Sad Summer Story

Most gardeners of my acquaintance here don't celebrate summer.  Summer is not our friend.  By the time summer arrives, it's usually been dry for 3 months and we still face 4 or more months without rain.  Summer's heat makes a difficult situation even worse.  Unlike the beach city I used to live in, our current location on the east side of the South Bay peninsula doesn't benefit from western breezes off the ocean.  It's always been hot in the summer here but last Friday set a record for the 7 and a half years we've lived in this location.  After a pleasantly comfortable May and June, temperatures soared to 110F (43C).  My husband and I took refuge in an air conditioned house but my garden didn't get any relief.

Even with applications of supplemental water before and during the heatwave, the results aren't pretty.  The garden has suffered the impact of scorching heat before but this event matches or exceeds the horrific heatwave of 2016.  This time, the temperature peaked higher; that heat was sustained over a longer period; and it was accompanied by strong dry winds.

As mentioned in my last post, the first sucker punch was the sight of my Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt'.  Although temperatures moderated in the days following the 110F scorcher, the appearance of these plants has worsened.

Instead of emerald green foliage, 5 of the 6 plants in my garden are covered with bronze-brown leaves.  The plant with no afternoon sun exposure is the only one that's shown no sign of this damage.  The plant shown here has been in place since 2014 and my others were planted in 2012.  None have previously been scorched like this.

As I continued my survey yesterday, I saw this.  I was heartbroken.

The plant in the center of this photo is Metrosideros collinia 'Springfire'.  I'd coveted the tree-like shrub for years and finally planted one 18 months ago.  It'd gained size and flowered well this spring.  It looked fine when I took my wide shot photos earlier this month.  Can it recover?  I'm not sure but I'll give it a chance.

Some plants are just burnt.  Their foliage may look ugly for the rest of the season, but they should recover.

I pruned this Echium webbii of its dead flower spikes last month.   Its new growth fried.  Should I have pruned it sooner, or perhaps later? 

While a lot of Agapanthus flowers fizzled in the heat, most of the normally evergreen foliage held up reasonably well.  However, the clumps in full all-day sun with no wind protection didn't do as well.  It probably didn't help that this is one of the driest areas of the garden.

These large Agave attentuata came with the garden.  They benefit from a good deal of shade from the Arbutus 'Marina' above.  This is the first time I can recall that they've been sunburned.  Other succulents, especially the gold-toned Sedums, are also burnt.

Arthropodium cirratum (Renga Lily) is an evergreen bulb.  The flowers were dying back before the heatwave but the foliage dried out badly in its aftermath.

The Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia x blakeana) usually drops leaves gradually at this time of year as the tree produces new green leaves.  I've never seen them turn gold in place like this.

This is Heuchera maxima, a California native.  I'll probably leave the foliage alone until the plant starts producing new growth, much as it pains me to look at it.

A lot of flowers fried.

The Shasta daisies (Leucanthemum x superbum) that looked so good this year shriveled in place but I'm hoping that deadheading them will give me more flowers later in the season.  I don't have the same kind of hope for the Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) and some of the other flowering plants.

In other cases, the plants themselves were beaten down hard but I still expect them to recover in time.

Sadly, my new lath (shade) house didn't provide my plants with as much protection as I'd like.  I suspect the dry winds were the biggest problem.  The Begonias in particular were hit hard.  This photo shows a noID rex begonia before and after the heatwave.  The plant subsequently lost all but one leaf.  We'll see how the rest of the summer goes but Begonias may be a failed experiment.  Orchids I've had for years were also badly damaged.

Other damaged plants include, clockwise from the upper left: Acanthus spinosus, Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', Fatsia japonica (shown in the lath house), and Hemerocallis 'Sammy Russell'.  The daylily foliage that turned bright yellow in response to the heat is now turning brown but there are already signs of new green growth.

Unfortunately, there are a few plants that look to be dead, or close to it.

It took me a minute to even identify this plant.  It's ribbon bush (Hypoestes aristata), a plant that grew well in my former garden.  It struggled here even before this heatwave struck and I think I'm going to give it up now.

The loss of some Salvias surprised me.  This is Salvia discolor, which I've had for several years.  Salvia macrophylla, also a long-time resident, is toast as well.

I find it hard avoid becoming fixated on what's ugly but I know I should celebrate the plants that came through the heatwave with their looks intact.  Some look great when viewed from a distance, although a close examination shows signs of stress.

Cuphea hybrid 'Starfire Pink' looked fine from a distance but, viewed up close, I found that its interior foliage was glowing red

Others plants just look great.  It's possible that some of these may show the ill effects later but 4 days out from the heatwave's peak, here are some of the those that were seemingly unfazed by the event.

Agonis flexuosa 'Nana' doesn't even show signs of tip burn on its new foliage

Maybe I haven't previously looked at it closely enough but I'd swear the Corokia x virgata 'Sunsplash' shown here has put on several inches of new growth this week

Unlike Echium webbii, Echium candicans 'Star of Madeira' is unscathed.  It cut back its flower spikes less than 2 weeks ago and it hasn't produced any substantial new growth yet.  It also gets a bit of shade from the nearby Magnolia. 

Gaura lindheimeri laughs in the face of heat.  The Agapanthus in partial shade in the background fared far better than the plants in full sun.

Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' is continuing to pump out sprays of flowers

The plants outside the lath house, like those in the window boxes and Euryops 'Sonnenschein' in the foreground, fared better than some of the plants inside

Leonotis leonurus is finally blooming

Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum' is also producing its first flowers

The gray-leafed Santolinas look perfect

Senecio candicans 'Angel Wings' was drooping at the height of the heatwave on Friday but I gave it a bottle (that dripped water to its roots) and it looks great thus far.  However, my other plant, in a pot near the front door, doesn't look as good.

Trichostema 'Midnight Magic' is blooming happily.  The flowers on the green-leafed Santolina could use some deadheading but the plants themselves are fine.

The 'Bright Star' Yuccas and Leucadendrons are doing just fine.  The first flush of flowers on the Achillea 'Moonshine' are turning beige but that's normal.  All the Gaillardia flowers withered in response to the intense heat but, with some deadheading, new flowers are already appearing.

So, post-heatwave, the garden presents a mix of good with the bad.  I'm trying to look at the event as a learning exercise.  Our temperature today is hovering near 90F (32C) as I complete this post.  We're hoping for slightly cooler temperatures next week but, as summer conditions can extend well into October here, I'm sure the heat will be back.  I just hope that we don't hit 110F again this year - or get any wildfires.


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party