I feel like I'm living along the Gulf Coast again with the weather these days. Day after day, with temperatures in the 90s and high humidity. However, there are a couple of differences. Here, it cools off at night into the 70s. There, it rarely got below 80 at night, and no nighttime cooling made the days even worse. However, when we lived in New Orleans and Houston, we often had afternoon thunderstorms, unlike the rainless days that have been all too common here.
We have been watering using water from the basement dehumidifier and water from the rain barrel, which is getting low again. Most things are surviving, even if they aren't thriving. Here are some things I saw during a walk around the yard last night.
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| Hosta. This hosta looks great. Others close by are brown and stunted. |
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| The mum has had another flush of blooms. It seems not to mind the hot, dry weather. |
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| Butterfly bush. The bush itself is messy, but the blooms are pretty. |
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| The fig tree is growing out instead of up this year. |
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| The hydrangea blooms are fading, and Oh, No! I saw my first Japanese beetle. |
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| Day lily. |
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| Sunpatiens. A newer variety of impatiens that does well in sun or shade. So far, these are doing well, although they droop during the heat of the day. |
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| I moved the coneflowers from another bed to see if they would do better here. Whatever eats the petals as soon as they bloom followed them here. |
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| I moved the Black-eyed Susan to the same bed. We'll see if the same thing eats its blooms. |
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| Above is the native Black-eyed Susan and these are cultivars of the native. |
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| The first tomatoes are starting to turn. Yay! |
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| Most of the grass looks like this. However, in the shady spots, it needs to be cut. |
Well, that's it for this walk.
Until next time...
