Every Tuesday Cathy at Words and Herbs asks us to share one view of our garden so we can assess its performance through the seasons.
I like to combine this post with a weather report as if not it is easy to forget exactly what the weather is doing each week.
Last Tuesday it was very hot, today is possibly even hotter but in between there was a break in the weather. Last Thursday there was a cool wind and on Friday despite my remarks that we wouldn’t have any rain now until the end of August at the earliest; it rained for 3 or 4 hours, I don’t know exactly because I went to the beach!!! In the north of Italy at Cortina it snowed and I’m told that in Tuscany in the Siena area there were huge hail stones which may well have destroyed wine production for this year. Here it rained and was extremely windy and the temperatures dropped to 14° C during the middle of the day, today it was more than 20° C higher at 36°C.
But a few hours of rain did little to halt the colour beige taking over the garden.
Tuesday view 19th July
The only flower colour is blue from Perovskia that you can see in front of the Cypress middle-left; the Echinops I showed last week will be joining in soon.
seeds have already dispersed from Lychnis and Euphorbia
The Yucca that I showed flowering only on 21st June is now stulptual stems
Have you chosen a view to follow each week?; it is a great way for others to begin to understand your garden and for you to take note of all the small changes that happen through the year. Do visit Cathy to see other views.
I love all those pale sun-baked hues. But I also love the reminder that nature is so resilient and in spite of such high and persistent temperatures-it will all return next year.
It will only return because I’ve chosen drought tolerant plants; when I get it wrong they die and don’t come back!!
The sun-baked foliage looks a lot like that you’d find now in southern California but I think you still have more green! Three to 4 hours of steady rain would be a joy even in winter here.
Christina la yuca, el Lychnis y los demás están secos. Pero el Romero está impresionante. Al año que viene plantarás de nuevo lo que quieras y seguro que será bonito. Saludos de Margarita.
What strange weather you are having. Sad news for the grape growers.
and the wine drinkers maybe!
The seedheads are really quite beautiful Christina, fitting in well with the golden browns and silvery tones of your garden now. Interesting that your Echinops doesn’t flower earlier than here (although I don’t have one). And isn’t the Perovskia a heaven-sent plant?!
It must have been your Perovskia I was thinking of that flowered with you before mine.
I am enjoying watching the changes (or lack of them) from week to week and wonder whether to do the same for one of my beds – but don’t think I really want to commit to another regular meme. A few hours of rain in the milder months of the UK makes a huge amount of difference to the garden, unlike with yours!
There are probably more changes in this view in autumn through to spring; that is why it is worth seeing it every week (for me) so I can think about any changes that could be made to improve it.
Yes, it will focus your attention. I aim to take photos of may main borders to show where the gaps are to make sure they get filled for next summer – mostly edges – and I don’t want to rely just on annuals
I didn’t ever really grow annuals until I started the cut flower beds, they definitely have their uses. I think if I were gardening where there was more rain I would probably grow more.
Lovely images of the border as it changes through the season, this week’s seed heads images are very so attractive.
and there I was thinking of cutting all the seedheads off because I am already fed up with the heat!
Is it highly unusual to have such diversity in weather? That’s quite a range of temperatures.
Oops, wasn’t finished! Your landscape still looks strong and interesting because of the planting choices you made.
No it isn’t normal at all!!! Usually once June is over daytime temperatures are in the the mid to upper 30’s°C and at night it drops to the high 20’s or low 30’s°C. This yer the weather is just crazy.
Gosh, the weather variability seems bizarre! We are very hot here in North America (the whole continent really) today and tomorrow, with dangerous heat indices because of the humidity. But this is only a temporary thing. We will be back to more seasonable weather next week. Your garden is beautiful even in its dormancy. I’m sure it will spring back to beautiful lushness very soon. 🙂