I like to fill my posts with happiness and pretty pictures, but today I will show you there is another side to summer. HEAT. Some of the plants, and me, do not like it. The drying winds, the humidity, temperatures soaring into the upper 30’s, very hard to handle. I can move into the shade, or go inside and put on the air-conditioning. But the poor plants just wilt.These are the straw flowers/paper daisies I nursed along and grew from seeds. They like to be in full sun, but I feel for them as they droop in the mid-day heat. But surprisingly they spring back to attention each evening. Looking very carefully I can just see the slight formation of the flower buds. Hopefully I will soon be able to show you them in full flower.
Not only heat has to be contended with, but there is an increase in bugs and caterpillars at this time of the year.
Look at these poor denuded specimens (I’ve forgotten their name. Can you help me Jude!!!) The one on the left has been totally stripped and now the caterpillars are starting on the next plant.This one has had a few nibbles. These are perennials and very much survivors, this happens every year and they always grow back. I look on it as pruning by nature. And I love to see the beautiful butterflies and without caterpillars we will not have themThe dwarf lemon always gets problems at this time of the year.But I prune these bad areas off and there is always new growth and lots of lemons.
The beauty and delight watching the growth through the seasons more than compensates for the challenges. Talking of growth, just look at those pumpkins they are on the move…Jack has plans to build them a frame to grow up from a pallet. Tish one of my favourite bloggers, and a great gardener and photographer, passed on this tip. This week she has posted a stunningly fragile beauty surviving the snow and ice in her part of the world.
After all that doom and gloom I had to finish on a happy note by showing you the Crepe Myrtle tree that is in full flower at the moment.
[…] The stress of summer – Living in Paradise… […]
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That munched plant looks like a Salvia, but I can not see which one it is. That Meyer lemon has that nasty leaf miner! We just got that here.
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Thank you for identifying the leaf miner. I googled it and it has a make your own spray of veg oil and liquid detergent. Have you ever used this? I know the plant is not Salvia. I do know its name when I hear it. I’m having a senior moment and can’t recall it!!!
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I have not used anyting on the leaf miner yet. It is a new problem here. By the time I see the damage, they are already gone. I am sorry that I can not identify the plant.
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It is very disfiguring. I have to take off all the affected leaves and bin them, then spray the new leaves with either a commercial oil or the home made variety
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Too much of anything is seldom good, is it, Pauline? Hopefully soon the temperatures will subside a bit. So unpredictable right now. Soldier on, m’dear 🙂 🙂
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Thanks Jo. Over here it is approx 3 months of sweating it out and 9 months of near perfection. 😃
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Near perfection doesn’t sound too bad 🙂 🙂
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That’s why we chose to live hear…
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Ouf, sounds way too hot!!
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It’s the humidity that is the worst part
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Oh, absolutely….flattens me
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😥
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Poor plants – I am not good with too much heat either. In Sweden we have the word “Lagom”, which means something in between, not too much or too little of anything. I guess “near perfection” is something like that.
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I don’t think I would be very good with your intense cold either Leya I would want to hibernate…
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Well…if I could I would sleep through November, December and January.
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Zzzzzzz 😴
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😁
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Sorry PP, I don’t recognise the flower, it does appear to have suffered somewhat though. I’d be drooping too in the heat and humidity and apparently in Perth it is set to rise to 38 degrees next week. No way could I cope with that. I’d have to live in a fridge! Finally we seem to have a respite from the wind and the rain, to be replaced by yet more wind and cold. I’m just eager for a beach walk so as long as it is dry… and this afternoon we were chasing rainbows 🙂
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ha- that plant was so totally stripped it would be difficult to identify! the crepe myrtle is a true survivor in the heat – it’s almost as if those trees enjoy showing off when others are suffering!
yes, the butterflies are so lovely… perhaps were were given butterflies to compensate for the plant damages!
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I love the showy crepe myrtle, it looks so delicate, but it is so tough.
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Ahh Pauline, I love heat but when it’s relentless it must be wearing and I’m less keen on high humidity. Poor plants, but there’s a limit to our ability to protect them from nature.
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They, mostly, do a good job of survival, so long as they get plenty of water. Still hot and getting hotter…
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[…] happened. embarrassingly, to me in a previous post. A flower that has been in the garden forever and I do know the name of, really I do… But I […]
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