08/11/2026
This garden has been through a lot this year. It endured almost two record-breaking droughts: May was the driest ever recorded in Milwaukee, and July was the second driest on record (only July 1936, with the Dust Bowl at its peak, was drier). We also faced flooding rains, multiple heat waves and the worst air quality ever recorded, keeping us from tending to the garden for sometimes a week at a time. Summers like these reveal just how resilient your garden is, and can provide good feedback if you're willing to listen to it.
Our perennial gardens have reached a point of maturity where I'm done with supplemental watering. Even during these severe droughts, I resisted watering, and if a plant didn't do well, there are countless other options that are perhaps more deserving of that space.
I say this all because observing your garden and being willing to make changes in plant selection to better suit its environment doesn’t seem to be a popular thing to do, in fact it’s the opposite and people will try to change the environment to better suit a specific plant. More water, more mulch, acidify the soil, add in more compost and fertilize fertilize fertilize. They work against their gardens instead of asking how their gardens can work for them. And that distinction becomes especially important as summers like these sadly become increasingly common.
A garden isn’t just something to maintain. It can be functional infrastructure.
A large, deciduous shade tree planted to the west of your house is an air conditioner and can reduce cooling costs by 10% during summer months. Prairie plants' deep root systems are stormwater systems. They create channels through the soil and help water infiltrate instead of rushing across the surface towards a basement or an overburdened drain. Their leaves are air filters, capturing particulates and absorbing pollutants while the plants themselves continuously produce oxygen.
And unlike most infrastructure, living infrastructure can improve with age. A a 40 year old tree is more valuable than a 15 year old tree. Soil gets richer. Roots get deeper. Canopies get larger. The ecosystem becomes more complex, beautiful and interesting. And it gives you something to constantly look forward to and learn from, which is sometimes the most important thing of all.
So don’t pray for rain when your lawn gets crunchy in July. Be open to the feedback your garden is giving you, because a landscape that works with you instead of against you has so, so much more to offer.
