It's been hot. We've had 22 days straight of over 100 degrees heat index, finally ending September 10th. The highest temperature during that time was 104, and a heat index of 114 degrees.
Not exactly great gardening weather.
 |
| Firebush (Hamelia patens) |
It's also been dry. Very dry. Since July 17th, we've had less than an inch of rain.
 |
| No, not rain. Sprinklers. |
But even with the hot, dry weather, somehow my garden knows that autumn is coming. The asters are blooming.
And the roses are beginning to bloom again.
 |
| La Marne |
 |
| Lady Hillingdon |
 |
| Madame Berkeley |
 |
| Madame Joseph Schwartz |
At first glance, it may look decent, but everything in the garden is waiting for some life-giving rain.
Beyond my garden, the trees that survived the drought of 2011 are stressed, and are not going to make it much longer without a nice, long drink of water.
I try to look at the bright side of things, so is there a good thing about being so hot and dry? Well, I haven't had to mow the lawn in over a month!
Colorado is flooding, and we are drying up. What's happening in your garden?
Happy GBBD! The rain is such a feast or famine...what is really annoying is when I look at the radar and it is raining everywhere else but here..or when they are dark black clouds...and it won't drop! Ugh! I finally installed a large irrigation system where I can sit on my back porch and touch a button....beautiful thing....
ReplyDeleteYour asters and roses are looking beautiful despite the heat. The entire season has been strange this year and it seems like we are going into an early fall here as well.
ReplyDeleteYou do a good job of bringing them along despite the drought.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying not to water so the perennials will send deeper roots for winter. Meanwhile, those things that bloom in a dry fall are coming along: Salvias, Candlestick sennas, Esperanza, Duranta, Muhly grass, Lantana. They are waiting for cool and so am I.
After a very wet summer, we have had only one shower thus far this September. The hydrangeas are especially needing rain. I keep thinking we will get a tropical storm in the Gulf to send us some rain, but so far nothing. Despite your drought, your garden looks lovely. You have done a good job with those sprinkles!
ReplyDeleteThis has been a year of triple digits for us, too. Not a record year. It has been worse, but still pretty miserable. But it has cooled down to the more tolerable 90ºs for the past few days. Your flowers are looking pretty in spite of the heat. I really like the Firebush. And the asters. We have had to do additional watering beyond the sprinklers this year, too. But I can feel fall in the air. Just barely! Happy Bloom Day!
ReplyDeleteHello! I'm visiting from the Bloom Day linkup.
ReplyDeleteMy roses have started blooming again too! (Well, the Burgundy 'Iceberg' hasn't stopped blooming ever since I planted it--love that one! But the rest...)
I'm also excited for cooler temperatures to come around. It's just not pleasant to be outside when it's really hot. Even to do well-liked gardening chores. We've been up in the 90's, which is hot for us, and I've struggled to even keep up with the watering. So yes, I'm happy that fall is coming around now!
Your gardens are still looking lovely with the different things blooming there. Overall our summer was a decent one so I guess I don't have a lot of complaints there.
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
Lady Hillingdon is a beautiful rose. I bet you can't wait for the weather to cool down. Pretty section of your garden you have shown.
ReplyDeleteWhat extremes!!!!! I have been following the floods in Colorado - terrible! We are supposed to have spring, but we have had snow - yes, snow! - on the mountains and the temperatures have been so cold. Rain, rain and more rain! But I guess I can be thankful it is not that bad! I do have some flowers and will post me blooms soon!
ReplyDeleteHow you manage to have such a beautiful garden in such an extreme climate is beyond me. And it doesn't seem to me, from following your blog, that you are even growing that many xeric plants. I can only conclude that you are very talented!
ReplyDeleteYour garden is looking lovely, Holley, in spite of the terrible weather! We've had the opposite with lots of rain all summer. There is always an upside -- little watering needed! Happy GBBD! Pam x
ReplyDeleteOh, that's a long spell of hot, dry weather! But your roses look lovely, with that little amount of rain I suppose you have to do a lot of watering. I have never watered my garden as much as I have done this summer, I am dreading my water bill in November, here in London most people pay per litre water they use (we have water metres just like gas metres). It’s costly to have a garden in nice summer weather! How do you pay for your water?
ReplyDeleteWhat an extreme year of weather! I think we are finally out of our drought here in the Texas Panhandle...yay! In fact we've been included in the Colorado weather pattern and had nearly 3" of rain and cool weather this weekend. So nice when you're used to the "blow dryer"
ReplyDeleteSame here in the piney woods of east Texas. I stopped counting at 25 dead trees on our 3 acres - mostly dogwoods. I can't take it much longer. . . .
ReplyDeleteWe are flooding the last 10 days, rain, hail and thunderstorms. Until september we had a beautiful but very dry summer, now autumn is arriving with more rain then necessary, but the wind is worse, my garden is shaking at this very moment. Yes autumn has really arrived.
ReplyDeleteI love the picture with the sprinklers on in the background! It has been pretty hot and dry here too. Despite the heat though, your pictures look like your garden is still lush and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYou have some lovely views despite the drought.
ReplyDeleteHere it's definitely fall though the trees are just starting to color up. The Autumn Joy sedum is blooming, the black eyed susan are still holding their own, and the goldfinch are loving to eat the seeds of Joe Pye, cone flowers and anything else they can find. The Hosta have browned up and I'm even letting the deer eat their fill. We see a lot of them now.
But garden tasks are taking a back seat to visits to my mom. I'll be there twice this week. Don't know what the future brings.
I think your garden looks pretty good despite the heat. After a cooler than usual start to the summer, we were finally hit by high temps, accompanied by unusually high humidity for a time, but we haven't had the sustained blast of heat you have. We've had zero rain since winter ended but, sadly, that's not at all unusual. Our water bill was through the roof last month, despite dead grass and plant losses, but I'm hoping that was attributable to 2 leaks - the next bill will tell us. (I can't bring myself to check the meter.)
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks great! Don't you love La Marne? And asters are amongst my favorites. As for the heat, I think I'm very nearly ready for winter! Ouf!
ReplyDeleteMostly dying...even the blast Mexican petunias who have ruined the front yard garden.... and if I can truly get them OUT this fall.... loosing the other plants might not be so bad -
ReplyDeleteIf I had trees that need a drink, I would give them that drink... a hose on at a drip for days... so the water can get to the bottom of the roots. They don't need it weekly or monthly but a couple of times a year during a drought. Trees take time to replace. I have come to realize that I don't have another twenty years to establish more "bones" in the garden.
Your roses look beautiful in spite of the heat and drought! We are in much the same boat in my part of Illinois--we were supposed to get rain yesterday, so I held off watering. Instead, it just kind of drizzled off and on, not enough to really help. Now I'm debating whether it's even worth it to water the annuals this late in the season. It's supposed to be in the 90's later this week--this is not a Midwest September!
ReplyDeleteLovely autumn blooms...we are getting rain and cool weather.
ReplyDelete