Weather Late Summer

Time for a new weather thread.

We came from here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1368646/

Thanks! It was a bit ironic checking in on a Dog Days summer thread when the actual weather was so bliss-inducing!

LOL Sally. The mornings have definitely been cooler, and fewer pollinators out. Maybe this weekend I'll have a chance to enjoy it!

What a nice picture to start the thread Cat!

thanks, Seq! :-) It made me think of waning summer days...

Boo....I'm already getting excited for spring as it's only 7 months away :)

good way to look at it! ;-)

Darned straight! Plus with all the bulbs I'm getting this fall, it should be a magnificent spring :)

I've heard a lot of people saying the past few weeks that "Fall is here", but I've not been feeling it.. until today. Ya know that feeling you get... it just FEELS like Fall... in your bones? Yeah, that feeling. For some reason this morning it just hit me. Yup, feels like the very beginning of Fall is right around the corner. WOW this Spring and Summer have flown by!
I'm with you, Jeff, "Booo!"... next Spring will be magnificent, bulbs or no bulbs! =) And I really like your perspective "only 7 months away". =)

A couple weeks ago, it changed for me from Early Summer to Late Summer. Early Summer has plentiful katydids and cicadas. Late Summer has constant crickets. But Early Fall is when there's the heavy dew and very shady lawns as the sun gets lower.
Boo not ready for fall....

Sally--
You forgot the Japanese Beetles....they go with early fall too...

I associate feeling that it is early fall with me starting to CLEAN up beds--
instead of planting in them. Getting that "laise fair" attitude about my beds.

Cutting back DL foliage--yanking out some annuals--just b/c they
no longer look "right". I have yanked out about 3 Lady-in-Red Salvias--
just because they were too tall or wide. Tolerating sally's Butter daisies,
because they are pretty--but 4 times the size I expected them to be.
Can't really yank them....yet..

Of course--the biggest omen that fall is finally here--is when the trees
start shedding leaves. Then I feel sad..........like another year has passed...

How time flies lately! Gita

Speaking of TIME--

I'd like to share this short, wonderful poem with you.
One of my saved "Gems".

TIME IS....

Too slow for those who wait,
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve;
Too short for those who rejoice;
But for those who love,
Time is Eternity.

*Henry van Dyke)

No!!!! Ban that 4-letter word that begins with "F"!
I'm not ready! Summer just started, right : - ) ?

BTW, I love that photo, Cat.
I want to know what that grass is; I see it all over and I like it. Some might have to be rescued from a ditch so it can live in my garden.

thanks, Muddy--my sentiments exactly! Seems like the season just started!

I've been wondering about that grass, too.

I'll get some of that grass from a ditch near me so I can try to ID it as well as collect its seeds in case it's native.

"That grass" is one of the Foxtails - Setaria sp.

Thanks, VV. A little online research tells me that some of the species are native to the U.S., so I'll get a plant for ID.

Those entrancing seedheads are known to quite delight little boys when employed to tickle little girls' ears - or so I'm told.

While some are native, they are all vigorous pioneers in disturbed sites: read as gardens, nurseries, containers, etc. Let it in, and it will become a permanent guest.

Great!! If it's native, I've got a great place to let it loose in the hope that it shows some pioneer spirit when taking on Japanese Stilt Grass.

Muddy, hope it works, but since apparently the Stilt grass outcompeted whatever WAS there, you've got an uphill road.

True, but I haven't given up yet! There is less stilt grass this year, and more Cinna arundinacea (common reed grass), various Polygonum species (hopefully native), raspberries and blackberries.

I think the grass near my house, and possibly the grass in CatMint's photo, is Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail, giant foxtail, Chinese foxtail). Sigh, yet another non-native invasive plant. My cat thinks it makes a fabulous toy though.

What's the deal with this bone dry weather?!?!?!

Hopefully this system will bring us all plenty of rain. Luckily, I don't think I have any casualties except maybe a primrose I got tired of watering every other day.

I don't think I have any casualties either but I have planted several perinnals and a few small bushes in the last month and they are looking a bit parched. Hopefully we will get a good soaking to make them all happy. I hate dragging the hoses all over the yard for one plant here and another plant there.

Parts of my yard are absolutely bone dry, almost dusty. But the clay at the bottom of the hill is doing a nice job of holding onto the moisture. Actually, it did such a good job that the sweet woodruff rotted from all the moisture.

I'm looking forward to this rain we're supposed to get tonight. They're expecting around one inch. I'm almost done with all of my transplanting... except that I ordered more perennials from Santa Rosa. I couldn't pass up the deal!

Is everyone seeing these markings in all the postings < br /> ?

Holly, I'm seeing them on all the forums!

Was wished I could spend all day moving plants ahead of this rain. ssg my sweet woodruff is all dry and also mostly rotted. It seems to just collapse in summer, don't really get that..but luckily it is mostly covered by bigger things by then so not noticeable. I won't use it as a garden feature in future but will tolerate how nice it is in spring for a while.

This is just too early to feel like i just want to pull everything up and be done with it!
Not much out there that is blooming--is pretty--and that makes me want to take care of it.
Gathered a load of seeds today from my "Blue Rocket" MG.
Also--from my dying cardinal Climber vine. Both of these were growing on the fence of
my raised bed...facing my neighbor's side--as that is where the sun is.

My lawn it totally littered with falling leaves from my red maple. This always happens early...
This is the tree near my shed. Half of the leaves all fall down--and i have to rake them up.
Then--in a couple of weeks--all the rest will turn yellow and fall off as well. In one week's time.
This leaves one bare tree--and one still in full leaf and green (The big Silver Maple).
SO! I rake leaves about 3-4 times each fall.

I also have 5 pots of perennials I have picked up at HD @ $3 sitting in pots--not yet planted.
Two pots of the yellow Gloriosa Daisy "Prairie Sun" which have now been sitting
around for several weeks in pots. I have a hard time believing that these are perennials.....
even if it says so in the tag. We will see...
Will have to dig up the lg. clump of the short. pink Cannas I got last year. They are still
blooming. That is where i want to plant them--in my A/C bed.

Then--I have 2 pots of Verbena canadensis sitting around--and are now starting to really grow.
These are the perennial blue Verbenas that will crawl and take over a good sized area.
WHERE to plant them????? OH--WHERE?????

Today--I also picked up a pot of Coneflower "Hot Papaya Echinacea"--also for $3. Last one...
May just plant that in a BIG pot. Hope it makes it through the winter.
I can always stick it down my stair well to the basement door. Very protected from winds, etc.

It is hard to accept that things are dying off....
Still have my Brugs to take cuttings of--they are still doing great,
Waiting for the BIG October flush!
Lots to do...lots to do.....each year, i feel less and less like i wan to do any of it....

But--I DO! Gita

...Yeah! What is all this < br /> ? about? Will go to the DG Forum--
that is where you find out everything that is happening...

I thought you Guys were posting it b/c it is getting cold.....like...Brrrrrr...

Soaking up the good deals G? Hard to resist!

SSG, are you sure the Sweet Woodruff is 'rotting' from too much moisture? SW likes moisture and usually starts to decline in summer because of a lack of moisture. I sheared mine in my Honeylocust bed by about half after it was done blooming and that seems to have helped it a little.

Actually, the sweet woodruff in the dry part of the yard is looking pretty good. I've had other things rot in the wet part before, including foxgloves and ajuga. It just stays really wet because of the clay, and the soil is shallow due the rock layer being just below the surface. So it's like a bathtub.

Interesting...sounds like a good place for some different moisture lovers!

Yeah, the astilbes and Japanese painted ferns are really happy! :)

My astilbes are having a tough time due to dry soil. This rain is seriously pathetic right now. We've gotten 0.12" so far at our house. What happened to the 1-2" forecast?

It is still raining here--steady downfall--no "pouring'. Cold....
This will do a lot of good for the dried out lawn and beds.

It rained pretty hard before i got up. I could hear it.
Someone at the HD garden will get a reprieve from having to water
everything today...Mum's the word!! There are Mums all over the place.
They are so huge--they dry out every day.

I am off today. Have to bake some kind of goodie for the bake sale tomorrow.
Gonna make "Pumpkin Crunch" cake and also "Onion Pie"...
Never made it before--but have eaten it. It is very sweet--amazingly....

Gita

Seq, I think all the rain stayed down here. We got about an inch in 12 hours. Just perfect.

Onion pie? That sounds interesting.

Oh man....I'm so jealous!!!

Yeah, When it stops raining, I'm going outside to water. LOL

Lol...pathetic right? I'll be deep watering the Katsura tree tonight for sure.