July 2019 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Robert]

Hi Robert

Yes... the weather here has been very positive over the last week. We had temperatures between 20°C and 23°C. In my area we even got a rain gift on Friday. After that there was a noticeable cooling...to about 18°C. A blessing for man and nature...considering that we had more than double that two weeks ago.
Yesterday evening we had a strong thunderstorm with lightning and thunder...one hour of very strong rain...without destructive force or hail. The photo shows the situation shortly before (photographed from our terrace).

The losses in the garden are abundant...both with the young plants of the last sowing, and with established plants of the rock garden. As already mentioned, the cultivation of xeric species will become more important for me in the future.

Thomas,

I like your photograph of the impending storm.   

It must have been moving very slowly. I am extremely curious, was it an air mass thunderstorm, or was it associated (embedded) with a frontal system in some way? Of coarse, I know nothing of the weather patterns in your region. Sometimes we get stationary, or very slowing moving, air mass thunderstorms in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Much rainfall falls in one area! Generally when thunderstorms are embedded in a frontal system they are very fast moving and do not last long, although it can keep raining after the thunderstorm(s) leave the area.

It must have been very disappointing to lose so many plants during the heat wave.       Were the plant loses confined to plants from any region or similar climatic zones?

It is just not getting hot this summer in our area! We have yet to have high temperatures in the 38 C range (both at our Sacramento home or the Placerville farm). This is very unusual for us, but occasionally we do get relatively cool summers. I see no change in the weather pattern in our area. Sometimes the upper air circulation is very zonal. Most of the time, there have been many weak short wave toughs rotating though our region as repeated long wave toughs dig over western North America. It appears that this pattern will keep the monsoonal moisture to the east of our region. But who knows, the El Nino pattern is weakening and maybe the atmosphere will respond to El Nino neutral conditions, if they do indeed arrive later this summer.

We shall see. All of this has an affect on our gardens. 

[ebbie]

Trachelium jacquinii ssp. rumelianum, 20 years old.

[David Nicholson]

Lovely plant Ebbie.

[Leucogenes]

Maybe Leontopodium andersonii (SW-China, Z-Sichuan, 3600 meters) is not the most beautiful Leontopodium. But since the foliage is different from most others, it is interesting for me.

[shelagh]

Rain today, hooray. So I went into the greenhouse and found these.

Campanula Raineri Alba x C. Morettiana alba (so how come it's blue?)

Rather late I expected it earlier in the year Pulsatilla turczaninowii, a Gers Stopp plant.

Tacitus bellum.

[Leucogenes]

Rain today, hooray. So I went into the greenhouse and found these.

Campanula Raineri Alba x C. Morettiana alba (so how come it's blue?)

Rather late I expected it earlier in the year Pulsatilla turczaninowii, a Gers Stopp plant.

Tacitus bellum.

Wow Shelagh...three incredibly interesting plants...my admiration.

Tacitus bellum is completely unknown to me and I am overwhelmed. Is this Crassulaceae monocarp?

Also Pulsatilla turczaninowii is great. I live only 20 minutes from Gerd. At my next visit I will show Gerd this beautiful picture...he will be happy. 

[Gail]

Lovely Shelagh, is the pulsatilla really that blue??

[shelagh]

Yes Gail it is a stunning deeeeeep blue

[Pauli]

Tacitus bellus is a perennial Northern Mexico native. I am not sure, if it is hardy in central Europe.

[shelagh]

Can't speak about central Europe but it has survived for many years in a cold greenhouse in Bury, Lancs.

[johnw]

Lilium lijiangense from Göte Svanholm seed.  The ones with a reddish tinge have been out for while.

johnw

[johnw]

The Magnolia front has not been quiet here the past two weeks.  In late winter 2014 the late Dennis Ledvina sent me seed of his 2013 crosses.  The first two flowered for the first time this month.

Last week it was M. sieboldii x M. insignis #355 and it produced this pink.

1 - Magnolia (sieboldii x insignis #355) #1, noon day 1
2 - Magnolia (sieboldii x insignis #355) #1, afternoon day 1
3 - Magnolia (sieboldii x insignis #355) #1, full ooen day 2

And this week it was Magnolia sieboldii x 'Maryland', 'Maryland' is virginiana x grandiflora.  The hybrid is a sterile triploid & lacking male parts.
 
4 - Magnolia sieboldii x 'Maryland', mid afternoon
5 - Magnolia sieboldii x 'Maryland', the same day

These will be good additions to coastal gardens, nice to have mid-summer flowering magnolias.

johnw

[Carolyn]

Both  lovely flowers - I particularly like the soft pink. I wonder if you will get any seed from them? Nice to have some summer flowerers which will not be damaged by frost.

[Gerdk]

Petunia exserta with an endless flowering periode.
Out of sheer curiosity I did not discard this plant in autumn 2018. To my surprise it turned out to be
quite hardy and survived temperatures up to - 5 ° C. After a hard cutback in spring 2019 it began to
flower again and never stopped since.
It seems this species could be considered as a subshrub.

Gerd

[Maggi Young]

Petunia exserta with an endless flowering periode.
Out of sheer curiosity I did not discard this plant in autumn 2018. To my surprise it turned out to be
quite hardy and survived temperatures up to - 5 ° C. After a hard cutback in spring 2019 it began to
flower again and never stopped since.
It seems this species could be considered as a subshrub.

Gerd

Wow!  I am surprised  by this hardiness.