Mellow yellows & mellower temps
Hymenoxys (Tetraneuris scaposa ), also called four-nerve daisy. This little Texas native is nearly everblooming, and the tuft of narrow-leaved foliage stays evergreen. If I bothered to deadhead the spent blooms, it’d look even prettier.
Hot and humid—Austin’s summertime weather pattern. After a week of high 90s and at least one 100-degree (37.7 C) day, yesterday at dinnertime a strong north wind blew through, kicking up dust in north-central Austin but scrubbing the humidity out of the air and dropping temperatures a welcome ten or so degrees. This morning dawned warm but less humid, and it felt good to be outside again.
To go with our moment of mellower weather, here are a couple of mellow yellows in my garden right now.
Yellow-and-green striped leaves of Agave americana ‘Variegata.’ In the background is Mexican feathergrass (Stipa tenuissima ), and in front are the fuzzy leaves and tiered, yellow flowers of Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa ).
All material © 2006-2008 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
I love yellow in the garden, and these two are very nice. 🙂 I don’t envy you your weather, though. 37°C here is a heat wave! However, it’s not nearly as bad without the humidity.
I prefer heat to heavy snow and sub-freezing temps, but I do find summers here uncomfortable. If our climate were dry and hot, like the desert, it would be more tolerable. But we get all the humidity from the Gulf of Mexico with little of the rain, making our summers hot, droughty, and yet humid. Hey, it gives us a good excuse to get away to the mountains of Colorado for a few weeks. —Pam
Pam, the yellow is beautiful. I love yellow with red in the garden. I found your blog from
Susan Albert’s Lifescapes and have really enjoyed it. I always kept a Garden Journal, but caught
the “blogging bug!” I know you have lots of blogs to look at, but if you ever have time and want
to see what is blooming at my house in the Dallas area, please come see me. Just remember I am
a beginner! : )
The blogging bug is highly contagious, isn’t it? Welcome to the garden-blogging community, Linda, and thanks for your kind words. Your comment about yellow and red got me thinking, and I mentioned Meadowview Thymes in a new post this morning. —Pam
Great closing shot, Pam. I see a peek of your new pot with the stipa and agave. What a fabulous combo. Glad you had some nicer temps so you could be outside. We are very muggy here the last few days. Reminds me of Houston, when I go inside I am dripping wet down to the skivvies. Yuck.
Yep, it’s the humidity that gets you, not the heat. To an extent, anyway. I hope that humidity clears out for you soon. —Pam
Lovely flowers and photos Pam…I shouldn’t tell you this but it has been so muggy with the rain and cool in the low 60s, so I lit a fire inside to dry the house out! Yes, a roaring fire om May 28…tomorrow it will be but a memory!
Gail
Frances mentioned how muggy it’s been in Tennessee. I can’t imagine having a roaring fire at this time of year, but your temps in the low 60s sure sound delicious. —Pam
Oh, I love that shot with the agave– those colors and textures really play well together! It’s times like these that I kick myself for keeping to cool yellows in my color scheme, because I could really use a plant as year-round good looking as the hymenoxys!
What restraint you exercise, Lori. I do love hymenoxys. Those little yellow daisies are so cheerful all year. —Pam
I liked seeing your Daylily photos. Mine also suffer from too much shade. It’s too early to tell how they’ll do this year. (I hope what I just typed is Ok, as it was behind the banner.) When the cool breezes blow, you’ve got to take advantage. I’m glad you got a bit of a respite from the heat. We’ve had only one warm day (80 plus) & we’re back in the fridge. I still haven’t turned the heat off yet, which I think is a record for me, as Memorial Day is considered the unofficial start of summer.
So cool in Chicago still! I hope you get some warmer (but not too hot) weather before May is over, MMD. —Pam
Yellow is a great colour to use in the garden and your pics show that very clearly. I’m glad we don’t have such hot and humid weather like you have but i suppose one gets used to that after a while. Here it’s been a bit cold with temperatures around 15 to 16 C during the day and only slightly above freezing point (= 0 C) during the night. But it is getting warmer again and a bit sunnier too.
I wish I could get used to the heat, but it seems to grate on me more every year. Ah well. Your cool weather sounds nice. No wonder your roses are so happy. Mine are suffering a bit in the hot, humid weather. —Pam
That Agave is just wonderful. I am glad you are having some mellow weather. Our mellow weather
is about to end. The temps are supposed to climb beginning today. Spring this year was wonderful
here. I hate to see it change into summer.
You did seem to have a beautiful spring. Perhaps it’s a preview of an even lovelier summer! —Pam