heat wave

End of summer, beginning of fall, leaves starting to change colors- and we're suddenly getting a hundred and one temps at the height of the day. I take a walk after dark because it's so hot. My yard is parched- the grass yellow and brown, the younger hydrangeas severely wilted, the little maple hybrid on the sideyard leaves turning crispy. I water what I'm able to, with fishwater from the tank cleaning, and dishwater from the kitchen. Still prefer to recycle that, rather than turn on the hose. Red-hot poker is getting priority treatment- I deadheaded and it sprouted a new flower stalk!- plus all the potted plants. Most of the rest is just left to survive if it can. 

Some things are doing great in the heat- sedums in the front yard, celosia around the mailbox, canna lilies (still no flowers though) and the cardinal climber has begun to bloom all over the place- 

so I get glimpses of the hummingbird more often, and have to go out trim off the reaching vine tendrils every other day, or it will take over. 

And here my sad (empty) garden has given me a nice surprise: that vine was a butternut squash!

I wasn't absolutely sure until I cut it open: yes.

Roasted it with some brussels sprouts for dinner- and it tasted good. There's two, I'm saving the other for a later day. Still baffled how it grew in my garden- my best guess is still that a squirrel put the seed there. I sure didn't plant it. Rabbit or deer has eaten all the leaves off by now- and even chomped on my 'kiwi fern' coleus nearby! but it doesn't matter, I got my squash.

They (deer) had also mostly chomped the flower buds off my turtlehead and the gladiolas on the larger sideyard- I never saw them eat glads buds until this year. But now I do have some turtlehead blooming, from further back in the patch against the fence, on one side of the yard. Where I guess the deer don't bother to reach. So there's that. 

I might get a picture, but it's too hot to bother going outside again now.

so very late

but I did finally pot up my herb seedlings. Even though they will probably go into their larger pots and/or the ground in just a week or two, they needed nutrients from regular soil. So small still! Basil

Dill 

Summer savory 

Thyme

Actually got a few fenugreek- two more sprouted in the seedling tray

The parsley, 

garlic chives and green onions aren't quite big enough to prick out yet 

It seems like the cardinal climbers leapt overnight- this was a few days ago when I potted them up

And now: is it my imagination, or are they slightly larger already

Here's a more visible difference in size: summery savory seedlings just before I took them out of their tray

compared to a few of the same plant, that grew back from roots in the planter box on the deck! I didn't know this herb could survive the winter, but these two did just that (only two out of the dozen I had growing last year, so not much but still)

first true leaves

are out on my cardinal climber seedlings. They're not quite big enough, and it's too cold (got chilly this week) to plant them yet.

Which saddened me a little, because today I glimpsed a hummingbird on the deck, it flew by the window and paused a moment. Sad that I don't have many flowers to offer it. The black-and-blue salvia has grown quickly- its foliage two feet tall now! but not close to blooming. I think hummingbird will feed on the clary sage, the lilac, and maybe the columbine?

but those aren't many in my yard. The poor lilac only has one half of it blooming. The other side, bare stems. I am still not sure if deer have nipped it, or the neighbor's tree shades it too much, or the tree that was growing in its middle choked it some.

But it smells lovely as always.

seedlings update

I think my seeds have all sprouted, that are going to. Didn't get any green onions from the older packet, but I have some that grew from ones I got at swap a few years ago. Only one half my summer savory tray germinated- the newer seed. So time to throw out the older packet of those as well.

Garlic chives- these are new to me! a gift from my older sister (we traded seeds last year)

My one fenugreek seedling keeled over and died, and I'm debating about starting more. All the rest are doing fine- dill, thyme and parsley (just emerged a day ago). No sign of sage yet, but if I remember correct those always take a while to get going. Basil I planted six or eight seeds, and only got three. So maybe that packet is getting old too, might have to sow twice as much as what I want next time.

The cardinal climber seedlings are looking grand. I just get a kick out of their angular shapes. These were fairly dusky and puplish when emerged, but I've learned that some plants do that to protect tender new leaves from strength of the sun. They're already greener now than in this photo.

I think it was the right choice, that I only did a few herbs this year. I've been pretty good lately with my regular activities (housework) but the carrying in/out of the house every day this week of seedlings plus my boston fern, potted geraniums in the basement, all the coleus cuttings and one stevia plant, has me tired and beat at the end of each day. When it dropped to just above freezing a few nights earlier this week, I preemptively brought in the bay laurel, figs and chives too. That was tiresome.

Can't quite handle three times as many young plants with all their particular needs right now.

first up yesterday-

Two of my seedlings- fenugreek (so small!)

and cardinal climber (leaves have not unfolded yet). 

Already facing the difficulty I always imagined having if starting seeds late in the spring- it's too darn hot. The little greenhouse is an oven during the day, even leaving the trays just on the deck table they dry out super fast. I have to keep hydrating or set them in a tray water but then am I overdoing it. When I can put them in regular potting soil I think they'll do better but right now it's tricky.

Today a few green onions, basil and thyme sprouted.

end summer blooms

Last week with the cold, hummingbird quit coming to visit. The cardinal climber flowers lingered a bit longer.

Sharing space on balcony railing with cowpea vines again

Around the mailbox I've started trimming off the heavy heads of celosia, I'm sure there's already an overload of seed on the ground there. They were pretty good this year!

Joe Pye I also cut down before it could scatter too much seed.

Sedums are starting to look their best

Rear side bed is pretty messy, but turtlehead still makes some color

My black-and-blue salvia did well again this year,

but the lilac next to it appears to be dying. One half has no leaves. Overshaded by the neighbor's tree? Crowded out by the salvia? I'm not sure. Maybe it's just sick or attacked by some insect pest.

Cranesbill is starting to falter in the cold, less flowers now- but it was great just a few weeks ago:

Not sure how the mums will do, I didn't pinch them more than once this year so maybe they will flop over. But lots of buds right now!

And there's not nearly as much of this blue sage as I would like- the color is so stunning when everything else is beginning to go drab.

climber vines

My cardinal climbers have finally gone all the way up the post (seedheads of clematis there with them) to the deck railings- but no flowers yet. So late in the year.

I've glimpsed the hummingbird a few times- in fact the other day I think I saw two darting at each other in the air- but I think they're coming to the black-and-blue salvia on the sideyard. They don't come near the deck because there's no flowers for them here.

hummingbird

I see it regularly now- a ruby throat female (or immature male?) If I catch the right moment, can watch it move from flower to flower among the cardinal climber vine. It also feeds on the nasturtiums. I actually got a few photos the other day- though they are not crisp focus because at a distance and through the window.

Here cropped, with the hummingbird at center:

So small!

cardinal climber

 The pretty vine is all over my deck railings now. I cut down the part of it that was growing up the vacant sweet-pea bamboo tipi. Because it was reaching up the house siding. Now I'm trimming tendrils off the top every other day, and training longer vines on one side to continue around the deck.

Yes, it's prolific. Already a few seedlings coming up down below, though they won't get far before winter.

Still wondering what the large attractive coleus-like plant is that swarms half my tomato bed now. It has a particular scent when I'm nearby. I keep waiting for flowers to appear, to see if they look like coleus. [Note added later: it's probably shiso!]

The bright pale green coleus in corner by the root bed is nicer with cool weather now.

Near it a borage has come up volunteer.

july flowers

Some just beginning, others are near their end. My purple clematis bloomed a third round- though the flowers are very few. I had to prop up this last one for a picture, as the rain beat it down last night.

A yellow counterpart- at least, its shape seems similar to me: zucchini flower. If my zucchinis continue to rot (cucumbers right next to them are prefectly fine!) maybe I'll start eating the flowers instead.

Rue, yellow floating above the blue, also a bit crinkled from the rain.

Small yellow on the ground: cucumber flower.

Even smaller: tiny white flowers on my winter savory.

Also quite small- tiny purple trumpet-shaped flowers on the dark glossy plant I bought on a whim. Never found the tag again and I can't remember its name!

Up on the deck, a volunteer nicotiana. It grew out of the drain hole in a pot, that had trellis for my sweet peas. So I left the pot there, because it was so amusing (and pretty).

Pink trio of geraniums are flowering again, though they keep loosing leaves. Turn yellow, then brown, then drop. Am I watering too much? or not enough- are they drying out between rain spells.

Cardinal climber has crawled all over the planter boxes on that end of the deck railing. Swarming my parsley!

Most of the flowers are up top, here. I've trimmed some of the trailing vine ends- they are still looking for height- hoping the plant will branch more further down and fill in the trellis. I love how it's grown all through the balusters:

Tithonias are all flowering on the second sunny slope. Doing much better in this new spot!

Beautiful from the sideyard: gladiolas. The one salmon pink spray is from the new group.

Arranged in the house.