Now, it’s not true that native plants don’t need water. They absolutely do! But they have some tricks up their collective green sleeves, like various drought modifications built into their DNA.
— Shannon Goheen, Horticulturalist
Let’s Talk Nature: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Drought?
Cape Cod was an arid environment - and its natives know it.
Click on image to listen to Shannon read her column
September 2026 – CAPE COD, MA – My truck splashes through a puddle on a street where I have a landscaping project. A puddle isn’t news, but when it hasn’t rained lately and drought conditions are in effect, a puddle concerns me.
This particular puddle is from an irrigation system that apparently waters so thoroughly that the unused water flows onto the asphalt and pools in a low spot.
What’s even more disheartening is that this puddle is only about three houses back from the beach. A portion of the large lawn on the property where I am working, opposite that puddle, is like walking through a marsh. It’s wet, splashy and soggy but the grass is thick and green.
If you saw this home in a photograph, you might think it is the Pacific Northwest, but we’re here on arid Cape Cod.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Before these houses were built, this seaside area would likely have been a woodland of oak and pitch pine with bushes like blueberry, beach plum, bayberry, huckleberry, maybe some sweet fern and asters. A grassy-looking groundcover, sedge, would have covered the ground. Sedge still grows in most of our wild places.
Drought or no drought, these plants survive and thrive in the relentless salty wind and dry sandy soil.
But in our effort to make the Cape a sparkling emerald wonderland, we’ve largely relegated what naturally grows here to the forgotten edges of our neighborhoods. That’s a problem because our verdant, unnatural landscapes are wholly dependent on water—and a lot of it.
What doesn’t belong on Cape Cod?
Irrigation enables the thick green grass that doesn’t belong here, and the lush collections of hydrangeas—also not native to Cape Cod—to grow near to the edge of the coastal bank.
Let me pause a moment to assure you that I’m not picking on hydrangeas or suggesting you give them up. I’d be a hypocrite if I said that because I plant a lot of them! Just know that to have hydrangea success, you’ll have to water. A lot.
What don’t wells help?
Lots of folks have wells for their irrigation. This way, they can water to their heart’s content and not rely on town water, which is subject to water restrictions.
Trouble is, well or no well, the water we all use comes from the same source, which is underground water, otherwise known as an aquifer.
The aquifer is entirely dependent on rainwater and melting snow to recharge over the course of a year. We don’t have a river, or glacier meltwater, and salt water isn’t drinkable, so what we’ve got is what we’ve got, regardless of how it’s metered out.
What happens when water dries up?
As long as we have enough water in our aquifer to waste copious amounts of it watering lawns, we’ll keep our verdant green appearance throughout the drought. But if we don’t—as happened during Chatham’s complete town-water-irrigation shutdown a couple years ago—our landscapes will start to look crunchy and burnt.
How are natives different?
Typically, this is not going to be the case with a yard full of natives.
Now, it’s not true that native plants don’t need water. They absolutely do! But they have some tricks up their collective green sleeves, like various drought modifications built into their DNA.
Some of those tricks include waxy leaf coatings (i.e. bayberry – Myrica pensylvanica), narrow leaves (i.e. grasses), silvery foliage that reflects the sunlight (i.e. pearly everlasting – Anaphalis margaritacea), hairy leaves (i.e. wildflowers like goldenrod – Solidago sp. and asters – Aster sp. or Symphyotrichum sp.), and fleshy tuberous roots (i.e. orange milkweed – Asclepius tuberosa) that store water in dry soil.
And what’s more, plants can shut themselves down somewhat when they don’t get the water they need. This can prolong their lives.
Imagine. With this kind of intelligence, we have the nerve to suggest that plants are a lower kingdom than humans? I think not.
Does rain mean plants have enough water?
One of the most commonly spoken sentences I hear from people is “it rained, so I don’t have to water.”
That line of thought seems to make so much sense. But it couldn’t be more wrong.
Sure, we get a break during the rain. The moisture that falls from the sky does provide some water to our plants and containers. But in drought times? Don’t count on it.
When do plants need more water?
A particular rhododendron near my driveway is the perfect drought-level meter. It tells me daily where we stand. Leaves fully out and stiff mean moisture is adequate. Leaves wilted means “Help!”
I often visit that plant with the dehumidifier condensate container. I don’t like to waste any water if I can help it, and I don’t doubt that the rhododendron smiles with relief when it sees me.
But why, you may be asking, after these rainstorms we’ve been having, isn’t the aquifer replenished? Why are the plants still drooping a day or two after so much rain?
How do plants drink?
Thirsty plants grab water as it passes by. Most of us have sandy soil that doesn’t hold moisture for long. Even if the plant – a hydrangea for instance – gets a drink, it may be thirsty a day later, and the soil around it has now drained dry.
Our groundwater takes longer to recover than surface soil because lots of the water dropping from the sky gets skimmed off for other uses before it seeps down to the aquifer, not to mention the enormous amount of run-off from paved surfaces.
Meanwhile, the aquifer provides all the water we use and what freshwater our natural environment uses, like our 365 ponds and lakes, for instance. Indeed, every living thing on the Cape depends on the groundwater.
Who needs water?
We are currently experiencing “significant drought,” according to the Mass.gov website. When will that ease? It will take more than one big rainstorm – and it’s anybody’s guess when we get ample and ongoing percipitation.
So go easy on the water, okay? We all need it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to water some plants.
Shannon Goheen is an intuitive landscape designer who is in love with plants and has been creating art on the land for nearly four decades. Writing is a lifelong passion, as are singing and playing drums. She can’t remember trying anything creative that she didn’t like! You can email her at gardenwriter@verizon.net or follow her on Instagram at @theeveninggowngardener
