Riding the Heat Wave

The heat wave hasn't been quite as miserable as I feared it would be. We've had our power the whole time for one thing, and even an inch of rain over Wednesday and Thursday. Last Sunday was the worst day for heat so far due to the accompanying humidity.

Sunday morning I took my camera out to take a picture of this Black Swallowtail and what happened? Instant camera fog. I've never been to the tropics but it had to be what the tropics feels like.

Early Sunday I went down to the pasture to dump and refill the water trough and both horses were soaked with sweat and blowing. The sweat wasn't evaporating and as a result they were overheating. So they got a good hose down and luckily the sky clouded up later and temps cooled down, eventually way down, the result of nearby rain that didn't quite reach us. In the fact the change was so remarkable it seemed strange -- from unbearably hot and sticky to quite cool and ocean breezy. Anyone who thinks that the discussion of weather is boring is crazy imho.

I am so grateful for the rain we got the last two days. It's impossible to keep everything watered in this heat.

I took this picture before the heat wave. The geraniums are sere brown now ~ but they will bounce back.

The biggest hits with the insects now are the Monarda, Mountain Mint, Vitex, and Buddleia. There is a constant buzzing and fluttering around these flowers. The mint looks so cool and silvery that it seems to shimmer.

I really like the combination of Monarda 'Raspberry Wine' with Vitex.

Earlier this summer I added more Monarda and Brazilian Blue Sage around the Vitex (to have it somewhere I could water it easily). It'll take a year for this new bed to fill in so in the meantime I added some fillers.

Such as Kiss-me-by-the-garden-gate (type that 5 times fast)

Did I mention I was grateful for the rain? Me and the seashore mallows. If I hadn't watered them before the rains they'd be shriveled brown husks of themselves now.

Finally, I have Culver's Root thriving in my garden, on the east side of the house. I don't know if it'll ever be as showy as it is up north, but I like it: modest and graceful at the same time.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the daylilies but I won't miss
spraying them with peppermint every. single. evening.

'Hyperion'

Commuter daylily (H. citrina)

Still haven't found a tag for this tall beauty.
I must have had the brilliant idea to just tag one of them.

Hudson Valley is another gorgeous yellow; about halfway
as high as the above, with enormous fragrant flowers.

One more day of intense heat and then we are due for a break. What I hate about these heat waves is that in my memory they swell and grow until they fill the entire summer. They sap one's strength. Even with the refuge of air conditioning after a morning spilling into early afternoon of slogging in the sun. I'll be glad when it's over, as I'm sure everyone will be!

Hellfire

Opening the front door is like opening the door to an oven. The temperature at 6:30pm is 99 degrees, down from a peak of 104 an hour earlier.

Everything was wonderful until the first day of summer (aka hell). We did get one marvelous day of reprieve on Wednesday, yesterday wasn't too bad, but today the heat was so intense you could see the waves rippling up like gas on an unlit range. It felt like one spark would set the world afire.

I watered everything up yesterday and hope that will carry the plants through. I'll have to run the sprinkler some too but I'd like not to stand around holding a hose.

The daylilies, phlox and Monarda are blooming. Daylilies are tough. They can take just about anything.

The flowers on the right which looks red is actually a deep burgundy/pink and are the flowers
of 'Dayspring' Oakleaf Hydrangea. They've never turned such a dramatic color before.

I can't find a tag for the tall yellow daylilies on the right. Although nameless for now and difficult to impossible to photograph in bright light, they have been stalwarts during the mid and late daylily season. They are beautiful and very fragrant.

'Siloam David Kirchhoff'

'Catherine Neal'

'Blackjack Cherry'

'Ruby Spider'

Allium sphaerocephalon is a great filler among the daylilies and has a very long bloom time.

'My Melinda' with 'Marie Pavie'

'Shady Lady'

Back to hellfire again tomorrow, with an expected high of 107. I know much of the country is suffering with extreme heat. Try to stay cool everyone!

Musical daylilies

Last Saturday we went to the beach. The hypnotic power of the sea on a fine day is a great thing. We did the usual: got to the beach in time for lunch at Big Daddy's, took a long walk on the beach, visited the Fort Fisher aquarium, and drove around Dunkin Doughnuts for a glazed on the way home. Not only is the aquarium itself pretty amazing, there's a garden outside too. Not grand but always something pretty and interesting. This time we saw 2 plants I hadn't seen in person before: 'Perfume Deep Purple' Nicotiana ~ truly a deep beautiful purple, and I ordered seeds for it after we got home ~ and the ornamental grass Lagarus ovatus 'Bunny Tails'. I enjoyed seeing the African Daisies too, which I have not grown with success. They might like the dry bed up near the mailbox that DH wants to install. Currently the plantings up there just consist of a rosemary, lavender, Butterfly Weed, and Eastern Silvery Aster.

Here it's daylily time. Which means it's time to move daylilies around. I do not put the effort into labelling that I should so the colors and heights don't always end up where I want them. (The best and cheapest way is probably a metal tag marked by engraving or a Pilot Silver Market attached to the base of some leaf stems by a fine wire. Then the tag can't be pulled up or broken by being stepped on.)

Daylily season starts here with 'Smuggler's Gold' and 'Bleu Celeste', which is not blue at all but a two-toned pink.

'Red Volunteer'

with 'Lion in Winter'

From left to right: 'Golden Compass' or Tar and Feather', 'Little Missy', 'Shady Lady', 'Lion in Winter', and 'Red Volunteer'.

'Tang' in foreground

The cream, pink and yellow blended pastel 'Beautiful Edgings' is one of my absolute favorites. The pink is 'My Melinda' and I moved out the golden yellow 'Buttered Popcorn' after snapping the picture.

This yellow noid is fantastic: elegant, long-blooming, and very fragrant.

'Jedi Blue Note'

I love purple daylilies and 'Indian Giver' is unique in its clear shade of rosey grape purple. Even though I have to spray the daylilies with peppermint every night to keep the deer at bay I want to add a few more daylilies (makes sense right?) and more 'Indian Giver' is definitely on the list. I don't feel like dividing the daylilies further this year. I'd rather just let the clumps mature more.

This weekend we are enjoying magnificent weather: breezy, low humidity, upper '70's. Reminds me of New England or Canada in the summer. Not like our usual steam bath.