July 2019 in the Northern Hemisphere

[ashley]

Beautiful rudbeckias François, and with the extra benefit of attracting nectar-feeding insects.  The annual ones are lovely too but perennials are far less work  

Leena, your garden looks so lush and full of moisture-loving plants.  My experience of Finnish forests is that they can be very dry in summer, so your garden is a delight.

Lovely acanthus Hannelore.  Striking flowers and handsome foliage, what more could you want?  AND hard to lose

[François Lambert]

Thank you Ashley.

I like in particular the taller perennials, not only for their perennial nature but also because the tall ones outgrow the weeds 

[Hannelore]

Hello Ashley,

thank you for your  compliment.

Lovely acanthus Hannelore.  Striking flowers and handsome foliage, what more could you want?  AND hard to lose

In my "natural dry rock garden" I'm happy that something is flowering so well.

Hannelore

[meanie]

Been away a while as a result of my other half being transferred by her employers to their new offices in Europe. The good news is that my Mackaya bella has been blooming for a while so here are a few shots from today as the bloom comes to an end.............
Mackaya bella by longk48, on Flickr

Mackaya bella by longk48, on Flickr

Mackaya bella by longk48, on Flickr

Mackaya bella by longk48, on Flickr

Mackaya bella by longk48, on Flickr

Mackaya bella by longk48, on Flickr

And Parodia mammulosa........
Parodia mammulosa by longk48, on Flickr

Parodia mammulosa by longk48, on Flickr

Schlumbergera gaertneri (Easter Cactus!)................
Schlumbergera gaertneri by longk48, on Flickr

Echinopsis oxygona (from a couple of weeks ago)...............
Echinopsis oxygona by longk48, on Flickr

Echinopsis oxygona by longk48, on Flickr

[Maggi Young]

Schlumbergera gaertneri (Easter Cactus!)................

Ah well, Easter  is  a  moveable  feast! 

[shelagh]

I realised after I had started this post that I hadn't included pictures of the whole bed now, so here they are.  Also the Ancdrocymbium striatum was lurking in the cold frame.

[Carolyn]

Shelagh,
Your raised bed looks a great success. I reckon you could try your Androcymbium (or a bit of it anyway) in there too. Here's mine, still surviving outside, unprotected all year, in my crevice garden:

[shelagh]

Looking very good too Carolyn. We were hoping ours might put up enough flowers for Pershore Show, next year perhaps!

[Maggi Young]

Pals at Hartside Nursery are pleased with this Roscoea ...
"How's this for a decent sized flower on a Roscoea. A "New" form of R. humeana we acquired recently. We hope it is still in flower for our display @The_RHS Tatton next week! Compare the size of the flower with that of R. alpina. Busy sorting our display plants out!"







www.plantswithaltitude.co.uk

[Leucogenes]

Semps in the rain

[Robert]

Semps in the rain

Hi Thomas,

It looks like there has been a shift in the weather in your neighborhood. 

How long did the heat and dry conditions last? I hope that your garden survived well!

The Alaskan heat wave seems like it caused long lasting problems.

So far our summer here in California has been relatively cool. Right now we are having some "average" heat, 100 F (37.8 C). For the last 12 months temperatures have been running about average (i.e. average for the last 30 years). This is the "new" average as temperatures have been rising steadily for >100 years now. I guess this is a pause for us. There have been some large jumps in our average annual temperature in the last 7 years or so (if you want the exact numbers I can supply them    ). Sorting this all out in our local environment is very challenging, however there are shifts if one looks at the details. Yesterday, I was working on Peavine Ridge and noticed how invasive species like Medusa Head, Elymus caput-medusae, and Skeleton Weed, Chondrilla juncea, are relentlessly invading native habitat. Very worrisome! 

[Leucogenes]

Hi Thomas,

It looks like there has been a shift in the weather in your neighborhood. 

How long did the heat and dry conditions last? I hope that your garden survived well!

The Alaskan heat wave seems like it caused long lasting problems.

So far our summer here in California has been relatively cool. Right now we are having some "average" heat, 100 F (37.8 C). For the last 12 months temperatures have been running about average (i.e. average for the last 30 years). This is the "new" average as temperatures have been rising steadily for >100 years now. I guess this is a pause for us. There have been some large jumps in our average annual temperature in the last 7 years or so (if you want the exact numbers I can supply them    ). Sorting this all out in our local environment is very challenging, however there are shifts if one looks at the details. Yesterday, I was working on Peavine Ridge and noticed how invasive species like Medusa Head, Elymus caput-medusae, and Skeleton Weed, Chondrilla juncea, are relentlessly invading native habitat. Very worrisome! 

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.

[Maggi Young]

That's what we  would call   " a lourin' sky"   

[shelagh]

What a wonderful word Maggi.

[fermi de Sousa]

During our dry spell I would've called it an alluring sight
cheers
fermi