How much hotter will it get? How much more can the plants take? My meadow is now over, almost hay making time, some tree leaves are turning orange and dropping in the woodland and the roses are having a rest. I’m having a rest too, trying to keep cool inside the house with the curtains closed, all doors open to catch any breeze and a fan working overtime. Anyway, enough of this, it is time for this week’s six.
All of a sudden the buddleja are flowering, their perfume is in the air in this heat and the butterflies are flocking, well almost, this is a Peacock butterfly.
Very strong perfume this morning, is it the heat that brings it out? I used to have a white one but it died a few years ago, must find a replacement as that had a really strong perfume and was always covered in butterflies.
Clematis Prince Charles has opened more flowers, but these are only half the size of the original ones, I assume the drought is to blame, or me as I’ve not watered him!
Lysimachia ephemerum are looking very happy and pristine at the moment. I’m surprised as they usually like more moisture than they have at present.
The hydrangea that I showed you which was thinking about changing colour, has decided it definitely wants to be blue, I am so happy!
This is the Woodland floor at the moment, I was very surprised when I came in here the other day, it looks more like October or November, not the beginning of July!
These are the leaves of some of the Horse Chestnut trees, they are the first trees to get their leaves in the spring and the first to lose them in the autumn, but July is ridiculous! I hope this won’t affect the life of the tree.
Some plants are coping well though. This Hosta sieboldiana elegans is planted among shrubs and trees which must take most of any available moisture, but it seems very happy at the moment.
I feel I ought to explain that we are on a water meter so pay for every drop that comes out of the tap, therefore I try never to use a hose pipe. I try to save as much as possible in water butts but there is a limit as to how much that can be and I’m now getting to the stage where I think the hose pipe might have to come out. I have reduced the number of pots that need watering and flung buckets of water over anything that is looking stressed, obviously it is time to do a rain dance!
Thanks go to Jim at Garden Ruminations for organising us all, do pay him a visit if you would like to see what is happening in other gardens at the moment. I hope you are all coping with the heat and managing to stay cool.
The lack of rain is a worry, although you still have a lovely selection of plants. Your Hydrangea looks lovely and healthy and the Lysimachia ephemerum is very pretty.
I’m eking out the last one a quarter water butts with the water we collect when showering but if we don’t get any rain soon I will have to resort to mains water for some plants.
At last we have had a bit of rain Graeme, more to come from the forecast, thank goodness. Such a lot of deadheading to do as everything is going over so quickly.
Despite the heat around 30° these days, I’m amazed at the resilience of certain plants like the hosta which for me are in the shade or others in part shade and which resist quite well without watering. There must be humidity in the soil at night. So I think that further north your Hosta sieboldiana will do well. I just came back from the garden, and I see that several plants are very sad like the hydrangeas or the clerodendrum but they will recover at the end of the day (I hope)
It’s the humidity that I can’t cope with Fred, but temperatures are coming down now, thank goodness.At last we have had a bit of rain, more to come too according to the forecast so hopefully the garden will recover.
That is interesting about your white buddleja. I have two and I find the insects leave them alone. Must be the variety and I need a different one. I did pick up two more purple ones in a sale last week at Longstock water gardens, where they had a lovely selection in their nursery gardens on display, so fingers crossed for next year.
Lots of butterflies have been visiting the garden this last week, in between the showers which have been very welcome. The butterflies are certainly coming to the buddlejas and enjoying what is on offer.
All your blooms are lovely. I know how difficult a drought can be (during the summer of 2012, we had two months without rain), so I’m sorry you’re dealing with that. If you do get some rain soon, though, the plants should be OK…those are plants that perform well here, too, and our normal temps are 27-32C/80-90F during the summer. But with that much heat, they do need more water as you know, so I hope you’ll get some rain soon. Anyway, thanks for sharing your beautiful garden highlights. That Lysimachia ephemerum is so graceful. <3
At last, we have had some rain Beth and there is more to come according to the forecast, thank goodness.I’m sure the garden will survive, it just looks so sad at the moment!
Yes, I find myself crunching on dried leaves on some of our paths too, Pauline, which seems very odd for July! We are forecast some showers on Tuesday, but we will need to see them to believe them! There are smaller clematis flowers on just some of our clematis here, so their position and soil clearly makes a big difference
The gardener used his lawn mower just to collect all the leaves on the lawn Cathy, not to cut the grass which hadn’t grown! At last we have had a few light showers with more to come if the forecast is right.
It must be hard to have metered watered. I expect there will be a hosepipe ban soon for all of us. I noticed the horse chestnuts turning, so weird to see that so early in July. How lovely to have blue hydrangeas, an impossible dream here.
We willingly went onto a water meter many years ago Liz and up till now have coped with all our saved water in the water butts, our water bills halved! To see the lawn covered with leaves is very strange at this time of year.
The weather has been a challenge for everyone this year, Pauline, but last weekend saw the end of it for us. There doesn’t seems to be a happy medium as it’s now cool, verging on cold and very, very, wet! I hope you soon get the rain you need. The white Lysimachia is a beautiful plant, I can see that fitting nicely into a particular area of my garden. Note taken! Your now-blue hydrangea is looking so good. I have one that’s been transitioning for a few years, but not quite taken the final steps! Hoping for rainfall for you!
Showers at last Catherine, with more to come according to the forecast, thank goodness. I’m sure the garden will recover but there are bound to be some plants that don’t make it. Quite a bit cooler too, especially at night time, I can sleep at last !