and those we haven't watered. We might not have as many of each type as usual, but those populations cycle up and down too. I think it is likely they'll be fine. A lot of people here in our area are having a whole lot of trouble with pests moving into their homes or outbuildings; spiders, ants, flies and other pests, field mice, snakes (in the outbuildings, not the homes) and lots of skunks. These creatures are just trying to survive, but none of us want to share our homes with them.

Janet, Even up close to the house where I've watered regularly, the grass is browning out and it doesn't matter if it is a native type or the bermuda (it was here when we moved here, I'd never plant the stuff). I expect all of it will survive though even if it goes dormant early and stays dormant. In our unirrigated pastures, the only green stuff left is the yellow powderpuff looking flowers whose name escapes me at the moment (too many fires, too little sleep and my brain is fried, sigh) but they are a legume, some of the green milkweed though most has browned out and burnt up, frogfruit, and small persimmon trees mostly ranging from 2 to 5' in height. They're suffering less than the very tall persimmons.

We always spray out our condensers too and I think it helps. With the fire trucks, we're spraying out all the air filters almost daily too....otherwise they clog up with so much ash, soot, dust, dirt, etc. that the trucks run really rough.

At this point it is all about survival, and most of our plants are doing surprisingly well. I expect that most of the pasture plants will rebound after rain falls, although sometimes we've seen the recovery be pretty slow in the first year after a major drought.

Since this is our area's hottest and driest summer ever (I don't know if that is true of every part of Oklahoma), and we're seeing both in combination, it is hard to know what to expect since we're venturing into uncharted territory.

Dawn

Still plenty of critters over here in eastern Ok where we haven't been as hot--hard to believe when I look at a thermometer reading of 104--and started out the drought with thoroughly saturated soils. (14" in April and 10" in May) Dh doesn't even fuss when I water the few zinnias and cannas and the dwarf crepe myrtles in the garden because the black swallowtails have to have something to work on. We also keep a shallow pan of water with a rock in it so they have someplace to water.

When the deer got tangled up in a CRW tomato cage, dragged it over a 4 foot fence and 100 ft from the garden, I thought that we'd have no more deer problems, but a couple mornings ago found corn stalks knocked over and sweet potato vines eaten off. Put human hair and blood meal out again hoping to deter them.

There is a golden orb spider in the tomatoes and still see lizards near the compost and leaf piles. But the 2&1/2 ft garter snake that I saw every few days in the garden all spring has been a no show for 3 weeks now. No hummingbird moths yet and no horn worms either, so none coming along. More leaffooted bugs than usual though and a couple assasin bugs on the tomatoes that they like best. A few black blister beetles are around, but haven't seen the grey striped ones since I brought out the sevin spray, shook dozens of them off the peppers and tomatos and sprayed them good.

Haven't had any big ticks on us for weeks, but one day this past week, DH and I both picked up a couple dozen seed ticks and headed straight for the shower.

The rain barrel has been host to tree frog tadpoles and just the last few days dozens of them no bigger than my fingernail have crawled out and disappeared. Don't know how many will make it, because the bird feeder is only 20 ft from it. But last night when the light over the kitchen sink was on and the shade up, I saw two adult tree frogs clinging to the window outside and several moths flittering there. The larger frog took one down the hatch while I watched. Have also seen leopard frogs in the garden near the faucet where the water dish is and under the AC drip here by the house. Haven't seen any toads for a while, but I know by experience that they go dormant in the soil--sometimes in a flower pot--when it's too hot for them.

Many of these animals simple go dormant in the heat of summer as they do during the cold of winter. The only wild critter that was almost a total no show at our place this year was Colorado Potato Beetles. Every year we pick dozens, sometimes hundreds, of them off the potatos and the next year have it to do all over again. This year I saw a total of 2 beetles and 2 larva and they all showed up very late in the season. Sure would like to know what happened to them.

I have tree frogs on the windows every night, both over the sink where it's backlit by the kitchen window, and the windows over my computer desk. I love to sit here and watch them grab the stray bugs that come to the light. One night the bug wasn't quite within reach, so the frog made a flying leap out into the air to catch it. It's about a 6' drop down to the hard ground below the window, so I didn't know how well he'd fare after a jump like that. However, within just a few minutes he'd climbed back up the wall and was back at his post, waiting for more to come within reach.

When it comes to spraying out the A/C condenser, how do you do that? We have a monster 5-ton unit that sits on a pad outside the house, and I'd like to take care of it as much as possible.

Pat

Dawn, I know its worse where you are. I am up here in wheat country and its greener all the time, anyway I think it is. Maybe I am wrong. I live in the city and do like the trend of planting more natives and grasses I have been witnessing. All of these lawns that people water and fertilize endlessly has become a kind of obsession of mine. This idea of standardization and that you have to have a perfect green monoculture lawn is a new idea, historically speaking, and I am all for going native in grasses and plants and cutting down on some of the waste and chemical use. Not so long ago, only the rich had such a landscape. Now we have been pressured into believing its not only normal but mandatory. Just to clarify what I am trying to express in my other post.

The blue gramma or a mix of it with Buffalo Grass is pretty and needs only 15" to 25" per year to do well and no fertilizer. Others require 30" to 40" and heavy feedings of nitrogen to look good. It also requires only once a year mowing. How can anyone criticize this? I would think people would be lining up but they are not. One of the biggest anti-natural cries is FIRE DANGER. So, I am trying to point out that with just a minimal amount of water as opposed to massive wasteful amounts of watering, it easily stays green.

I am also thinking long term and was not using this current drought situation as a guide of what is normal. Everything is suffering this year, even the cactus. Still, the logic is sound and I am not the only one who is trending in this direction so I continue to advocate more use of native grasses and forbs and cut down on high maintenance landscape practices.

Pat, you just get your garden hose, screw the nozzle on, turn it on the hardest setting and spray the vents on the sides until the water runs clear and not dirty.

Thanks, Dawn. I'm not sure it's ever been cleaned at all. I'm sure it's way overdue.

And bravo for sticking to your guns on the alternative landscaping. This became a 'new' thing so many years ago that you'd think more people would have caught on by now, but habit is hard to break. Everyone has lived with the idea that we need a nice clipped and green lawn. Heavens, without it, just think what the neighbors would say! That sort of mentality. I'm personally thrilled every time I see a yard where the owner has broken away from that convention and is using much more interesting and lower maintenance plant materials and techniques.

I do think that the more programs we see on channels like HGTV, where some creativity is used in place of lawn, and the more articles that appear in major magazines for the general public (such as Sunset) the more we can hope to see a shift forward in thinking. At least, I certainly hope so,

Pat