June 2021 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Robert]

Incredible that the month of June is nearing the end.

Robert: this may be a common sight for you?, for us it seems really dry. It reminds me of the dry season landscape look in parts of Mexico. 
Large areas in Canada are also affected by drought this year, high temperatures as well and various species are under stress.

Gabriela,

Thank you for the weather/climatic report from your region.

Yes, the photograph accurately depicts our dry California landscape during the summer and autumn months. My wife Jasmin and I are working on a photo-essay of the on going ecological disaster taking placing in California. The posted photograph makes conditions look good. Wait until you see photographs of the stressed and dying native trees, the hillsides being leveled and carved up for massive developments, the rivers and reservoirs with little or no water, the destructive logging practices, the destructive forestry practices, and the frequent scorched-earth management of public and private lands! It is very distressing and disturbing.

[Robert]

Robert, your landscape looks much drier, and you are right that my garden does look lush:). The first part of June was quite dry here with very little rain, but last Saturday there was a big thunderstorm and in one hour we got 50mm rain in our garden. My soil is mostly clay so one good rain helps keep it moist for a long time now. 
It seems that lately there are more periods of drought (but not as severe as in your part of the world) and then one or two days of rain, so I try first to improve the soil and second to grow plants which do better in my climate (though sometimes it is hard to resist temptation to grow something special which may not survive here).
I water only plants in pots and vegetable beds, and polytunnel where my tomatoes as such are, so perennial beds mostly have to manage on their own.

Leena,

50 mm of rain sounds wonderful! A few days ago thunderstorms dropped 0.8 mm in the Crystal Range of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The lower elevations in our region did not get any precipitation.

I appreciate that you frequently have additional short comments about what goes on in your garden. For me, it adds much meaning to your postings – a lot more than just a pretty photograph. I can learn a lot and ask pertinent questions or do additional research. Other Forumists do this too, and it is something I greatly appreciate.

[Gabriela]

Gabriela,

Thank you for the weather/climatic report from your region.

Yes, the photograph accurately depicts our dry California landscape during the summer and autumn months. My wife Jasmin and I are working on a photo-essay of the on going ecological disaster taking placing in California. The posted photograph makes conditions look good. Wait until you see photographs of the stressed and dying native trees, the hillsides being leveled and carved up for massive developments, the rivers and reservoirs with little or no water, the destructive logging practices, the destructive forestry practices, and the frequent scorched-earth management of public and private lands! It is very distressing and disturbing.

I am not keeping such accurate weather data like yourself Robert but it is impossible not to notice what's happening. For your interest, in case you haven't heard, one locality from BC broke the heat record ever registered in Canada yesterday with 49.5 C !!!! Hard to believe.
Unfortunately what you describe is also happening in Ontario, and probably many other places. Just nearby where I live, 10 min. outside the city there used to be farmlands - almost all are leveled now for residential developments; and I could keep going...

[Tristan_He]

Thankfully temperatures are nothing like as scorching as that in Wales - sounds positively dangerous!

Some shots from the garden, I have been a bit slack lately.



Honeysuckle, Lonicera periclymenum. Such a brilliant wildlife plant. This one is a cutting from a local hedgerow, and unlike many of the cultivars you can buy in garden centres, it seems more or less impervious to aphid attack. It scents most of the back garden in the evenings at this time of year and gets better and better with age.



Astrantia major, a pinkish-white seedling....




and a whitish-pink seedling. I remember first coming across this plant on holiday in France in the 1980s when I was a teenager. A few years later it became very fashionable all of a sudden. It self-seeds a bit here but is never really a nuisance, and makes good ground cover after the bulbs have finished.



Buphthalmum salicifolium. This is from seed collected on holiday in Slovenia, where is is very common. It's a super garden plant well worth seeking out, with a compact habit and long flowering season.



Campanula thyrsoides subsp. carniolica. I won't lie, this is a bit bigger than I was expecting! I now see why Bernd was after subsp. thyrsoides last year... still a fine plant though. The spikes are downy and very tactile.

[Tristan_He]

Some shots of the meadow areas (though these are difficult to photograph really well, hope they come out ok).



Hay-rattle, Rhinanthus minor, is taking hold in the main meadow area, which is great news as it helps suppress grass growth.



Here, Pilosella aurantiaca and Lotus corniculatus are thriving in the short turf. Earlier various bulbs were growing here.



This photo shows the suppressing effect of hayrattle quite well I think. On the left of the photo there is none and the grass grows tall; on the right there is a lot and the grass is kept low.



Oxeye daisy doesn't mind whether the grass grows tall or not! This and its siblings has memories for me: a friend and colleague of ours passed away a couple of years ago, and at her funeral they gave packets of oxeye daisy seeds to the mourners. These plants are the result.



Geranium sylvaticum, which came with a northern meadow seed mix.

[Tristan_He]

Cirsium heterophyllum is a very attractive thistle for a meadow. But be warned, do not put it in your border, as it is very invasive!



I have been trying to sow other parasitic plants into the meadow. Most have not come up, but this is a larger species of Rhinanthus - I think maybe R. angustifolius?

[Maggi Young]

Oxeye daisy doesn't mind whether the grass grows tall or not! This and its siblings has memories for me: a friend and colleague of ours passed away a couple of years ago, and at her funeral they gave packets of oxeye daisy seeds to the mourners. These plants are the result.

What a charming remembrance of your friend. Such a lovely idea to do that.

Do you know  if  other  species of Rattle/Rhinanthus  have a suppressant effect on grass growth, like R. minor does? 

[Tristan_He]

What a charming remembrance of your friend. Such a lovely idea to do that.

Do you know  if  other  species of Rattle/Rhinanthus  have a suppressant effect on grass growth, like R. minor does?

It was Maggi - her own idea too. She was a keen conservationist at work and at home and loved her meadows.

I think all Rhinanthus have a similar effect. The tricky bit is getting hold of viable seed; the seed has to be sown the same year it is produced and needs a cold period to germinate. It can take several goes to establish - breaking up the turf a bit when sowing seems to work well to give seedlings a better chance.

[Robert]

I am not keeping such accurate weather data like yourself Robert but it is impossible not to notice what's happening. For your interest, in case you haven't heard, one locality from BC broke the heat record ever registered in Canada yesterday with 49.5 C !!!! Hard to believe.
Unfortunately what you describe is also happening in Ontario, and probably many other places. Just nearby where I live, 10 min. outside the city there used to be farmlands - almost all are leveled now for residential developments; and I could keep going...

Gabriela,

I appreciate generalized weather/climatic reports. If I want details I can investigate further myself. I certainly do not expect others to be weather nerds like me. I have been recording weather data since 1967. Before we got married my wife knew something was unusual – I had thermometers in the auto (long before they were common in autos), in the farmhouse and many locations around the farm. Yes, I was aware of the 49.5 C high temperature in B.C.



Scenes like this are quickly changing…



…to this.



I am doing what I can to save species like this from local extinction. Layia fremontii is not rare in California, however the few remaining local populations are at high risk from the encroaching development. Many other species are at high risk. I am developing domestic seed lines of these wildflowers, which I hope other devoted gardeners will take an interest in.