Into the fire
June 03, 2008
Meteorologist Mark Murray’s “Weather Outlook” in today’s Austin American-Statesman :
Since May 1st, we’ve set or tied nine record high temperatures at Camp Mabry [the weather station in my neighborhood]. Today could be number ten as 99 degrees should break the old record of 98 degrees set back in 1998, the warmest June in Austin’s history. There’s still no end in sight to this unusually warm and dry weather.
Whoo-hoo! Brace yourself, Austin. Summer is back with a vengeance.
It’s hot in Dallas too! I have drought tolerant plants, but I am needing to water them now as
they are getting dry and droopy! My coreopsis look terrible–do you think it’s the heat?
It’s been so hot and dry here in Austin that my drought-tolerant perennials have been droopy too, and I’ve had to give extra water. Only the agaves and other cacti are unbothered, giving me one more reason to love them. —Pam
Yeah, here in Tyler it is hot and humid! Feels like you need a towel when you come in the door!
Brenda
Yep, it’s bad. —Pam
That is hot and it’s only June! Low 90s in Nashville this week.
That’s warm too, isn’t it? I believe normal highs here in Austin at this time of year are upper 80s/lower 90s. —Pam
It is brutally hot down here in the Valley too! Looks like we’re all going to be setting records this summer . . .
It does seem so. Payback for our cool last summer? —Pam
I don’t envy you your heat, though it’ll be hot and muggy here as well within a few weeks. I wouldn’t mind a winter vacation there, though!
That’s how I feel about our weather too, Nancy. We try to go somewhere cool for a week or two each summer—Colorado, Maine, Wisconsin. —Pam
Ye gods, Pam, that is blistering heat. Poor gardens and gardeners alike. The water garden can give a cooler look, anyway, your lily is lovely. I will comment on the fairy tale post here too, it did look very English, with the birdhouse and color scheme. You should get a commission on all Belinda’s Dream roses sold, you are such a good advertisement for it. And the bulbine, of course looks good with everything.
Ooh, a commission on ‘Belinda’s Dream’ would be a gold mine. It seems like everyone’s getting one these days. —Pam
Ugh! I mean what else is there to say? This is ridiculous. Makes me really wish I had gotten that rain barrel installed in the spring!
“Ugh” sums it up nicely, Vertie. I saw on the news that we set another record high today—100 degrees at Camp Mabry. —Pam
Ouch! May was a cold one in Chicago. June so far has been glorious. It will get hot here, but not as hot as where you are. Anything under 90 degrees is wonderful to me. After that, turn on the air conditioning! July and August, I’m especially grateful for all our shade. It’s often 5-10 degrees cooler in the backyard than it is in the sun in front.
Shade makes a huge difference, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, my sunny front garden is without much shade—the price I willingly pay for being able to grow the sun-loving plants I can’t live without. —Pam
Summer has slammed into our area without much prelude Pam. I know how you are feeling…HOT.
And sweaty. Yep. —Pam
And my brain thinks it’s August, too! Between the deer ravaging things and the heat, I am quickly losing interest these days! Maybe that means I will have time to blog again instead of spending all my time planting and weeding.
I agree. It’s too hot to do any real gardening now. Just keeping things watered is chore enough. —Pam
If you could please FedEx me about 10-15 degrees of your heat, that would be great (for both of us).
Failing that, I’m about to mourn for this summer’s vegetable garden
I’m afraid my tomatoes will never catch up.
Coming right up! (I wish.) Sorry about your veggies. —Pam
Pam, I think “drought tolerant” go into dormancy when it gets this hot. I have 4″of mulch on everything and I’m still having to deep water every weekend. It’s brutal here in China Spring. We’ve been experiencing non-stop winds w/gusts to 40mph since last August. Our soil is so dried out water dissipates as soon as it hits it. I’m terribly concerned our weather is going more toward “desert”like and we’ll really dry up in the summer months. I did, however, relish the glorious spring we had. Banner year for so many plants. I wish I could celebrate the agaves/cacti like you do, but being from West Texas, I just don’t like them. I’ll really go berserk if I see a tumbleweed blow by.
Hilary
Hilary, I’m terribly concerned about that too. I’ve read that Austin could become as arid as San Angelo in the future if rainfall patterns are disrupted and temperatures rise just a degree or two because of global warming.
It’s true that we gardeners often crave plants we can’t grow, and disdain plants that are all too common in our region. But read Scott Calhoun’s Yard Full of Sun, about planting a desert cottage garden in Arizona, to see if it won’t change your mind about agaves and cacti. —Pam
We had a relatively cool May, a stormy start to June and today suddenly it’s in the upper 80’s. Bam, it is summertime! We are all starting to join you in sweating (or as I like to say “glistening”).
No glistening here, I’m afraid. I get rather drippy and red when I’m outside at this time of year, and swear I should have been born in Sweden. 😉 —Pam