Thursday officially marked the end of North Texas’ attempt at a record. Temperatures dropped below one hundred just shy 2 days of the record set back in 1980. While it turned overcast and threatened thunderously for all about 30 to 45 minutes, no rain fell on my garden. Apparently, some parts of North Texas did get to see some moisture, but they were the lucky few!
Day 34: Ouch!
One month of straight 100+ degree weather. The paucity of blog posts here is directly related to how much time I’ve been spending in the garden–which amounts to the least number of hours possible.
The man and I did spend a few hours this past Saturday morning weeding and cleaning out the front flower bed. We took stock of our ailing azaleas and parched lawn, gave them all a good soaking, before going back into hiding. However, it seems that soaking every other day is not helping our plants or our lawn. Though I’m loathed to see our water bill for every day sprinkler watering, that may be our only recourse to keeping things alive. That, and more cedar mulch.
So after weeding, I took stock of our garden and found that the heuchera are all dried up, the Autumn Embers azaleas extremely dehydrated, and my once-thriving rosemary plant with one foot in the grave. Of course the rosemary suffered due to an over-abundance of watering, spawning a fungus killing off its roots. One of my salvia greggiis (Royal Raspberry) wasn’t immune to the poor weather either, having lost most of its top growth.
My poor Salsa Asiatic jasmines have turned brown with leaf burn if they’re not already dead. Because of their young neighbors died off in the heat, they lost some valuable shade in the process. Other potted plants fare well only with daily watering. They would prosper if I increased their watering to twice daily, but my reluctance to stand in the heat has seen me outside only once a day.
Yesterday as I was watering the courtyard, I did find that the Shu ornamental pepper had begun dropping its fruit, one of the golden oreganos in the cinderblock wall had gotten burnt, and the aster in the blue bed has started blooming sporadically. Also, the eggplant has retained its one flower so far, but I’m not sure if I should expect any fruit.
The upside to this extreme weather is that I haven’t gotten bitten once. Mosquitoes must be thrown off by all the ambient heat and lack of human CO2 to find a host to feed on.
Triple digits: day 25
I caught sight of my first cosmos bloom of the year. Plenty more marigolds are a-popping. The vincas are going strong both in the front beds and in pots. The catmint is bountiful in its blooming spires, like the neighboring pineapple mint.
This heat streak has been tough on the delicate plants as well as anything in pots. I surveyed the yard and found many losses: the lobelia, Purple Palace heuchera and Capetown Blue Felicia Daisy among them. The 2 Autumn Embers azaleas are particularly affected. I’m concerned that without a soaker hose in the bed they won’t get the watering they require. Chances are, we won’t see them for their summer show this year.
On day 18, there was…
…relief! Okay, Wednesday didn’t offer overwhelming relief since the temperatures peaked at 99 degrees–thereby ending a 17-day-long streak of 100+ weather.
It’s been too hot to do anything but watch plants shuffle off one by one as the heat took its toll on them. Every once in awhile, we got out and gave the beds a good drenching, but we have stayed indoors for the most part. This is not good planting weather, unless you take sadistic pride in watching your well-spent money dry up and die.
To be honest, I haven’t seen any noteworthy losses…most were young plants that had no business being outside. I did however notice that the potted lobelias appear like a thatch of dried twigs now, minus the blue blooms. And this morning I found that one of the Francee hostas had turned yellow-brown. Back into the ground it goes!
Bloomin’ things
It’s been a hot week, but despite that, the flowers still keep coming. Especially on the basils. I’ve been trimming them back like mad all week, but they persist in throwing up blooms. The thai basil, for example, has been sheared back multiple times–I used some of its leaves for some fried rice but I never use enough of the basil to make a dent in their growth. Today, my lime basil threw up a floret spire for the first time this year. Now, if we could only grill up some burgers so I can make some lime basil mayo.
Among the other flowers captured today: Midnight Blue rose starting another flush of blooms, Aztec Red verbena, Calico ornamental pepper, picoteed dianthus, catnip, the mystery dianthus which I originally thought was Diana Blueberry…and the caladium! Yes, after closer inspection, that dried up floppy top hid a flower spike. A second flower spike will soon be blooming. I’m also happy to note that the other caladium (in a spot that receives more afternoon sun) finally deigned to joined us. Just in time too, because the Purple Palace heucheras are looking crispy.
Hello, Mr Dragonfly…I wish I took better macro pictures so that I could photograph how pretty you are.
