How is your garden looking today?

I wonder if we got your left over rain, RJB. It rained off-and-on all day today. Everything looks so fresh!

And we can't get a drop here.

eoe, our precipitation for the year is above average, be we seemed to have gotten it all at once in late winter. The wintering plants were sucked dry due to lack of moister before hand and now we have had little this summer. Today has been a nice break from humid weather in the 90s - for both animals and plants.

eastern ontario :
haven't had much rain in the last several weeks and the lawn is brown and crunchy . we are watering the potted plants daily and they are doing fine .
one of our maple trees has started to shed its leaves - it's caused by stress from too little water and too much heat .
some of the maples in the city parks are beginning to get fall coulours !
there has been plenty of rain all around , but when the rain clouds come within about 50 miles of the city they split - half the clouds - and the rain - turn northward , the other half moves out over lake ontario and into new york state - crazy !
it is actually caused by a peninsular jutting out into lake ontario that shifts the clouds - very hot air rising up seems to cause the split from occuring .
fall is coming and rain will probably return .
hbg

My new garden. Those are my sunflowers in the back.

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

Our lack of rain in Virginia (and most of the southeast) isn't getting much better. Nothing in the last couple of weeks. I was hoping that that little tropical storm (Gabrielle?) might move inland but it kissed the NC coast and then bounced back out to sea.
We did get a brief rain this evening. Very brief, probably not enough to register on my rain guage in any significant amount.
There was a story today on local radio about acorns. Unfortunately, it was horribly written by a reporter who evidently had no interest in the assignment.
It seems that there is a shortage of acorns (and other nuts) this year due to a late frost and the drought. The VA Dept of Forestry has asked folks who do have an acorn crop to gather them and bring them in for planting.
I live on the second floor of a building I put up when I developed my property and moved out of the main house that was too big for me. I am limb level with branches from two huge white oaks that dominate the property.
I seem to have a smaller number of acorns than I have had in the past and the acorns are noticably smaller than what I remember.
The squirrels would be royally pissed at me if I hauled them away.

eastern lake ontario :
the last several weeks have brought very little rain - twice the forecast called for lots of rain - this weekend called for about 1 1/4 inches - it SPRINKLED !
we are watering our flowers - mostly in pots , but just leave the lawn , haven't had to cut it in a month - it looks pretty scruffy !
at least there is some dew on the plants in the morning .

the apple farmers around here all have sprinkler systems running .

the lack of rain has also brought the water level in lake ontario down by about a foot . we'd need a lot of rain and snow in northern ontario to replenish the great lakes - it takes about two years for snowmelt water in the north to make its way through the lakes down to us - where lake ontario and the st. lawrence river meet .
hbg

Many flowers didn't come out pretty this year - due to a lot of rain and heat, all at the wrong time.

But now my favourite plant (don't know its name) starts blossoming.

A rather unimpressive plant, when showing only its greenish leaves.
And even now, it's not something to catch your eyes




But when you have a closer look at it ...

Would you like me to ask my plantsmen relatives to try to find out your plant's name, Walter?

You can do that, certainly. (It's a kind of shrub, I believe.)

I'll take that as a "Yes, please!" then, shall I? :wink:

Aye-aye, sir!

Relative #1 does not know.

My hopes now hang on his father.

Sedum Telephium, Walter, "Herbstfreude":

L'orpin reprise - thanks, Francis!