No, we have humidity. The soil in most parts of my yard are very dry. In the backyard, the upper left side is the moon garden. Nothing is doing well here except the castor beans. It's too hot. The soil holds no moisture even with several inches of leaf mulch. Things wilt as soon as the sun touches them.
In the center, the potager is suffering too. The sunflowers have long been gone. A few cosmos have sprouted from seed dropped before the storm. I pulled all those plants. Hopefully the new ones will bloom, but it's dry there. Very dry.
At the back, the dead oak tree has given me a new set of issues. The soil here has always been hard packed. It was a dry shade. Now, the ground is baked for much of the day. Things will need to be moved this fall.
To the right, the gully stays a little moist. There are two storm water drains on the street that funnel all the rain from the road and other yards into my gully. During a heavy rain, there can be several inches of water here. It's a great place for a rain garden, but I'm thinking veggies. I just need to decide if fighting the critters for tomatoes is worth it.
There's a lot of work to do back here. There's too much stuff, too jumbled, no cohesive design. That's okay. I have all winter to work on that. When it's cooler, of course.
Blooming today, Miss Huff lantana, again.
A new rudbeckia has appeared. I like.
Verbena bonariensis - from Carrie.
A wintersown hardy hibiscus has a bud. It's white. I hope it's the same as the parent plant. There was no red center, just a solid white bloom.
Kongmansia has new leaves. I'd like to see just one bloom this year. I'm doubtful.
Finally, the datura seed pods are starting to crack. I need to collect lots of these. Several people have asked that I share them. I will be glad to. As the season progresses, there should be lots of seeds in the other pods. They're larger, at least.
It's 89 and mostly sunny. It's hot. It's humid. It's August.
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5:41pm - 88 and still sunny. I potted three Turn of the Century hibiscus cuttings from the cloner. One vitex was also ready. No idea what I'm going to do with 4 vitex cuttings, but I'm thinking I can trade them for something this fall. One of the TotC hibiscus cuttings will be traded for red daylilies. I'm not sure of the variety just yet. Other cuttings are still doing well. The other vitex have developed huge calluses, but no roots yet.
3 comments:
Listened to a talk about the evening garden yesterday by Peter Loewer - from N Carolina - who went on and on about datura. It's an annual here in Michigan. Can you grow it as a perennial in your neck of the woods or do you reseed every year?
Gosh, you've been busy since I last popped in - and in that heat too! Very impressive.
We're having a warm but very wet summer here, so we have to grab the hot dry days when we can - but I'm very glad it doesn't get as hot as you've had it! :)
I raise my empty watering can in your honor. We have also been bone dry and stupidly hot this year. It has been such a challenge to keep it all from looking like a scrub brush landscape let alone finding the gumption to work out there.
You have been doing a wonderful job keeping up with it and quite honestly your garden looks wonderful.
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