I wrote the following 2 nights ago, but had to copy and save it cuz the 'cat went down (or sumpin'). Most of it still holds, except the gods smiled today and we got a day of light, steady rain. Probably not a full inch, but every little bit helps. Since it was cloudy and cooler, most of it soaked in. Hurray!
I too have a lot of beds--and they do keep one busy, don't they?
It looks like we may be headed for another year of drought here in the southern part of heaven. Year before last, during a severe drought, I irrigated regularly, but the water bills were almost $500/month, and I ain't got that kind of money! I am trying to resist irrigating anything but the veggie garden, but it is tough to watch stuff wilt. I have broken down and spot watered a few plants that looked like they were going to die, and a couple rudbeckias that volunteered this year have died from the lack of water. We got about a quarter inch of rain Sunday, and that was just enough to insure survival for another week. Even so, we got enough rain for the spring garden (though no abundance of rain,) and my early summer garden is fairly drought tolerant.
So, for now, the garden is doing ok. At the very front of the garden, along the street, there is a 25'x 5' bed of "Colorado Mix" yarrow at peak bloom. When the wind sets it to dancing, it looks absolutely dreamy. My easter lilies are in full-bloom, and some of the asiatic and tiger lilies are just starting to open. The larkspur, coreopsis, and lychnis are nearly finished. In another large bed are blue hybrid larkspur interplanted among yarrow "Gold Plate" and "Coronation Gold." That bed has really been striking. In another spot are blue Stoke's Aster, surrounded on three sides by butterfly weed, and they are doing really well. The dahlias are doing so-so without enough rain, and my roses and peonies were mediocre, for the same reason. My drifts of "Jacob Kline" monarda are in big trouble--I have started watering them.
Located on the upper corner of the front garden, near the north front corner of the house, are a spectacular china fir and a huge, old holly that looks like a burford holly on steroids. The canopy they form is plenty high enough to walk under and covers quite a large area with dense, dry, year-round shade. This year I finally have the time to begin creating a garden room there. It is challenging and fun to find plants that will provide color or drama in such low-light conditions. I suspect I'll be experimenting there for a few years.
On another note, I know my posts about the garden tend to be quite long. Somebody let me know if I'm being borish, or otherwise need to cut them down substantially.