So how hot was it? The breakdown for Portland; July 4th was a nice 92F, Friday the 5th temperatures increased to 99, Saturday 99, Sunday 100, Monday 102 and Tuesday 104. The heatwave broke on Wednesday and the temperatures moderated, topping out at 93. Over the course of the event Portland broke five consecutive record highs and tallied three record warm nights (lows). For those of us who like it warm and also have air conditioning it wasn't bad. For those who do not have a/c (the majority of homes here I'm afraid) and/or have to be outdoors for extended periods of time, it was brutal.
Just behind the bromeliad bowl (above), a mash-up of Calluna vulgaris Sempervivum flowers and an Agave ovatifolia.
Ah, Hibiscus syriacus 'Red Heart' is blooming! This and the yucca mark mid July in my garden. It loves the heat...
Okay, just a few ugly bits to close out this post. This Pyrrosia hastata did not like the heat. Not one bit. I thought it was the afternoon sun that was getting it but nope, even with a bit of shade cloth it still looked sad.
Thankfully it revived and lookes good in the morning.
This patch of Saxifraga urbium 'Aureopunctata' got a little toasted. All I can think is that the larger canopy of Albizia julibrissin 'Summer Chocolate' used to provide just enough dappled shade to keep it happy.
Ditto for the Saxifraga x geum 'Dentata'.
One more sad saxifrage, this one is the worst, poor thing.
There are many blooms on my recently acquired Aristolochia sempervirens. ..
After 5? 4? 6? years, Clematis 'Polish Spirit' finally has its first blooms. Since I regularly kill clematis, the fact this thing is even still alive is a miracle.
Same plant, but a backlit five-petal bloom.
I plopped down on the lawn and was pulling some Lysimachia nummularia gone wild (it's a weedy ground cover, but I still like it), when I took the next five shots. Rhododendron williamsianum...
Blooming Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens', the lysimachia, and Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola'.
Berberis triacanthophora 'Cally Rose'
And part of my "taboret", aka vignette in the corner of the upper back garden...
I'Conia Portofino Dark Orange Begonia
Watering containers near the front door I noticed three different yellow blooming plants doing their thing, Bletilla ochracea ‘Chinese Butterfly’.
NoID opuntia...
And a volunteer verbascum seedling...
I even managed to fit them all in the same photograph.
I thought for sure all the buds on the opuntia would open with the heat, but they did not. The one that did open closed up an orange tone. I love it!
Watering in the back garden leads to some plants weighted down and lying across pathways, like this Syneilesis aconitifolia.
Passiflora lutea is on the march up the tallest trachycarpus trunk.
Coniogramme emeiensis 'Golden Zebra' likes the heat.
Sadly the Yucca filamentosa flowers have been pushed along quicker than normal with the high temperatures, and a couple stems have toppled over with all the weight. Thankfully I have some heavy-duty vases and we're enjoying them indoors.
You might remember the pair of all-yellow Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard' I've shown in the past? One of them died last January, with the cold, however the other has been doing great.
I am worried it may take a turn though, since the mama plant is in flower. These yucca are monocarpic and eventually die after blooming. I'm concerned the all-yellow plant won't be able to live on without help from mom.
Love those flowers.
The tall front-garden Tetrapanx papyrifer have recovered from winter's ugly.
Arctostaphylos 'Austin Griffiths' bark peel, always gorgeous.
Back at the front of the house to admire the Agave ovatifolia. I was concerned the one closest to the steps was on it's way out after winter 2022/23, but it is still going strong. A couple leaves are yellowing, but overall the plant is looking good.
Last week I mentioned there was going to be an orchid bloom, and here it is!
Crazy looking thing.
The Albizia julibrissin 'Summer Chocolate' that we cut back in February has sprouted back with a full head of hair, and then some. I'd planned to thin out the sprouts and then realized they were providing some pretty dense shade, better to wait until after the heat passed.
Shade for the hanging staghorn ferns that is.
Across the lawn is the one plant I covered with a protective layer of shade screen, the Aechmea fasciata ‘Primera’ looked a little bleached out after our first 99F day so I kept it covered thru the heat. The chair is shading a smaller bromeliad closer to the ground.
Across the lawn is the one plant I covered with a protective layer of shade screen, the Aechmea fasciata ‘Primera’ looked a little bleached out after our first 99F day so I kept it covered thru the heat. The chair is shading a smaller bromeliad closer to the ground.
There were a few other crispy leaves here and there, and a brown frond on the tree fern (Dicksonia antarctica), but all in all my garden did fine through the heat. Our forecast for the week ahead is high 80's and low 90's with cool nights. I wonder what the rest of summer will bring?
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All considered, you fared very well with your summer scorcher. I love the Beltilla, Verbascum, and Sempervivum. I'm glad to see that your beloved Pyrrosia recovered quickly. It IS remarkable just how much hotter it's been in Portland by comparison to my area in SoCal. The same cannot be said for SoCal's inland areas - the last I heard my brother reported 106 and a close friend reported 108, and we can't forget Palm Springs at a record 124. Some plants do like it hot here too - my dahlias are finally growing and forming buds - but the Agapanthus are withering all too quickly.
ReplyDeleteYa that 124 temp is a little too toasty for me!
DeleteLooks great, even with the few crispy ones. Yes, my Pyrrosia hastata looked the same. I drenched it and hopefully, it will recover, like yours! It's a beauty. I love it when the yuccas bloom, along with the Magnolia grandiflora (mid June to mid July). Such gorgeous, lemony flowers. Does Clifford ( he is Magnolia macrophylla?)bloom in mid July too?
ReplyDeletePyrrosia hastata seems to show it's unhappiness quicker than the other pyrrosia. Clifford is just finishing up his bloom season, running from early June thru early July, as I recall.
DeleteThe heat and draught here in northern VA is bad, my pachysandra is toast.
ReplyDeleteMy pachysandra (which I was told not to plant because it would take over) all died with winter cold.
DeleteWe're at the beginning of the cool-down today. It got up to 106 yesterday, so I'm rooting for 95. I's good to see things that powered through in your garden. I don't think I've lost anything , but I have shade cloth over the Dahlias and some of the Fuchsias. My 'Color Guard' has bloomed for 3 years but no die back yet -pups galore if it comes to that !
ReplyDeleteThe 'Color Guard' (and all filamentosa) will live on thru pups in my garden, but the part of the plant that bloomed always dies back. This doesn't happen for you?
DeleteNot so far. And no sight of blooms yet this year.
DeleteOooh, you've come through it unscathed! A lot of beauties there, I love that dark bold begonia. The bark on Arctostaphylos 'Austin Griffiths' is fabulous and I love the Yuccas.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly (and sadly) that begonia turned to mush a couple of days ago.
DeleteThis is an interesting post. You are highlighting mostly plants that we both have- my selections are definitely on the less rare side of your garden, but to see how yours fared as compared to mine is fascinating. I have a habit of heavily watering the day or two before a heat wave hits. I think this makes a difference in how my plants handle heat. My Pyrrosia hastata, container in full shade, no issues at all. Saxifraga dentata, happy. I see a couple of combinations I didn't know we'd both made- dentata and ophiopogon nigrescens, lysimachia nummularia aurea with ophiopogon nigrescens. The lysimachia is kind of in the guilty pleasure category for me. It's useful, helpful with weeds, great color but I know I have to watch it like a hawk and should probably take it out before it takes me out, but yet it stays. My Syneilesis always flops all over, sometimes because it's thirsty. I tried putting some of it in a green gridded peony frame this year and it's helped immensely. The big leaves hide the frame nicely. I have two mangaves that folded up like Gerhard showed on his blog, and a tiny baby agave that got sunburned, oops. 😟 I divided my variegated saxifrage this spring. The half in shade is fine, the other half, part shade, crispy. 😟 I just got a baby yucca colorguard. It was an impulse purchase, I hadn't realized it was supposed to be monocarpic. Oh well, I will enjoy it while it lasts. I had two fronds of the native adiantum that had grown into sun crisp and brown, the rest is OK. A peony I potted up last fall to move it is not happy with me but it will survive,
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure. The huge hydrangea that I need to take out got the usual damage,
I really need to yank it and replace with something better, but ugh. Generally, I'm pretty happy with the condition of things. Not perfect but not bad. I'm trying not to kill clematis as well. My track record with these isn't too good either. 😖 fingers crossed! These repeated seesaw shock weather patterns (hot and cold) are hard to take and plan for. I guess we just keep adapting.
Who are you? (do I know you?) My Pyrrosia hastata gets late afternoon sun, I'm sure full shade would have made it happier. The 'Color Guard' (and other filamentosa) usually form a clump so it's hard to know the plant that bloomed died because others quickly fill any gap. In my experience.
DeleteNo, I just comment regularly these days. I'm local, we probably will meet eventually. I can be a bit of an introvert in person, not that great at small talk. sometimes I think I'm better at communicating "on paper". Thanks for the yucca tip.
DeleteYou did really well Loree! Down here in Dallas, OR we had 91, 99.7, 101.3, 100.6, 101.8, 103.3 and finally 92.7. Since I have almost no shade, I have a tremendous amount of scorching. This fall I will be doing a major re-shuffle, moving as many of those that fried into the meager bit of shade on the north side. I lost several recently transplanted Sempervivum pups, Daphne Eternal Fragrance and Hibiscus syriacus. Those last two were new and had not been doing well all spring, so not a big surprise that they succumbed to the heat.
ReplyDeleteUgh, sorry about your losses. My garden has enough shade now that certainly helped.
DeleteI missed the heat wave while in Colorado and Yellowstone with family. Looks like your garden mostly endured it well. That Golden Zebra is a beauty. So glad your ferns did well. And albizia “summer chocolate” sure looks tough after the pruning job. Are the seedlings tough to deal with?
ReplyDeleteJim North Tabor
I've never had a seedling of the albizia. (yay!)
Delete"Aechmea fasciata ‘Primera’ looked a little bleached out"
ReplyDeleteI have a Fascicularia bicolor planted in-ground, on a mound of my clay soil. It has done fairly well through its first summer and the heatwave, but it is also a little pale and bleached. I'm thinking about fertilizing. How would you suggest going about this? I have some Dr Earth 1-1-1 liquid organic, do you thing that would be ok? After mixing with water, can it be dribbled directly into the rosette? How do you typically fertilize your bromeliads?
Lazy gardener here! I've never fertilized my bromeliads... (in fact the only plant I do fertilize is the bamboo in stock tanks).
DeleteWell, I have learned a couple facts in this post! What a great idea to cut the Yucca filamentosa and bring in to enjoy in a vase. My Yucca rupicola blooms heavily every spring and I get several that fall over like yours. Can't wait until next year to them bring in! Also, I didn't know that Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard' was monocarpic. I have a beautiful plant in a pot from Gerhard and I hope mine keeps going as yours has! And thank you for the photo of your orchid! I just love it!
ReplyDeleteThe 'Color Guard' (and other filamentosa) usually form a clump so it's hard to know the part of the plant that bloomed died, because others quickly fill any gap. In my experience. I thought of you when posting the orchid flower, glad you saw it!
DeleteWhat a nice way to start my Sunday morning! I think your trees definitely help ameliorate some of the worst of the sun baking. All the green is refreshing. Things are definitely starting to crisp up down here, along with some of the expected and unexpected plant deaths that I've come to expect with summer. Heh - going to keep trying though - it's either stubbornness, insanity, or hope in the garden.
ReplyDeleteHope, it's hope! And passion for the plants of course.
DeleteIt's lovely to see all the happy summer photos of your garden, particularly the foliage ones in multiple shades and shapes of green (with an occasional black mondo grass).
ReplyDeleteNot a betting person, but I have a good feeling about the all-yellow Color Guard. It looks extremely healthy and vigorous... it will soon be time to name it.
(I wonder if there'll be a future post dedicated to the changing items featured on your taboret).
Chavli
I haven't been changing up the taboret now that summer is here, although since the begonia turned to mush recently I did pop a bromeliad in that planter...
Delete