Adapting to drought, preparing for fall

Although the brief showers were helpful, plants that managed to hang on in last year’s hot, dry summer appear to be giving up this year due to the cumulative stress.

How do plants adapt to these conditions? We are all familiar with deciduous plants that lose their leaves in the winter and get a new set of leaves the following spring. Losing leaves reduces transpiration (the process by which plants lose water during photosynthesis). This is one way some native plants adapt to the drought: they lose their leaves. Hence, cutting back drooping leaves may help many of your plants.

When I first came to Texas in 2002, I was enamored with the native Engelmann’s Daisy. It was such a pretty yellow flower that bloomed off and on from spring through summer when there was sufficient rain. The first year I experienced a Texas drought, the daisy seemed to die, showing no signs of life. But when the rains returned, the plant sprang from the ground. So, although many plants look dead, their roots might still be alive; many of our native plants have deep roots that survive droughts.

You may have noticed most desert plants have spines, not leaves. This is another adaptation to drought conditions. Many desert plants have succulent water storage organs such as the thick leaves of agaves, pads on cactus and thick stems of chollas.

Despite the current heat, now is the time to think about fall, the time to plant wildflower seeds and bulbs. If you would like to have winter and early spring bulbs blooming in your yard in 2024, you need to order bulbs soon and get them in the ground before November.