Good morning, and monsooooon! Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
While all y'all have been sweltering in the east, here in Denver the arrival of the monsoonal rains have kept things pleasantly cooled. Our highs have stayed out of the upper 90s, and overnight we've cooled to the low 60s, all thanks to the thunderstorms.
Denver proper even managed to catch a good soaking on Monday, with about ¾ of an inch falling in my area. Most of the thunderstorms have missed me, though; it's frustrating to see the weather radar showing rain falling all around Denver, but missing us. But at least we are having a well-developed monsoon season this year.
And the gardenia loves having its summer vacation outside.
The pooties, however, could do very well without rain and prefer lounging inside as the clouds move in and the thunder rolls.
And you're getting photos of the pooties because the flowers are such a disappointment this year.
Sigh. I'm afraid the one-two-three punch of the dry winter, followed by the extreme cold in spring, and then dry weather in June, weakened a lot of my perennials. Established plants that had previously survived with little, if any, supplemental water have either disappeared entirely, or partially died out.
For now, I'm living with it. This fall I'll see what I can find at the end-of-season sales at the local nurseries to fill in some of the blanks and next spring I'll pick up some more plants and finish the job.
Then again, all those blank spaces means that I can buy more plants because I have room for them! What fun!
I guess gardeners have to be eternal optimists.
That's what's happening here. What's going on in your gardens?