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| Lake Washington in January |
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| Forest greenery at Wallace Falls, near Seattle. |
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| Busy boat traffic at Montlake Cut. (Located just a few hundred yards from the location of that first picture but, obviously, taken at a much more SUMMERY time of year.) 2012. |
While true, such images leave visitors and new gardeners unprepared for our warm and dry Mediterranean-style summers. In fact, Seattle just isn't as wet and rainy as most people think it is. Sure, most years we seem to be contesting for the record of most consecutive days with some precipitation--close to 100 days! But only 1/100" of precipitation is required to meet the criteria. Many days are gray and drizzly, but most rains yield only a fraction of an inch of accumulation. We rarely experience torrential downpours that dump inches of rain in an hour or a day. Here, (in contrast to the East Coast, for example), our rainfall is meted out gently and continually. In fact, Seattle receives less rain annually (average of 38.6") than do the cities of Atlanta, Houston, and Boston. (source) We remain quite wet and soggy all winter, though--possibly because our gentle rains allow much of the moisture to really sink into the soil. And grey days mean that it doesn't dry out between rains.
A second factor is the seasonal distribution of our rainfall. Seattle's climate is considered a "modified Mediterranean climate" meaning that while we do receive winter moisture we are summer dry. Consistent with a pattern of dryness west of the 100th meridian, we receive less than half of the summer-time precipitation enjoyed by cities mirroring our position east of the 100th meridian. For example, whereas New York receives an average of 21.32 inches of rainfall during the period between May 1st and October 31st, Seattle receives only 10.42 inches during the same period. (source)
In the same way that we creep towards 100 consecutive days having some measurable winter-time precipitation, we also come close to accumulating 100 consecutive precipitation-free days during summer. Our climate for the year can be summarized as "nine months of cloud breaks and drizzle followed by three warm, dry months with zero precipitation". This is the a dilemma for gardeners like me: In trying to match plants to our climate, which factors should we seek to satisfy?
I've chosen to utilize (mostly) a palette of moisture-loving plants which will survive our long, moist winters. But, without a lot of supplemental summer water, they struggle just at the time when I use and appreciate the garden the most. At a time when an increasing number of gardeners seek to garden in a natural style by using more native plants and fewer man-made inputs, I feel conflicted about standing around in my front yard with the hose running full blast. Many gardeners (local and otherwise--although I think I am dunning the non-local ones) advocate for the use of "xeric" plants and natives. But this seems like an incomplete solution. Many of the hardy plants which thrive in a summer-dry region drown in our long, moist winter. Even more are marginally hardy and quickly succumb to the combination of cold and wet.
Increased use of natives is another possible solution. Again, however, I feel it is incomplete. Many native species cope with the dry season by going summer dormant. That might be OK for some people...in some regions...but we have only three warm, dry, and sunny months when the garden beckons. Summer dormant plants aren't a satisfying option.
So. Here I am again. Spending a significant amount of time hand watering. I've chosen mostly unfussy plants--either tried-and-true or moist-meadow species and I water each according to its needs. I feel more confident in my ability to supply Summer water than in the plants' abilities to withstand the wet. Once in a while, though, I jump to the other side of the fence and try something from the summer-dry side of the palette. And then we get a kind of weird combination like Cimicifuga and lavender.
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| Lavender and Cimicifuga, anyone? |
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