I sat there, stunned. What a simple question, and yet I had no idea. A sense of desperation swept over me. I began to blush. There was no way out. I had to venture a guess: "high pressure?"
Well, the answer is low pressure. Being humiliated in front of my peers has etched that into my memory.
Our summers here are hot, and dry. A high pressure ridge usually sits right over us, and it takes either a hurricane or a strong cold front (low pressure) to push it away. My garden is under a high amount of pressure during the summer, too. The grass gets crunchy. The blooms get smaller, and fewer. Just keeping plants alive becomes the goal.
But when autumn comes, so, too, (usually) do the rains. My garden breathes a sigh of relief. We have had cooler weather this week, but no rains. Still, the stress is lower. Fall blooming plants are waking up. The rose blooms are bigger, and more abundant. The grass is softer, greener, and growing again. I can breathe a sigh of relief.
If you've lost your love of gardening over the summer, now is a great time to get it back. Autumn is a lovely time to work out in the garden. There is less tension, and less stress.
All because the pressure is lower.
That's a good way of putting it Holley. I too agree that autumn is a pleasant time to do some more gardening too.
ReplyDeleteIt is a much more pleasant time for the garden as well as the gardener. And since it's going into winter, and not the promise of spring, I think each bloom is less anticipated, and in a way, more appreciated.
DeleteGreat post... I had some long overdue deadheading to do in the garden and waiting for the weather to cool off a bit made it so much more easy!
ReplyDeleteYes, I have lots of work to do out there, too - and I just couldn't bring myself to do it when the temps were so high!
DeleteI love gardening in the Fall, but Spring is wonderful too. Hmm guess I just like it when it's cool. :)
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
I think we all do! :) Cool, but not cold!
DeleteUnfortunately we've had low pressure during the whole summer! Only rain and coldness. And soon we'll have winter: cold and dark. It's so depressive.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your rainy summer going into a cold and dark winter. That can't be good for the gardener's soul.
DeleteGardenias and roses in one post, the combined scent has me swooning.
ReplyDeletePaul
You know, they would smell so wonderful together. Tomorrow's blooms I'm going to bring inside to enjoy those scents! Thanks!
DeleteWell, I would definitely not have known that answer to that, either! I am so grateful for that low pressure and the cooler weather, though! I know my garden has been ready to get this summer over with!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the point to his question. I can't even remember what class it was, but it wasn't meteorology, so I was not prepared for a question like that!
DeleteYou are quite right, in this time of year it is much more relaxed gardening.
ReplyDeleteIn spring there is much pressure to get it all nice and tidy for summer, now there is no pressure and I feel as if I enjoy gardening much more.
Yes, in the spring there is all that pressure, not only for the garden to perform as we expect it to, but to also have it looking picture perfect. Autumn is a much more relaxed time!
DeleteI laughed and smiled at this post, Holley. I think we have all had that red-faced moment in front of the whole class. :) I like autumn for many reasons, but one is to enjoy the garden more...low pressure.
ReplyDeleteWhen we have those red-faced moments, we never forget the answers! :) I plan to enjoy my garden more this autumn, too. I have a lot of tidying up to do, but it's not a race to beat the calendar like it seems to be in spring.
DeleteI'm relieved that my "gardening obsession" has returned with our slightly warmer weather. I thought I'd lost it, but no, everything is looking lovely again and I'm happy. So I hear you on being happier about the cooler weather. I simply love the gardenias and your roses. So beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your passion has resurfaced. Sometimes it just takes a new bloom!
DeleteI am feeling that low pressure now, finally. The heat is over except for a few nice hours a day. And we actually had some rain, thank goodness.
ReplyDeleteJen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
I love it when the heat finally loses its control over the entire day. I love feeling a bit of cool when the wind blows. Glad to hear you've had some rain, too. I think it's needed all over the country this year.
DeleteYeah, the weather has been gorgeously cool here too for a few days - weekdays, though; I hope it holds 'til the weekend. I know the feeling you had in class. I remember my whole class in stitches while the teacher was trying to mime "Sitting Bull" after I couldn't get the answer to a question, but even with the hint, my mind was a total blank. ...But I can't figure out how to work a garden blog post out of that!
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I don't think Sitting Bull and gardens would go together easily! It's hard being put on the spot like that, isn't it? No wonder children are so traumatized by school sometimes!
DeleteI am glad you got some nicer weather. We are still wishing for rain here too...
ReplyDeleteI always expect the rains to come when the weather cools. It's usually a given. But the year of our big drought, the drought actually started in September, when the low pressure just didn't produce any rains. So, I hope you and I both get those sweet autumn rains.
DeleteNear 90 today with high pressure, and 63 for the high tomorrow after the the low settles in later tonight. So, your post is timely for me. :) This will be a big change, but I'm looking forward to the comfortable early autumn weather. And the plants are, too. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's such a shock to have such a change in the temperatures! Right now, we are experiencing 90's as highs, and it feels cool to me! Last week our temperatures were 103 to 105, and that doesn't count the heat index which was much higher!
DeleteGolly, it is so nice outside these days. Even the 90+ feels like a dream compared to the 100+ days. Of course I have placed a great deal of pressure on myself with this change in temperature. I want to get the most done possible before I lose the evening light.
ReplyDeleteThat's the bad part about winter, I think. Not so much the cold temperatures, but the lack of light. I hope you get everything done, but I guess us gardeners never really get completely through! And yes, I love days where the temperatures are high in the 80's to 90's. I'm loving it right now!
DeleteWe've had some nice soft rains the last week. I love to garden in the fall, but this year I think I'm ready to put my garden to bed and curl up with a book. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a little spent from working all summer instead of taking a break like I usually do. So, I think I'm ready to stop for a while, too. But when I actually get out in the garden, it's a different story. I could stay out there all day. And thankfully, now the weather allows me to!
DeleteI'm enjoying the last few weeks (days?) of the low pressures of Winter and very early Spring before the warm weather hits and the pressure is on! There's never enough time to do everything in Spring or to stop and see all the changes. And then Summer is, as you say, high pressure in another way.
ReplyDeleteI hope you get everything done this spring that you wish. Last year I started much earlier than I usually do, and it helped a lot. I hope to do that again this year. Even though, as gardeners, I think we will never be completely done! Enjoy your spring!
DeleteWonderful post. Here in Michigan, the pressure usually changes now and again though this year we have been stuck under high pressure. Thank you for helping me understand our weather a little better.
ReplyDeleteI think you got the high pressure we usually get, as our summer was not nearly as hard as I expected. I feel sorry for anyone stuck under high pressure. It is no fun, and very stressful. I hope you get lots of rain this autumn to make up for the lack of it you had this summer.
DeleteVery interesting point and comparison...atmospheric vs. other pressures! I went to college to become a meteorologist, but graduated to become a landscape architect. Both fields intimately relate, unless you ask most liberal arts grads in my field - most seem to know little of science, horticulture, or geography; ag school grads in my field are often better prepared.
ReplyDeleteThough I may not understand when you note, " a Professor ask(ed), "When a cold front comes through, is that bringing low pressure or high pressure"? " *Before* the cold front, or hurricane, or other storm moves in - it's true that lower pressure is moving in, rising air focuses to bring in moisture and hopefully rain! But the question stated "front comes through" - that implies it is presently moving through, and so your answer was actually right...since the front is there, the pressure is already low.
The cold front is actually bringing in high pressure behind it, and a different, cooler air mass...the high pressure is the air mass and broader weather, and the low pressure is the stormy period between those 2 air masses.
But maybe I misunderstand what your professor said.
I wish you had been in that class! I think you know more than that Professor did! :)
DeleteWe've had a similar dryness in Quebec this summer and going into fall. I empathize with you about doing everything you can just to keep things alive. It's funny because now that you mention it, when the garden's under pressure I feel under pressure too!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how the garden really does affect our state of mind. When the garden's not happy, ain't nobody happy! :)
DeleteOh I will be so happy when I can and I feel like gardening....
ReplyDeleteI hope you are back in your garden again soon, Darla.
DeleteWe are finally getting the rains too, but still could use more. I love to see the rain fall, and have a much better appreciation after this past year.
ReplyDeleteYes, we never complain about the rain in Texas, even if it's a gully-washer! :) Glad to hear you're finally getting some of that precious stuff that falls from heaven!
DeleteWe are enjoying some wonderful temps, low humidity and nice rains here in GA. We too look for those Tropical Storms to replenished our water table. Which stays low more so then normal pool, sigh. I know the weather is going to change when I feel “Pressure” in my sinuses.
ReplyDeleteYou are lucky to have stories from your heritage even though some sad as your grandmother loosing her brother.
Yikes, on the baby grasshoppers! I have never seen so many at one time before. I would be baffled as to let them be or to get rid of them. Those cute things will be eating machines one day. But then, the birds need some protein as well. Hum, what to do….
I have been worried about getting away from burn bans and drought indicators, but I hadn't thought much about the water table. You are right - it needs replenishing, and I hope this fall/winter and next spring we get the rains we need to do just that!
DeleteYou are so right about the rose blooms! They are awesome this time of the year!
ReplyDeleteYes, they are just starting to get gorgeous again. I love it!
DeleteLow pressure came through here and is sticking...a little rain but I will take as we are still so far behind...I hope to get my gardening zeal back again soon now that the heat is gone. So on to lots of work in a short time...
ReplyDeleteI find that I get my gardening zeal back when I get back to work. I hope we both can get back in the garden again soon. You're right - there's a lot of work to do out there!
DeleteVery well said!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how each season has its own "pressure" for the gardener!
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