Out My Kitchen Window

A mama cardinal flew up to my bone-dry birdbath this morning and made me feel guilty for not having filled it yet. It's been so hot that the water evaporates almost immediately anyway. So I took out a pitcher of water and some birdseed.  I'm sure she will appreciate it - if she can convince herself to return. Somehow the birds haven't noticed (or don't trust) that I no longer have cats. I don't usually feed birds in the summer, but with the excessive heat, I'm sure they have a harder time finding something to eat. *** About 30 minutes after I posted this, I saw the mama cardinal merrily taking a bath!

 I've been nursing along a pot of weeds just to see what kind of plant they grow into, but even they are drying up and turning yellow, in spite of my efforts. I miss seeing color in the back yard, but nothing would grow this year without extreme watering and care - so I'm not really sorry that I didn't put forth any effort, or buy lots of potted plants. I had to make do with the forsythia in the spring and the recently dried-on-the-bush gardenias. They were both pretty for a day or two and then dessication set in. The temperature reached 103* here yesterday and it will be at least 99* today. Thank Heaven for the pool; just looking at it makes me cooler. I hope to get in it today, though.

The deer have all but abandoned me. All last year I saw herds of 6-9 nearly every day in the woods around my home, but this summer, I only see 1-2 at a time and not every day. My son speculated that they have left to be near a water source (in short supply around here now) and will return when temps moderate and foliage returns. I hope so, as I love seeing them around. 

How are you, your plants and animals weathering this extreme heat?

Haircut Day

Haircut day always take us into a building that has atrium walkways, with skylights in the ceilings, making for a wonderful place to grow greenery, both exotic and ordinary. I love croton plants. They range from simple, green veined leaves to wild oranges, reds and yellows - sometimes all on the same plant.When I walked in this morning, the sun was shining down directly on a croton with many red leaves, making it appear to be on fire. The photo didn't quite capture what I was seeing, but perhaps you'll enjoy it anyway.

I think I have told you this before, but when we were in Mexico (Cancun), crotons were used extensively in landscape plantings and depending on where they are located, the colors vary widely.  Around here, they are used as indoor plants, but if our 90* + temperatures don't moderate soon, we could probably grow them outside!