[whining] It's so hot! [/whining]

This is my whining post for the week, maybe.

It's hot. The thermometer on the north side of the house says it's 87 right now. It's sunny with a slight chance of afternoon storms. Because of that, I went yesterday to Weddington just outside Charlotte to meet a fellow GardenWebber, Carrie360. We walked around her gardens and talked. It all started when I asked her to save me some seed from her giant red amaranthus this fall. Well, as luck would have it, she offered me seedlings instead. And lots more.



I got amaranthus, melampodium, rudbeckia triloba (finally, a perennial rudbeckia instead of my floppy annual variety), a couple Verbena bonariensis reseeders, several large clumps of Helianthus angustifolius, perilla, and what may be a salvia coral nymph. I took her some rooted confederate jasmine, a brown turkey fig, a rooted fragrant tea olive, some butterfly bush seedlings, and a couple calycanthus florida seedlings that were wintersown. All in all, it was a very good visit. I'm sure I will be back soon to take cuttings of a hydrangea she has and to collect seeds in the fall from some of her perennials. It's great to finally meet some other gardeners who use some of the same methods I do to grow their plants. Most will be planted out late this evening if my energy level picks back up. Right now, I can only hope to have enough to get a few very wilted plants watered.

Speaking of wilting, the shastas and coreopsis are looking a bit lethargic.





Those in shade are nice and perky. The others will rebound as soon as the sun starts to sink below the trees across the street.



Blooms today.

Hairy Balls - Gomphocarpus physocarpus - a host plant for butterflies.

Correction: NOT Hairy Balls. If anyone can identify it, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks Remy! Proboscidea louisianica - Devil's Claw



The confused rose bush.



Red coreopsis. The blooms are just under 1" across. I can't wait to see it in full bloom.



Convolvus tricolor. I tried spring sowing these last year. I got very spindly plants that bloomed once all summer. I wintersowed these this year and had much better luck.



And finally, that painfully slow datura is fixing to bloom. I'm tired of waiting.



I need to get outside to water a few brugs and the sunflowers. I am hoping for rain, but don't expect it until Thursday. And I need a nap. All this heat and walking at work wears a body out. On a personal note, I've dropped below 220lbs for the first time in 8 years. 218 on the scales this morning. Gotta drink a lot of water this summer.