Back garden end of June 2021

Strange and Wonderful

We’re roasting through another heat wave on the west coast. Here are sights from the garden in July and so far in August. First the strange…

Rose "Fragrant Cloud" bloom bleached by sun during June 2021 heat wave
Flower of rose “Fragrant Cloud” bleached by the late June heat wave.
This is “Fragrant Cloud’s” normal colour
Battarrea phalloides mushroom with trowel for size comparison July 2021
The weird dryland mushroom Battarrea phalloides is back again this summer. (The trowel is there as a size comparison. It’s about 8 in. or 20 cm.)
Borage flowers from above July 2021
Borage flowers viewed from above. Sort of an art nouveau effect, I think.
Windblown cloud or maybe contrail July 2021
A wind-sculpted cirrus cloud (or maybe a contrail.)

And now the wonderful…

Borage flowers July 2021
Borage flowers
White Lychnis coronaria and Beach Pea (Lathyrus japonicus) June 2021
White Lychnis coronaria and beach pea (Lathyrus japonicus). Two quasi-weeds having a moment.
Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum) and orange daylily
This Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum) has outdone itself again this summer.
Heuchera "Timeless Orange" with leaves coloured cream, yellow, orange, and red
Heuchera “Timeless Orange” showing leaf colours other than orange.
Pink oriental lily from mixed batch August 2021
Another lily from the impulse buy mixed bag of bulbs.
Dahlia "Bishop of Llandaff" August 2021
Dahlia “Bishop of Llandaff.” The flowers glow wonderfully just about sunset, but the camera doesn’t pick that up as well as I’d like.
Pink dahlia flowers August 2021
The Nameless Dahlia in fine form.

That’s it for now. Tomatoes are ripening; with luck they won’t roast on the vine.

52 comments

      1. If flowers could talk I wonder what they would say…….other than “WATER ME”!
        I imagine they’d all be chatting away loudly and then all of a sudden quieten up when you would appear with your trowel!
        There’s a story in there.

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  8. Quite the variety.

    (I wasn’t going to comment on this, but Nameless Dahlia got me wondering about Black Dahlia. If you want fodder for a macabre story, that’s one that would certainly do. I’ll say no more… Bad Wiki-trip.)

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    1. Thanks, Diana. Yes, this has been a really hot, dry summer. I hope it’s an exception, and not the “new normal.” I was surprised to learn about that mushroom; it’s adapted to dry places, but I wonder where it came from, since I’ve never seen it anywhere else around here.

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  15. Beautiful flowers. What type of tomatoes are you growing? I have really been enjoying heirloom tomatoes in pasta and sliced in a cheese and mayo sandwich on toast.

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    1. Thanks, Pat. The tomatoes are from saved seeds. The original variety was called “Dona.” I plan to try some different types next year. There are some interesting heirloom varieties out there.

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    1. It’s difficult to predict what any summer will be like. 2020 was relatively cool here with much more rain than this year. I think of the terrible bush fires in Australia a couple of years ago and the water shortage in Cape Town. Wishing the southern hemisphere a good summer, Robbie!

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