Our recent heatwave was one for the history books. While the temperature in my location topped out at 106F (41C) on the fourth day, the heatwave continued for ten days, which is unusual. Luckily, the remnants of Hurricane Kay moved up the coast as a tropical storm late last week, reaching us late Friday afternoon. It initially looked as though it'd burnt itself out in San Diego but by mid-evening we were getting slow and steady rain. We ended up with 0.60/inch of inch (15.24 mm), which by our standards isn't bad! The off-season rainstorm was especially appreciated given the 15-day ban on outdoor watering we've been operating under since last Tuesday. I saved water in my empty rain tanks before the ban took effect but toting watering cans from place to place in the middle of a heatwave with humidity steadily rising isn't fun. The rain also broke the heat spell, although the combination of temperatures in the mid-80sF (29C) with humidity at 70% and above still isn't pleasant.
While some of my dahlias fried and others stubbornly refuse to bloom, I was surprised that many came through the heatwave battle-weary but mostly intact. Once again, I cut the majority of blooms that were in passable condition (if not necessarily fresh).
 |
The first bloom of Dahlia 'Mikayla Miranda' is front and center here. It looked better several days ago but, in its faded state, it paired well with the other pinky-lavender dahlia blooms I had on hand. Dahlia 'Lavender Ruffles' is especially bountiful this week.
|
 |
A single Dahlia 'Enchantress' and 2 Dahlia 'Karma Prospero' dress up the back view
|
 |
Top view
|
 |
Clockwise from the upper left: pink and white Cosmos bipinnatus, self-seeded Polygala myrtifolia, Dahlia 'Mikayla Miranda', D. 'Enchantress', D. 'Karma Prospero', D. 'Lavender Ruffles', and Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata'
|
Dahlia 'Catching Fire' got a late start but it keeps pumping out at least two pristine blooms a week so I'm serving it up once again.
 |
I added a group of other heatwave survivors to support the 2 dahlia stems
|
 |
Back view
|
 |
Top view
|
 |
Clockwise from the upper left: Alstroemeria 'Inca Vienna', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Pelargonium peltatum 'Blizzard White', Dahlia 'Catching Fire', Eustoma grandiflorum (aka Lisianthus), Osteosperum 'Berry White', and Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Deep Red'
|
Temperatures are expected to trend down slightly over the remainder of the week but it looks as though humidity will remain relatively high. There's still some thunderstorm activity left in the area but little probability that it'll reach us. Nine more days left on the outdoor watering ban!
For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All
material © 2012-2022
by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
The resiliency of plants never fails to amaze. Your Dahlias came through all that and look wonderful. I like the pink mix. My zinnias fried in the August heat, glad yours made it. Note from my blog..Miss Alice Bougainvillea is called Singapore White on the west coast. Amelia..
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen any white Bougainvillea under any name, Amelia :( Only 3 varieties of my Zinnias, all seed-sown, have done really well this year.
DeleteYour bouquets are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jeanette! Most of the pinky-lavender dahlias are past their prime but I chose to use what I had.
DeleteI'm glad you got some needed rain! I can't imagine that many days of such high heat. We've had stretches of 90s and 100s (not very often), but usually there's rain with it, too. Your arrangements are amazing, as always!
ReplyDeleteTexas had a harder time than we did this summer by the sound of things but a 10-day heatwave, where it doesn't cool down substantially at night, is unusual here close to the coast.
DeleteLovely dahlias, Kris! Aren't they brave to weather that heat? So glad you got a bit of rain to freshen things up, but you are not used to that kind of humidity out there. That's more an East Coast thing! Eliza
ReplyDeleteDahlias - and zinnias - are supposed to handle heat, provided they get adequate water. The latter has been the larger challenge this year, further complicated by the blankety-blank outdoor water ban. As to the humidity, we're definitely NOT used to that. SoCal is known for its "dry heat" but that appears to be another thing that's shifting with climate change.
DeleteCongrats on the rain! 0.6" is pretty great for September. It helped the fire fighting in Hemet and Big Bear, too.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful arrangements, all the more impressive considering the past 12 days of hot hot hot. Supposedly the heat wave was over but yesterday it was 90F here.
Here we got 0.39", very grateful for it. The Dahlias and Cosmos are toast. New flower buds on the zinnias but the open ones are toast. Thankfully Pentas and Catharanthus didn't notice the heat at all.
I was ecstatic over 6 tenths of an inch of rain, HB! I haven't tried Catharanthus for a couple of years but Pentas doesn't seem to be nearly as happy here as it is in your garden. Most recently, I planted Pentas in large pots rather than the ground but I didn't do much better with that approach.
DeleteYour dahlias and other companions look wonderful in spite of the weather challenge. Have been wondering how you were handling the heat. I don't think about you having hurricanes there. Glad you had some rain from it.
ReplyDeleteIncreased humidity and the prospect of hurricanes (not just the odd off-course tropical storm) may be a by-product of climate change. I heard someone say that Southern California could become more like South Carolina in the future. I've also heard it likened to Baja California. Scary, especially as it seems we may have crossed the point of no return, at least in our lifetimes.
DeleteHa, I can imagine you would be ecstatic with your 15mm of rain! And it seems strange to hear you talking of your temperatures after the summer we have had here in the UK, with many days over 30 degrees and then up to 40 too - it brings home just how hot it was! You can't tell from the blooms you have used in your two vases that some are past their prime and all have been struggling. You must be so pleased to be able to rescue at least some blooms from your baked garden
ReplyDeleteWe've actually had very mild summer temperatures here along the coast - that heatwave was the worst stretch we've experienced thus far this year. Of course, our inland valleys have had much worse - the area I grew up in and where I have family and friends reached 112F (44C) and temperatures in Northern California went even higher. Luckily, dahlias and zinnias handle heat relatively well, especially if well-hydrated, which I did my best to ensure.
DeleteGlad you got some much needed rain and some "cooler" temperatures. I'm not receiving your posts in my email any more - maybe you've already addressed this change. I just bookmarked your site so will need to visit that way.
ReplyDeleteGoogle/Blogger stopped email notifications, Barbara. I'm sorry I didn't put out a notification. I'm glad you've found a way to reconnect.
DeleteWe had that heat and humidity for several weeks here, but seeing how your beautiful flowers survived it re-enforces my suspicion that the wind is our worse enemy here! Heat and a particularly strong hot wind literally fried plants to a crisp within a couple of days here! We get wind up on our hill all the time, but that was like a wind storm. Anyway, well done for getting so many gorgeous dahlias through the summer and for hauling all that water, which I can also sympathise with as we don't have drip irrigation!
ReplyDeleteDry winds combined with heat can be deadly, Cathy. We've had high wind events here too but fewer than some years. My dahlia foliage looks terrible - far worse than I can remember in prior years - but some plants have managed to keep pumping out flowers. I've cut many stems way back and have noticed new foliage developing at the base of a few plants, which may be a factor in promoting flower development.
DeleteWow, you got substantially more rain than we did (just .03" but enough to break our streak of dry days four or five days short of the record). Humidity makes it difficult to work in the garden!
ReplyDeleteI heard that some areas got as much as 5 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Kay but then they also had floods and mudslides. Mother Nature was very kind to us. The rain was slow and steady here - and the storm's timing punctuated the blasted 15-day outdoor water ban. Summer rainstorms are rare here and, even when they happen, we seldom get as much at 0.6/inch.
Delete