Blazing scorching sweltering torrid HOT
It's hot. Somewhere near 103°F here in Davis. Temperature records tumbled all over Northern California in the last few days. San Francisco smashed the all-time record on Friday with 106°F (41°C). That's the city about which Mark Twain once said: "The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco."
Hot summer weather is par for the course for us, but this summer has been particularly brutal. And it's not over yet. Cool fall weather won't start in earnest until sometime in the second half of October. If then.
I continue to hide in the house most of the time. I did a bit of yard work this morning but it was simply too hot in the sun. So back inside I went.
But I did brave the heat again a little while ago to take these pictures. Many plants continue to thrive, while others have decided to go dormant permanently. So it goes.
Hot summer weather is par for the course for us, but this summer has been particularly brutal. And it's not over yet. Cool fall weather won't start in earnest until sometime in the second half of October. If then.
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| Blazing [Death Star] |
I continue to hide in the house most of the time. I did a bit of yard work this morning but it was simply too hot in the sun. So back inside I went.
But I did brave the heat again a little while ago to take these pictures. Many plants continue to thrive, while others have decided to go dormant permanently. So it goes.
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| Breezy [Bouteloua gracilis 'Blonde Ambition'] |
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| Branchy [Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on Fire'] |
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| Blasé [Agave weberi 'Arizona Star'] |
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| Crispy [Leucadendron 'Jester' †] |
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| Bloomy [Parkinsonia 'Desert Museum'] |
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| Fertile [Hesperaloe parviflora] |
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| Bellissimo [Agave parrasana] |
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| Steely [Aloe capitata var. quartziticola] |
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| Spidery [Agave schidigera 'Durango Delight'] |
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| Cool [Agave americana 'Mediopicta Alba', Yucca rostrata, Aloe 'Moonglow', Agave mitis] |
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| Crunchy [Echium wildpretii †] |
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| Perky [Yucca recurvifolia 'Margaritaville'] |
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| Spiny [Agave applanata 'Cream Spike'] |
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| Alive [Leucadendron 'Jester'] |
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| Leafy [Canna musifolia, Manihot grahamii] |
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| Thirsty [Asparagus densiflorus 'Myers'] |
I hate seeing the crispy stuff! Hopefully that heat won't be moving to the middle of the country, as September is probably my favorite garden month: usually warm and dry and breezy. I'd hate to be seeing triple digits again...
ReplyDeleteI love the fall, too. October is a great month here, with lower temperatures and an increasing chance of rain. A good time to (re)plant.
DeleteLove your one word captions.
ReplyDeleteI posted on the same subject. Different plants, though.
It's the hot and steamy nights above 85 that are getting to me.
Jane, I saw your post. It's hard to begin to process what's happening.
DeleteHow I loathe being cooped up in the house! It's only in the 90's right now and there are clouds in the west and a light breeze--hopefully it will blow that smoke away. I was out watering as soon as it got light yesterday and today , and so far I don't think I lost anything. That B. 'Blonde Ambition' looks great no matter what doesn't it ? But your poor Echium !!
ReplyDeleteI don't know why this particular echium died. There are plenty of other seedlings elsewhere that seem unfazed. But echiums are unpredictable that way.
DeleteYikes! The heat killed a 'Jester'! We hit 104F on Friday but it's been slowly dropping since. It's the 92F at 9pm that puts me over the edge. However, early this evening we got a thunderstorm, causing the temp to plummet, albeit while raising the humidity level to 90%. I'm just hoping the the rain, little as it was, is helping firefighters get the La Tuna Fire under control.
ReplyDeleteYep. I probably should have watered more but I haven't adjusted my watering schedule since the drought. I don't want to be lulled into a false sense of security as far as the availability of water is concerned.
DeleteThe La Tune fire is scary as hell.
I also love your one-word titles...so creative & striking, each :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Holly! One-word phrases was the best my brain could come up with yesterday!
DeleteCrunchy, crispy and thirsty describes a lot of Portland right now, I hope you and our friends from England won't be too shocked. There's a nasty fire burning just east in the gorge now too and the smoke is awful.
ReplyDeleteDespite the "dormant" bits your garden still looks wonderful, at least in these photos.
No, I won't be shocked. Portland will seem like a verdant paradise to me.
DeleteSF 106 degrees...that is unbelievable. My family from San Diego, Fresno and up into Eugene and Portland have kept me updated on the temperatures and the fires. Oh how we would have loved to send you some of our rain. I did a 12 month rainfall total check and my neighborhood has had 90 inches. 34 of which happened in 4 days during Harvey! And I don't know that we got over 99 this summer. This week we start in the low 90s and then several days in the low 80's. Feeling like Autumn already! So tragic all this horrible weather.
ReplyDeleteLaurin, I was so happy seeing your updates on FB and knowing you guys were OK. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to be going through this. I hope your livelihood won't be threatened.
Deletemy losses look a lot like yours! (that echium plus a couple leucospermum/proteaceae). 'Cream Spike' looks cool as ice! We had just one day over 100, which makes such a huge difference. Those are incredible numbers for SF.
ReplyDeleteIs this a new gardening reality? Will summers become ever hotter?
DeleteSo, you're saying it's a bit warm? Sorry about your permanently dormant plants. Your praises of Agave weberi 'Arizona Star' a bit ago caused me to order one. The weather is hot and dry here but our temperatures are way cooler than yours!
ReplyDeleteUsually we simply accept the heat as a given, but this summer has been so long and hot, that it's beginning to take a toll on everybody's psyche--especially when it doesn't cool off much at night. I haven't slept well in over a week.
DeleteHot here too. I could not even bear to take photos of the damage. Parrasana, yes, what an elegant Agave.
ReplyDeleteWe've had our AC on non-stop since last Saturday. The electricity bill will be even uglier than the garden.
That's a fantastic photo of the canna and manihot. There's just something about it I love. I couldn't believe that temperature of 106 in San Francisco when I saw it! That must have been staggering for all forms of life there, given their average temperatures. Truly astounding. I am so very ready for an end to heat and a return of rain.
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot to learn from you about handling high temperatures. It was so strange to not only get triple digit temps but also have the night air stay so hot. At my place, a hundred year old warehouse, not only don't we have A.C. but there is no attic space between the ceiling and the roof. So you can imagine. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteI learned something new about gardening in heat recently when I went to hear Bart O'Brien (curator of the native plants botanical garden in Tilden) speak at Annie's. I had just removed a dead juvenile Mr Happy Echium and now two much larger ones were beginning to wilt in the heat. Bart described how they were covering plants over which could handle full sun, but not in these temps. So I went home and moved a big umbrella from a seating area and moved it out over those two echiums. It was just tall enough to handle the larger one. Both have recovered nicely and are looking good again. Here is how they look today. https://flic.kr/p/YdKTWf