The heat has been absolutely horrible lately here in central Alabama. I’ve been doing what I can to stay out of it. The lawn is burnt to a crisp and the garden isn’t fairing much better. I have a drip system installed, but it’s just no match for the 100° temps we’ve been having. With the water bill already in excess of a hundred dollars due to practically no rain I refuse to pour more water into the flower beds. If what I have isn’t strong enough to survive the summers here I will replace it with something stronger when it dies. Some of the Daylilies are hanging on by a meager thread. Dead foliage is mounding up around the base of the plants and some have just mere sprigs of living foliage. I started cleaning up the dead leaves around the base until it occurred to me it could be helping retain the moisture in the soil. So I decided to leave it for now, even though it doesn’t look very pretty. I should probably add more mulch to the garden, but right now I can’t seem to keep the squirrels from scratching it out of the beds. To the casual observer the garden looks fantastic, but I see all the things that need attention. Meanwhile, the ‘Kwanso’ daylilies are plugging right on along.
This is our second summer of no rain and excessive heat in June. I lost a lot of plants last year. In an effort to stay cool and still be outdoors I’ve been traveling around and taking pictures in areas exposed to less sun. While it’s been so hot in the garden I’ve been turning my attention to my other blogs. If you haven’t visited, check them out. The links are in the upper left hand corner of the garden blog. The picture below was taken last week on my little excursion to the bamboo forest here in Prattville. The little frog is such a stereo type chilling on the lily pad. I hope this post finds you well and finding moments of refuge from the heat and the drought.
7 comments:
It's hot here too! Stay cool, my friend! Carla
Juggling garden hoses and sprinklers should be a sport, don't you agree?
It's that way here in Central Texas. Very depressing. But your daylilies look fabulous! Our toads are chilling out in our little fountains. It's bound to get better one of these days.
Summer is upon us here in SW IN too. Your area has had it worse though. I hope you stay cool and safe. One does reach a limit on what you can and will do during a drought. You are so right about the unsightly leaves helping the daylily to survive. They know what they need. Keep cool.
We are having the same heat here in Texas! I love your daylilies by the way!
Randy, it has been so hot and dry here, too, but there is a chance of rain (finally) today and tomorrow. I know it gets expensive to water, but I feel that I have so much invested in my plants and that to replace them would cost more than the water bill. I have also stopped planting water dependent plants such as impatiens,etc. which is helping. Hope you get rain soon.
Jan
Always Growing
Brutal at best. Never seen it so hot, for so long so early in the summer. Will be an interesting summer. I may live in the pool.
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