Sunday and a bit of heat stall

At one time it used to be my job to manage orders for pot mum growers. Back then, hot weather could be counted on to bring on calls from growers hoping to cancel or delay orders. The heat would cause a delay in blooming, and the grower wouldn’t be able to ship his pot mum in the scheduled week. Then his benches would get a bit crowded so he would try to delay the next order of cuttings. It may not be the correct name for it, but we always called it heat stall.

Certain flowers are well known for not flowering when the temps climb too high – bacopa is always the biggest offender in my mind but there are others. Certain vegetables won’t set flowers or fruit if the weather is too hot also. Then there are others who seem to thrive as the temps climb.

I’m the type to stall a bit when the temps get too hot, so I haven’t really worked on anything new and exciting this week. Outdoors seemed to hot to move and indoors the constant noise of fans and air conditioners wears at me.

But the siding is clean and there’s always a good book to read so the week hasn’t been a wash in my mind. Even in the heat, my deck is well shaded and usually bearable to sit outside.

What’s blooming?

Hosta ‘Cadet Blue’ is still putting on a show. It’s a spreader, so anyone starting with one of them will eventually have many of them. It flowers as prolifically as it spreads with pretty lavender flowers.

New to me, Lobelia Cardinalis is flowering as well. A native plant that likes a damp location, I planted it for the hummingbirds.

I haven’t seen them feeding from the lobelia yet but I have seen them visiting the Salvia before heading to the feeders.

Zinnia are flowering but not really putting on much of a show yet. Last year I had them in planters and they seemed too gangly, so this year they’re in the ground and seem too short. I have to remind myself there’s still a lot of summer left and they’ll most likely put on the show I want from them eventually.

Plenty of summer left to go

I have a tendency to feel as if the season is over once we’re into July. Probably an occupational hazard because my job has me thinking of next spring already.

While weeding one of my gardens, I found these little seedlings. If they make it through until next spring it will be interesting to see what they wind up as. They don’t look like they’ll be anything special at the moment, but they could end up blue like the Blue Cadet. Time will tell.

How is the weather where you’re at? Hot and stifling or just right? Have you got heat stall in your gardens or your own energy or do you just keep motoring along?