very HOT

... enough to crisp the petals on the daylilies. Well, 'Custard Candy' still does quite well, as does 'Ginger Bread Man'. The newer ones are a mixed bag: 'Scarlet Orbit' is quite wonderful, 'Quannah' pretty good, NT a disappointment, AAPlum quite gorgeous when backlit by the sun, and 'Cade Stewart' a little too soon to tell but perhaps good. Not sure yet about 'Velvet Rose'. Soon I'll take some out and order new ones. Not in that order.

In the southern Zone, some of the sweet peas are coming back, to my surprise. The new hibiscus has not bloomed again, or not that I could see. The gaillardia is still on the job; one of the ipomopsis behind the house has bloomed, a fairly pure yellow by comparison with the ones at the NW corner, which are mostly mixed pink and yellow. The leonotis all seem to be growing nicely. The plumbago are gradually adding blooms at higher altitudes.

The plum tree started bearing two or three days ago, helped by the heat, I imagine.

summer flowers

The perovskia are now clealry, if shyly, in bloom, and some of the ipomopsis are not shy at all. The teucrium is effectively over, and the berberis seems ... stuck. There's even a cobweb on it. The "Durban" canna is sending up one strong-looking stem, but there's no action from the other spring bulbs. The godzilla continues to sprawl, and I've hacked off some of its outlying stems. The lavender are still in bloom, as is the malacothamnus.

The hibsicus I bought last weekend must have been in bud, because it bloomed yesterday. The burgundy-red bloom was hard to spot against the maroon foliage! There's one sweet pea trying to grow in the southern Zone where snap peas used to be; I wonder how it will last with no water. The solanum looks very well, as do the clarkia, though a few of those are withering. Of the flax and eschscholzia a sturdy few linger on; I've been harvesting seed from the latter, and must do the same for the former.

The santolina has lots of its little yellow flowers, and is sprawling more than I like. The anagallis are sparse but visible. Under the south fence, one of the Stella d'Oro put up a single bloom a few days ago. The antirrhinum seems over, as is the alstroemeria under the back of the house.

new stuff

The lantana that I said was coming back to life was in fact doing nothing of the sort. I've torn it out and put in a convolvulus sabatius, which should harmonise better with the overhanging malacothamnus; a short distance uphill from that is a penstemon "Midnight". I also gambled on a hibiscus acetosella, which looks rather exotic: it's in one of the tubs in the southern Zone, where I can easily see it from the window.

I've terminated the snap peas, and done a quixotic pruning job on the sweet peas by the east fence. A few more daylilies are blooming, and many in bud.

after the heat wave

The godzilla is flopping over (except for a few stems nearly straight up) and opening several blooms on some stems. The lavender are still blooming and clarkia are quite glorious but the flax is just about gone, the eschscholzia mostly gone to seed, and the gaura and plumbago only gradually coming in. All but one of the rockroses have gone quiet. The malacothamnus is blooming well, and one salvia nemorosa is doing very well even in the shadow of the godzilla. The solanum has a fair number of flowers on. The daylilies are making progress; see spreadsheet. The alstroemeria behind the house is clearly over.

Both sweet peas look good, and I've even trimmed the one in the front walkway. There, the morning glories have also started to bloom, though they're still not very tall. At the SE corner the gaillardia now has four or five blooms, and looks good. Of the aquilegia there, one has not yet done anything and I've deflowered the other; the ones by the back door are doing well. The snap peas, by the way, are winding down. Of the leonotis behind the house, one is up to seven feet, the other about four. Both the tanacetum and the santolina are in bloom; the cerastium are finished, and rather to my surprise some triteleia laxa are open in various places. The corner lawn sports a great deal of yarrow -- mostly white, but one yellow and one pink -- and the anagallis as before. There are also some white nigella in the western strip and just east of the garage.

I've pulled out a lot of gilia as I said I would.

The purple aquilegia is losing a few blooms, perhaps because of the heat wave. The little red one behind it has one; the others are as before. The salvia greggii is losing a few. The red catharanthi are gaining, though. The flax behind the house still show a few bright red blooms. Well, more than a few. Another nasturtium seems to have been severed by a gopher, but three are still doing well.

Out in the Zone, the snap peas are probably coming to an end; the sweet peas could in theory do with deadheading, but I don't think I'll take the time. The big yellow daylilies are very productive. We still have plenty of gilia and eschscholzia, not to mention the santolina blooming. I should probably pull out some of the phacelia campanularia and many gilia. Further north, the cistus are doing well, three in quite conspicuous bloom and only one (out of seven) with no flowers at all. The solanum is very sparse, but the gaura are adding blooms quite quickly, and the dietes look ready to bloom in a day or two. The plumbago are adding blooms more slowly. There's quite an ocean of oenothera. Near the house we have white nigella and sky-blue ones further downhill.

In the corner, we have plenty of white yarrow and anagallis plus the big leonotis; hard to see what the smaller ones are doing. And there is one good clarkia (many more of these elsewhere).

By the drive, the old gaura looks dead, as do some of the daylilies I brought in last year. The lantana is coming back to life as it always does, but slowly! The bulbs I planted last weekend are not, of course, showing. In the walkway, the cyclamen are over; the biggest of them has two seed pods, which I shall try and use. The sweet pea is well over my head and blooming dark red; the "Grandpa Ott" morning glory are more like knee high.

In the front lawn, the godzilla has three or more full-size blooms and there are plenty of clarkia, including a rather effective row of them behind the lavender (also in full bloom). The rhaphiolepis are out of bloom and the escallonia fading. I've cut off all or nearly all the flower stems of the ixia and am waiting for the ipomopsis to open; meanwhile, there are a few white nigella. The malacothamnus is still lightly blooming, and the salvia chamaedryoides is starting.

All the perovskia are growing like banzai, and some are in bud.

quick update

The malacothamnus is starting to bloom, but the solanum has lost its heavy spring covering. There are now six rockroses in bloom, though two of them have only one flower. The sweet pea in the front walkway has its first flowers, and oddly enough the clivia still has one that looks fairly fresh; the maroon cyclamen still has flowers, but the red one is over. Some of the ixia are hanging on. In the back, a burgundy snapdragon is starting. The aquilegia by the back door is quite astounding, with eight flowers; the one behind, in dark red, is also starting, and the larger of the two by the back fence looks good. The one out in the Zone looks insect-eaten and may have to go. Outside the window, the taller of the two leonotis that I transplanted to the back of the house is now easily visible, with one flower head in bloom and one waiting to open. Near it, the alstroemeria seems to be fading, but the one by the back gate still looks great.

I think I'll take out the gilia everywhere except the northern half of the Zone; elsewhere, it just gets in the way and adds little. The clarkia are now doing well almost everywhere, and the oenothera look wonderful. The eschscholzia are starting to turn yellow and flatten out.

I have some new bulbs (what a time for them to arrive): ixia, babiana, alstroemeria (Ligtu hybrid), achimenes, and crocosmia. Watch this space. And this one. And this one ....

gopher again

... I've set traps.

I've hacked away a big chunk of the godzilla and some of the malacothamnus. I've dug up what I hope are some tulipa clusiana bulbs that had been under the godzilla, and hope to re-plant them this autumn; the hacking also revealed a very handsome ixiolirion, which I have watered. In the strip just west of the drive, I've pulled out a great deal of spent foliage from bulbs and flax, leaving a few flax that are still in bloom and some clarkia that are opening. Nearby, the anemones are gone and the "Eye of the Tiger" iris starting to wither, along with all the white iris, but some of the blue iris are still good. The rhaphiolepis continue. The "Hidcote" lavender are blooming nicely, as is -- still -- the teucrium. That calla has gone, but one or two more have taken its place. In the front walkway, the sweet pea is taller than I am, but has still not bloomed, whereas the one by the east fence is magnificent.

In the southern part of the Zone, the gaillardia has its first flower open, and so does the red aquilegia, though it's behind the purple one by the back door. There are plenty of big yellow daylily flowers and a few Stella d'Oro; I'll update the daylily spreadsheet, and a few others are in bud. There are also a few nasturtiums open and some anagallis. There are plenty of gilia, though I'm taking some out, and more Calochortus venustus plus one C. superbus. Further north, both plumbago are blooming and so are four cistus, with a fifth almost certainly on the way; the dietes are blooming and plenty of oenothera interspersed with eschscholzia and ixia. The corner lawn is much as it was: plenty of yarrow and anagallis, to say nothing of the weeds, and a pretty fair leonotis. The first gaura has opened.