July 30th, 2007
Week 30: 7/23 – 7/29
2007-07-24. The weeds have won but the cosmos make me smile. Let it grow.
Dateline: 2007
I got very little done in the garden this week, other than dig a bit more caliche and gravel out of the back lawn and try to prepare it for replanting. All week it rained.
And it rained.
I never had a chance to mow the lawn. And the weeds are so out of control in some places that I’ve given up and will tackle those spots in the fall. Or winter.
Like Pam/Digging, I find that orange cosmos is the perfect summer fill-in plant. I’m glad I planted a bunch just before I went on vacation. And I’m thankful for the temperatures in the 80s here in the last week of July when we’re usually wilting under the 100s.
Dateline: 2006
In the spring when the perennials strain for a bit of sunlight to produce a weak flower or two, I consider thinning out the trees. Come the dead of summer and I think about planting more. Oh beautiful trees! How could I be so whimsical. How could I let my fancy be captured by those flashy, seductive flowers? Their joys are fleeting but trees stand strong and true through the years.
Dateline: 2000
Sunday July 24, 2000
The 12th straight day of 100+ high temperatures and the 33rd day without rain. And then it rains more than an inch, more than we usually get the entire month of July. It is a great pouring rain and it lasts more than two hours. Unfortunately, I’m at work, so I miss it.
Dateline: 1999
Saturday July 24, 1999
Continues very muggy, but cooler than usual for this time of year. Today’s high was only 94. Last year it was 101. But because it is so muggy, it is more unbearable, for people anyway. The plants are much happier with the moisture.
Mowed the back lawn. It has never looked better. It’s completely filled in and deep green. Mowed the weeds in the front lawn, but leave the grass alone, so that it can continue its recovery.
Dateline: 1997
Tuesday July 29, 1997
Rain for the first time since the beginning of the month. About a 1/4 of an inch around 7AM.
Dateline: 1996
Thursday July 23, 1998
All counties in Texas are named federal agricultural disaster areas because of the ongoing heat and drought.
Dateline: 1995
Sunday July 23, 1995
I’m either watering plants heavily or have given up on them.
Monday July 24, 1995
I was busy much of the weekend and didn’t spend much time in the garden. Whenever you think it can’t get worse, it does. Bare ground is showing through in many places in the meadow.
Friday July 28, 1995
The high hit 103 degrees. When I arrived home the black-eyed Susans and bluebonnets were limp on the ground.
Saturday July 29, 1995
I watered the lawn today prepared at last to spend large amounts of water to save my remaining plants. Drip-watered the Japanese persimmon for 30 minutes. It remained overcast all day. The high reached only 94, which seemed heavenly cool. I would enjoy summer if the temperature was never higher than 95. Of course I say that now after temperatures of 104, but on June 24th, I was complaining how unbearably hot 94 degrees was! Yet today, when the moist breezes blew over us from the Gulf, JQS and I just stood there and audibly sighed in relief.
by M Sinclair Stevens
July 31st, 2007
Nice rain picture at the top. Do you find, as I did, that the orange cosmos reseeds so vigorously that it seems to want the whole garden? I finally had to pull all mine up in order to grow anything else. I still kind of miss it though. It’s a wonderful summer annual.
This is the first year I’ve grown the orange ones so we’ll see. This time of year there usually isn’t much in the meadow except dead grass. They don’t seem as aggressive as that Engelmann daisy. — mss
July 31st, 2007
It’s so interesting to see your notes from previous years. I’m a slovenly record keeper at best – you inspire me to take more time with it. I wonder about the years between 2000 and ’06 – has it been getting rainier all along or did you have more drought in between?
I need to pull some more updates from my garden journal. Between 2000 and 2006 we kept breaking records for heat. Last year we were in the middle of a very long, hot drought. By September 2006 my garden looked like this. OMG! I look at those photos again and can’t believe it recovered. But this year is like a jungle. I so prefer the rain. — mss
July 31st, 2007
The orange cosmos looks great and must look even more so with all of the rain.
Your pictures of the rain are really cool … since we are a bit rain starved here, it looks most inviting. You are probably wanting some sunshine!
Looks like we might get some sunshine this week. I finally got to mow the lawns yesterday! — mss
July 31st, 2007
Our rain gauge showed 4″ in the last week, including some on Saturday that doesn’t appear to be a general downpour. Your cosmos look great – do we all crave orange right now? I need some!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I don’t think of orange as one of my colors…but I am attracted to bright colors right now. Like your lovely yellow Adirondack chair. I think I told you that you inspired me to paint the table for the garden house that color. — mss
July 31st, 2007
I never think of planting the orange cosmos, I’m not sure why. I do love orange flowers but I’ve always been so enchanted by the pinks and white that I’ve just overlooked the orange. Now I’ll consider planting them next year.
Hey, it looks like some progress has been made on the garden house!
The great thing about the orange cosmos is that they are blooming in my semi-shade where most other flowers just sit sullenly. Ah, the house…the stories I could tell. This week progress is at a standstill while we try to work out some problems. — mss
August 3rd, 2007
Is that your new summer house I see in the first pic? I’ve been awaiting its debut. I ,like you, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the rain. We’ve even incurred severe damage, but I still prefer it to drought.
Yes. That’s the garden house. We’re looking forward to it being finished. After that, there’s the big job of cleaning up the mess. And then after that, I’ll get to have some fun planting new beds around it. — mss