This summer will be remembered for its dryness and high temperatures that went along with it - a lethal combination for all but the strongest and well-established plants. I feel like I've walked around the yard with the hose permanently attached to me like a tail most of the summer. It became one of the cats' favorite things to chase as I pulled it behind me.
Signs of the drought conditions we experienced in June and July can be seen throughout the garden, but this Spider Flower (Cleome hassleriana) shows it best. 
Normal height of this is 36-48 inches. Mine is twelve and most have not gotten beyond the seedling stage. I started them this spring from seed saved from last year's flowers and grew them in the same location as last year. Those were also grown from seed and were normal height. As I said, I watered constantly during the dry period, but since these were located in the furthest spot in the garden from the spigot, they didn't get a shower as often as most everything else. They obviously suffered.
Now we're deeply entrenched in August and today we're under a flash flood watch from all the rain we've gotten in the last couple of days. It's thundering as I write this and I was driven back inside by more rain as I was taking my first stroll of the day through the gardens. That's okay, though, because it's going to take a lot of it to get the ground back to a normal moisture level and it's been wonderful to not have to drag the hose around with me.
"Bejeweled"
6 comments:
I have some cleome that look exactly like that! We too have just gotten tons of rain and there are flood warnings as well. You would easily be able to tell what I've watered this summer and what only had rain. Sure has been a strange summer.
Kylee, glad your getting some rain, I'm sorry thought it's all at once. It does often seen to be this way with weather. The spider lillies although short are still very sweet. There is always next year to get those beauties to 4 feet.
All the best, BOB
My cleome looks like that too! Oh, well. There's always next year.
Up here in southern Ontario, we are dry, dry, dry, and have been that all summer. We've had no decent rainfall since mid-May! This is a record dry year for us, and that's getting very depressing. Glad to hear that you are getting some moisture.
We certainly know how you feel about the heat, dryness and the watering. Although in our case, most places in Australia can no longer use hoses for watering because of the drought. At the moment we can use dripper-hoses at certain times on certain days, but even though it's now winter time, there are many places where no outside watering is allowed at all, unless it is recycled water.
Unless we get good Spring rains, the prospects for summer are very grim indeed because although some places were actually flooded a few months ago, little has gone into the water catchments.
Yay for rain, Kylee! I'm so glad you're getting some! We're used to no rain all summer long so our gardens are pretty drought-tolerant as a rule but I can't imagine how bad this is hitting you. Warm wishes for more of the wet stuff, Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage
Post a Comment