I wish I could send our summer heat your way, rouge.

The humidity was unbearable these past few days. Many trees around the city were cut down in recent months because they were diseased. They were not replaced due to the lack of funds. That leaves our front garden and our living room in the sun all afternoon. That results in a huge electric bill to cool the house at night. A vicious cycle to be sure.

What I hate most about summer are bugs that bite, especially horse flies. They are so persistent that bug spray or citronella does not work to repel them. :-(

I hate summer. Give me spring anyday.

We've had few days of hot, sweltering weathering this summer, mostly in the last couple of weeks. I'm enjoying them.

It'll be fall and then winter soon enough.

I so dislike 'hand' watering and so this much cooler, much wetter season has made this a non issue.

Ironically, I just posted that I'm ready for autumn...tired of summer heat and labors (lawn/garden).

Me too come on fall, we've had an unusually hot dry summer, things are starting to look tired and ratty and looking forward to a good long rest.

Annette

I guess where I live it's been like rouge's neck of the woods - an unusually cooler summer. Not till yesterday did we get some really hot days. I dislike summer immensely - heat, humidity - yuck! - so I was loving this summer's cooler temps and lower humidity, even if my veggie garden didn't do so well.

So I'll put up with these few hot days because really, all summer we had nothing to complain of. We could use some rain now though...

Dee

It was a very warm and dry summer in regions across British Columbia and Alberta, so many hot sticky days made it impossible to get garden chores accomplished during the day and then even the evenings were often very warm and still. Conditions have been much like last summer, though without the storms, I could easily count on one hand the number of thunderstorms that passed though and only one being somewhat severe at my location. Despite the heat and humidity and dry, I call this pretty much the ideal summer, though of course autumn comes early in the north and things could soon be very different.

Terrance

Despite the heat and humidity and dry, I call this pretty much the ideal summer,

Terrance what do you do, if anything, for supplemental water?

From down here we'd really have to say you guys don't know what real summer is. What you have is a protracted spring, comparatively speaking. Your summer is our June.

Real summer is:

Endlessly long.
Monotonously clear weather.
Very hot -- 100 degrees for days on end.
The whole crispy landscape looking like an over exposed photo with nearly white sky & leaves falling off trees.
Fire danger.
Very dry and since I cannot emphasize it enough, endless.

People from different parts tell us we have two seasons here, summer and not summer. Barron, you gotta back me up on this.

What we don't have is real winter, so it all evens out.

Very dry and since I cannot emphasize it enough, endless.

I am obviously an outsider so of course I am over simplifying. But from what I read and hear there are States (or maybe more accurately large areas of these States) that has seen this 'endless dry' for going on now...years? So I would assume that the States in question i.e. Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona and others must be relying on above and below ground reservoirs. But there must be a tipping point (soon?) approaching where gut wrenching decisions will need to be made. I dont really know what that means but I am sure there are very clever people planning for this day. What do your State governments tell you will happen in terms of public policy if these droughts continue? How are you expected to cope with significantly less water than you even have currently?

True, but its always been very hot and dry here in summer drought not withstanding. Drought is a separate issue, they come and go in cycles, they always have.

The description above is how summers have been in Oklahoma my whole life, it was not intended as a comment about climate change etc. Your summers sound more like our spring which starts much earlier. Hot weather starts in June & ends in September when we drop down into the 80's or 70's. True cold usually doesn't arrive until late December and goes through January. That is what I meant by a seemingly endless summer. 90+ temps in June through mid September is a long summer.

Most states practice water rationing, it is here to stay.

Here is a map showing average temperatures in my state.

Tex, don't forget the year a few back..when we had 100F March 1st...*sigh* That was an awful year....

Then again, I remember getting a 3 foot snowstorm in April once too....(which lasted 1-2 days before totally gone)...

One of my favorite sayings (and though it wasn't true last year) is that you can count on having at least one 70+ day every month. It's always fun when it's 70 with snow on the ground!

The weather here is WILD!

Yes, hot, dry...the grass would go up in wildfire if it got a spark right now.

Several years, I've sat on the back porch at Thanksgiving in shorts with my parents after the meal.

Is that sufficient backup ? (lol)

This post was edited by dbarron on Tue, Aug 26, 14 at 18:43

Rouge, to large extent I use soak hoses and a sprinklers I can direct in a specific pattern to avoid wasting water. I also trickle irrigate under shrubs, such as the hydrangeas so as the blooms do not prematurely dry up.

TexasRanger10, I don't think one needs to experience a blast furnace to call it a real summer. When the farmer's fields pour in with a bounty of grain and the my tomato plants are laden with fruit ripening on the vine and the corn ready for harvest and the grapes coloring up, such says we've having a plenty good summer, albeit it's generally all too short ... it's all relative, but for the most part, the far northern summer is often very, very pleasant.

Back in late May/early June my son came and put my window A/C unit in as he does every year. I used it the day he put it in and the next day. That's it; haven't used it since. Last night was cool enough with the windows open. I closed them early this morning, pulled the shades and turned on the ceiling fans. Still haven't used the A/C since he put it in the window and, if I get through tomorrow, don't expect to use it again this season.

Thanks to plentiful rain, even my annual containers have done well without supplemental water. The only one that gets daily watering is a hanging basket of lantana.

The cool, moist summer has kept my electric bill marginally affordable so I wouldn't mind if next summer was a repeat.

I don't think people in the dry western states are taking the drought seriously, or not seriously enough. Here in Albuquerque the city treats waste water and puts it back into the Rio Grande. The aquifer which supplies most of our water is rising. But people routinely flout the laws against use of sprinklers, drenching their bluegrass lawns throughout the summer. Many homeowners use automatic irrigation thoughtlessly, with no idea how much water they are using or how, or if their choice of plant materials is good or bad. One of our friends put in a buffalo grass lawn the same time we did, but we don't water it at all, while their sprinklers water their lawn religiously twice a day. They don't know how much water it takes, but they want it to be green and don't care what it costs.

We have two rainwater storage tanks, 1100 gallons each which collect water from the roof. 1" of rain = 2000 gallons of water in the tanks. I've been nagging DH for a year for grey water recycling to be installed, but he keeps procrastinating. We've planted drought-tolerant shrubs and perennials, use an irrigation system with water emitters for each plant and only turn the system on if we have no rain. I don't see the drought ending any time soon, not with climate change upon us. I just wish other people made an effort too.

Cheryl

jaedite, I agree with you completely. It makes me crazy seeing all the sprinkler systems and for what? 99% of the time for lawns & 97% of those are bermuda which goes dormant in summer, you can't kill it. You drove through here one summer on your way there didn't you? Was it hot? The worst part is even with watering its still a loosing battle in that kind of heat. Plant the proper plants and they will survive by going dormant with minimal watering and then snap back for a long gorgeous fall, I wish people would do that. We are blessed with a very long and pretty fall. Summer is the difficult one to get through but we are adjusted.

Barron, all my 4" pots melted one summer and they were in the shade. Thats hot.

rouge2, seems like its people who don't live in the NE who are the outsiders on this forum for the most part or at least the small minority.

Tex, the drive through OK and TX was like descending into hell. It was about 110 deg when we stopped just outside OKC, and the same around Amarillo. I don't think people outside this part of the country can imagine what that feels like.

To get back to Rouge's comment, we're having some pleasant summer temperatures, high 80s and low 90s, with (drumroll) RAIN. Not a lot, but about 2" the past month, bringing our total this year to 6". This is planting weather for Southwestern gardeners. I'm putting my seedlings and cuttings into the ground as fast as I can. We can expect another 2-3 months before a hard freeze followed by a long, dry season until June.

Cheryl

ramming speed............ jadeite. Get cracking. The way I see it is if a person has to live under heat domes every summer, they should get bragging rights. Real Summer. So there.

Another perk is we grow good watermelons here with ease since 3 months of heat is a piece of cake to achieve.

I'm glad you finally got rain. We have had a mild summer mostly, wetter than norm and are officially out of the drought. Its been in the 100s lately but thats pretty typical, we had wondered when summer would arrive so Ford's in its Flivver & alls right with the world. Rain is expected in the next few days (in August!) which is good since its pretty crispy everywhere (except where sprinkler systems get turned on automatically every other day to keep that fescue green --arg!--should be agin the law) and we are all waiting for those upper 80's they promise in the next few days. People will say "it feels like fall".

You guys are amazing, if we happen to hit a 90 or two which is seldom I'm hiding in the house whining, we had quite a few days in the 80's this year, I whined then too. I take my hat off to you, you're made of stronger stuff than me.
Our summers are usually around the mid 70's, or maybe that's a thing of the past? I hope not. I actually had to put shade cloth up for some of the pole beans, the sun was frying the leaves to a crisp.

Annette

aftermidnight---and just think, technically we both live in zone 7. There really should be more emphasis about heat zones on plant tags. I've said this for years.

It sorta makes you stop & think you'd be wise to take shared information with a grain of salt when asking for advice or reporting performance concerning different plants, blooming times & gardening practices on this forum doesn't it?

seems like its people who don't live in the NE who are the outsiders on this forum for the most part or at least the small minority

And yet you don't need to feel alone as lucky you that you have GW forums dedicated exclusively to the unique growing conditions that you have described ie 'hot and dry' as I see there are TEXAS and OKLAHOMA and ARIZONA forums.

Indeed Rouge, but we like to come out and play with others from time to time. Especially as newbie posters may not post in the appropriate places (regional) and need to be steered in the right directions as to plants and procedures. I'd hate for one of you wetlanders to suggest that someone in Texas should plant lettuce now or something absurd like that.

It doesn't hurt for people to be reminded that conditions do exist within this nation, that are quite different from coastal/northern regions. We're glad that everyone is so friendly too!

Interesting chart , TxRanger. It appears that OK is one month behind us going up in the spring and our summer is one month longer in the fall with three degrees hotter at the peak in Austin. Their averages seem low to me. I do notice that this year OK would spike up higher than us and then get a cool down followed by another spike.We did not get any cool downs After mid july. We are mostly too low to get what flows across the continent if that Texas high pressure ridge is in place. It has been unusually cool till the beginning of August because that high was not there .. Now its hot and dry dry dry. . We have had 9" of rain since January.

Water restrictions are a way of life.. Our lakes are down to 30%. We get to water one day a week .The lake side community of Lakeway, near by me, is the most wasteful in the state using up eight times more water per capta than El Paso. It is awe inspiring. 20,000 gallons per house on average. That is just plain wrong. Many have semi illegal taps straight into the lake for irrigation. On one level we have people striving to live on rainwater and devising amazing creative ideas for community wide and individual recycling of water systems, and then one gets a blind sense of entitlement from others. This town has countless large golf courses that are emerald green as can be.. Developments think nothing of having a 5 acre leaky "water feature" on a top of a dry fractured limestone hill, drying up the wells of a whole neighborhood. Rice farmers of texas have the water denied them for a whole harvest but the golf courses are still green as can be. The water laws in this state are just plain screwy. There are no controls on ground water. It is Law of capture. Biggest deepest straw wins. Surface water belongs to the state so that is where the restrictions come in.. In town, the wealthy are sinking wells into the aquifer even though they are attached to municipal tap water (that has restrictions) so they can water their gardens with abandon and not cow tow to community restrictions. There are towns going dry and many towns have no outdoor water allowed at all. I am really aware of the municipal safety net. Once in the boonies it is what each person can get from the ground, or sky. Lawns in the country are brown and will green up with rain. Most don't have lawns just native grasses. plantings are tough and cyclical . It has always been this way .

I went to a water symposium about the future of water in the state. Interesting, contentious and full of big business cornering their market on the good springs. Sad.

Here is a link that might be useful: Austin average highs and lows

Perennials in Texas , perennials in Alaska and just a few in temperate New England and Ohio, England and Australia. We have perennials everywhere.

Jadeite, there is a forum devoted to Southwestern gardening as well, you should post there with this irrelevant info. Barron, perhaps you and I should keep our fingers quiet and stay on the Oklahoma forum where we belong (you are also allowed to post on the Arkansas forum since you've also lived there).

The Texas forum did welcome me with open arms, in spite of living north of the Red River but wantanamara you might be well advised to keep your comments there since there is a special site for Texas. (p.s. you can post on the Oklahoma forum, those people are pretty flexible)

Interestingly, there is also a designated New England forum but I never considered posting on it since its not regionally relevant concerning plants or climate conditions.

And, there is a whole forum especially devoted to gardeners in the UK. Why those people need to come over here to the US and post is beyond me.

Looks like I mistook this forum as a general one about perennials.

Unbelievable!!

I have not been on this forum for very long, but certainly long enough to recognize that some people just don't belong here. People that come along and ruin many, perfectly enjoyable threads. S**t stirrers as I call them. This is a gardening website, not middle school!

It has become very tiresome with a clear understanding of why some have been banned!

If you can't play nice, then please.....GET LOST!!!

lils - Some people just like to play the continual victim. Even when they try to reinvent themselves (change their screen name), they just come back as the same person. I guess they can't help it or something. Who knows, but it sure gets boring after awhile.

Kevin

I garden in the driest part of the UK in a woodland with no additional irrigation apart from what I can save from the sky or recycle from the run-off ditches which surround my woods.Having always had access to hosepipes and mains water, the sudden curtaillment of this privilege has been alarming, challenging but ultimately strangely satisfying, most especially from hearing of people's experiences, extreme or otherwise. Planting or moving plants was something I did when and how the spirit moved me - it was quite a shock to be unable to plant the huge raft of summer seedlings, forcing me to maintain dozens of small pots at home. Next year, my entire seed-sowing practice will be completely different......and I am grateful that these issues can be shared with gardeners who are dealing with restraints which are new and frightening to me. I think it is entirely fair to discuss use of resources since they are utterly instrumental in gardening practice quite apart from politics or personal preference. Until recently, although I was perfectly aware of resource diminishment, I simply had not experienced it on a visceral level.....I have had to change my priorities and now find that the use of water resources has more resonance than any amount of colour co-ordinating or aesthetics. These sea-changes are painful and demoralising when it is just feels like hectoring.....but I am also finding a willingness to trade ideas, plants and techniques....from gardeners whose general conditions are nothing like the benign english climate and have a true and tested list of tough and drought resistant plants.

Also, the UK gardening forum is utterly moribund.

Yeah, the Oklahoma and Ozark aren't much better either. Frankly, it seems the amount of traffic ANY gardening site is getting is down over last couple of years. I guess people just don't have time for it in their busy lives.

Myself, I try to do natives in my gardening because:
1) I'm primarily lazy and for the most part the natives can take care of themselves.
2) Planted in masses, our natives are very beautiful. In fact, many of them are the ancestors of a lot of cultivated plants (like garden phlox, monarda, echinaceas, evening primroses, passion flowers, etc) and generally hardier in this area than their cultivated descendants (if a lesser color range usually).
3) If I go away for a couple weeks and can't take care of them, they should be just fine as long as I've practiced careful selection and siting. That's the biggest reason probably!

Yes, with water becoming an increasingly scarce resource in parts of the world...people should probably be disallowed from having water hungry lawns and watering daily. That's my opinion, and I'm pretty sure to stick with it.

And, I'm ready for summer to end here...it's hot :)

Do you think they have all vanished to (shudder) Facebook? I cannot help noticing how slow a lot of the forums are also.

We are blessed to get rain once or twice a week. It has been hot here since June. 100 two days last week. We used window a/c's. I have tinnitus really bad, so I just deal with the heat and humidity until it gets to about 94 degrees. I'm more than ready for fall, but not winter. Not that many people around here irrigate or spray.

This forum is more active than others that may be more specific to region so I chose to post here instead. I have posted on other forums and not gotten a response after even a week. Personally, I enjoy hearing from gardeners around the world about their experiences with different plants, including the uk.

We have 7 rain barrels for watering. This helps out alot.

I wish to set the record straight.

I admit my last comment was intentionally sarcastic. I was a bit taken aback by the not very subtle post on a general topic forum by rouge21 directing me to use the designated regional forums dedicated to issues of growing plants in hot/dry summer conditions which came across as asking me to leave. Frankly, I had always thought hot/dry summers l were commonly experienced as the norm and never realized it could be considered a unique or rarified thing. He has made it quite obvious many times that he finds my personality unacceptable and irritating.

Initially this thread reminded me of the time I was informed by rouge21 in another thread that we do not have 'real winter' here, implying my comment was idiotic. Maybe not but we certainly do have 'real summer'.

I counted them. There are 12 forums dedicated to NE gardeners & their growing conditions. 13 if you count this one, in case anyone is curious.

As to the other personally directed negative comments -- I have no comment.

I was a bit taken aback by the not very subtle post on a general topic forum by rouge21 directing me to use the designated regional forums dedicated to issues of growing plants in hot/dry summer conditions which came across as asking me to leave.

I did no such thing. And you extrapolating to such a conclusion again highlights your extreme defensiveness. You search for controversy where none exists.

I have been nothing but polite and I had no agenda in this simple thread I started.

You made several observation clearly based upon your experience gardening in the very unique conditions in which you live...almost a badge of courage that you must cope with extreme heat and drought day after day. (I do not envy you and other master gardeners of the South West. I get antsy when it doesn't rain for 7 days!)

Because of this I assumed that those sub-forums devoted to gardening in such extreme conditions would be a wealth of information to you and others. I have no idea of the activeness of any of them as I have no reason to 'visit' any of them.

Your comments about me in your most recent post in this thread are clearly misdirected aggression as it was not me who posted anything untoward about you. Read all the posts again!

W/o trying to sound patronizing, TR10, you have so much to offer but so often your knowledge and expertise is over shadowed by the delivery. In this thread you are like the proverbial South West bull in a North East china shop ;).

This post was edited by rouge21 on Thu, Aug 28, 14 at 7:19

Rouge21 said:
. In this thread you are like the proverbial South West bull in a North East china shop ;).
I think the point that many of us are trying to make, is this is NOT a North East China shop...perennials are global. Admittedly, the US has the most participation and we are a US based forum...and the US covers quite a lot of territory, USDA zones, climatic zones, geography, etc.
I agree with Campanula, that I appreciate the points of view of everyone, even though her attempting to give me guidance on gardening based on climate, would probably be absurd. It's STILL nice to see what she has to say and hear how gardening is in the UK, and what plants do well for her (which is quite different than what I find over here).

I think the point that many of us are trying to make, is this is NOT a North East China shop...perennials are global.

'barron' my mentioning of SW and NE in this line had nothing to do with the location of perennials...just my twist on a well known saying. (Oh well, maybe I will edit it out).

This post was edited by rouge21 on Thu, Aug 28, 14 at 7:35

Funny, I read Rouge21's statement about people like me being an outsider coupled with the remark about regional forms negatively also. It came across as borderline or "politely rude". It was isolating to many of us "outsiders". It was also perceived that way or kinda that way by several others or they would not have responded thus. They were just not as outspoken as Tex Ranger. I find her reaction a natural response to being called an outsider.

Ms lilspout, I believe in tolerance . Sometimes, I have to exercise it,â¦. hard, despite my first inclination. Right now I am tolerating you.I accept people's prickliness. I accept TxR and I accept yours and Rouge21.

In talking with Campanula from England, I find her struggles with her new water situation very similar to mine. Maybe I can help her because this is not just a " NE china shop" (or I hope not).

wantonamara wrote:

Rouge21's statement about people like me being an outsider

Show me anywhere in this thread that I called *anyone* an "outsider". You are completely mistaken. Re-read the thread. Saying something doesn't make it so.

Wait wantonamara, i stand corrected...maybe you are referring to the post when I did call myself an outsider when *I* wrote: "...I am obviously an outsider..."

and I see that 'TxR' called herself an "outsider" i.e.

"...seems like its people who don't live in the NE who are the outsiders on this forum..."

Incredible.

Hey, I see it...maybe you don't. Maybe you don't mean it...I don't know.

That's the thing about internet conversation, forums, email, etc. We don't have body language and we don't really know the other person, so intentions may not come across. I *know* I've hurt other people's feelings even within my company, because I'm brusque and down to business. Then I get into trouble when I try to inject humor, especially...because noone knows how to take it from me. I try not too, but it does happen..you try to mend fences and go on..and be more aware.

Of course, if you really mean it...then I guess just go on.

Hey, I see it...maybe you don't. Maybe you don't mean it...I don't know

Of course I can make a mistake...just show me. I am clearly missing something obvious.

And given that I called myself the same term would imply that I am not using it in a hurtful way but even so I guess I will have egg on my face if I have missed what you clearly see. Oh well.

This post was edited by rouge21 on Thu, Aug 28, 14 at 13:25

Then there's people like me, or, at least I hope I'm not the only one. At times my fingers type faster then the grey matter clicks in. After I've hit the send button I'm thinking geez, I could have worded that better, or did that make any sense? In my exuberance, I end up not saying half of what I wanted to say, or the wording I use it comes out wrong.
Thankfully you guys bear with me because I really enjoy this forum, even though I have been gardening for over 50 years, I'm always learning something new, seeing your gorgeous perennials in all there beauty really makes my day.

I like hearing from others about the problems they're having and the solutions they come up with regardless of where they live, a bunch of very savvy people here. It makes the problems I run into seem so trivial.

I think my situation is much like Campanulas in many ways, I can grow a lot of the same things, unfortunately the same problems like those $%#@&^% slugs and snails.

Can we call a truce????

Annette

I'm not looking to fill my day with internet drama, but I will chime in to support Rouge who, when viewed across all his contributions to this forum, is clearly a valuable contributor who is certainly not looking for a fight.

Others here, not to name names, find themselves in conflict with some regularity. When viewed over time, this same character is the one with drama, accusations, and feelings hurt. I feel bad for her, because that's not a nice way to go about one's day, and I doubt that's her intent.

I fail to see any real conflict in this thread other that what was self-generated. People live in different places, have different weather and different priorities. No news there. Lots of threads, topics, and individual posts don't apply to a particular person's situation. OK, no news there either. Just because there is a big discussion about something that does not apply to you does not mean you are excluded. For example, someone could start a thread about a topic that is germane to them if they want to gather like-minded opinions. So I just don't see the cause for a dustup.

However, I understand that internet communications are difficult. And clearly feelings are hurt, and so I offer my empathy for those involved in that. It really does ruin your day.

Hang in there folks - go out to your amazing gardens and breathe in some delicious air and remember why we are all so passionate about gardening in the first place!

I do not think it is morally right to openly talk about another person like this no matter how justified you all might feel or how awful you think the other person is.

Go breathe in some delicious air, pat yourselves on the backs and tell yourselves you are in the right & did a good thing and feel fortunate that you are not "like that".

Continued empathy, Tex. I certainly don't think you are awful at all. Hang in there - I hope this blows over soon.

Hi all, newbie poster here (so I should probably stay out of this, but won't). I just wanted to chime in with my support for GW and the Perennials forum specifically. In my limited time here, I've really come to value this site so much as an authoritative informational resource. It seems that half of my garden related Google searches land me in a GW thread of some kind. This is so much more than just some internet forum! The reason is due to all of you knowledgeable, smart, experienced (and very polite!) gardeners willing to participate out of the goodness of your hearts. I hope that all of those who have contributions to make will continue to do so.

Here in NH we've had quite a mild summer. I was so hopeful for some wonderful phlox, echinacea, lush hosta, etc, etc......but......although the weather more than cooperated, the woodchucks did not! Bad, BAD woodchucks! LOL! They systematically made their way around the garden mowing down all sorts of goodies. Our neighbor caught one of them and he was forty pounds! Surely from the five or so years he has been enjoying the smorgasbord that is my garden.

Good thing we gardeners rebound so well from so many different surprises from weather to animals or anything else that "derails" the garden. If I had a nickel for every time I said "well, there's always next year"...........somehow we persevere and remain hopeful for that next surprise in the garden.

Here's to a glorious fall for everyone!!