La Nina

I lived in Wimberley in 2011 which was the year that we had 90 days with over 100 degrees F. I am afraid we are going to surpass that number of 100+ days this year.

The weather specialists say that La Nina weather pattern is mainly responsible for our lack of rain. During a La Nina the Pacific ocean is cooler than normal around the equator.

I recall going to the plant nursery back in 2011 and saying that watering some plants was like pouring boiling water on them as they died anyway. Yes, I am having the same experience this year. I planted 3 new roses this spring. I watered them on my watering day and still they died.

From the 2011 experience I can tell you that no water should be spent on grassy meadow areas. I have mainly Straggler Daisy (also called Horse Herb) and Zoysia grass, along with wildflowers in my “lawn”. The Straggler Daisy comes back as soon as it rains and the Zoysia grass slowly fills in. The seeds to the wildflowers are still there and they germinate when the rains come.

We regularly remind you in this column to landscape with native plants because they are adapted to Texas up and down weather and when established they do not need to be watered. Thus, I do not water the native plants although if they get too desiccated I will periodically water during a long dry spell.

With the drought situation I have made choices in my yard about who gets water on my watering day. In this column I have frequently spoken of plants that volunteer or spread vigorously in my yard. This is an opportunity for those plants to scale back.

The native Lantana, for example, like to spread their seeds. The Lantana plants get no water and if I lose some it is okay. I have the same attitude with Asters, Chinese garlic, Yarrow and Heartleaf Skullcap.

Endure this hot dry spell and eventually La Nina will go away.

Written by Jackie Mattice, Hays County Master Naturalist