- Author: Trisha Rose
Monday morning and it has been raining since 6:30 this morning, took out the dogs early while just sprinkling. A guest showed up this morning so I actually had to pull out my umbrella, shook out the cobwebs first. Just thinking about how lovely the roses looked yesterday afternoon, now the weight of rain drops on the petals has quickly weighed down the blossoms and they have fallen over on their spindly stems. I may be imagining things but I don't recall so many roses falling over like this in the past. Could be a combination of our recent rains helping to push out these new blooms after such a long dry year, and the spindly stems most likely a result of so little water since last winter and no fertilizer as I didn't want to encourage growth. So many of the plants have pushed out flowers recently with the flush of rainy days as they try to complete their life cycles. The forecasted temperatures have already projected frost warning, but at least temps have been in the 50's with the rains in the past month.
This past May I decided to move the remaining succulents still in the ground near the front of the yard nearest the street. This area is unprotected from the day long sun which turns many succulents to crispy critters during the summer, then to mush in the winter as they melt with the freeze/frosts. The established Phormiums have done ok in this arid ground but the smaller Phormium transplants look pretty sorry as my friends from the south would say. Even the Echium resembles a Day of the Dead sculpture more than a healthy plant, and these plants are usually so hardy they can survive as edging for municipal parking lots.
For now I will keep my umbrella handy and leave the front drought tolerant plantings alone, it will be interesting to see the changes our rainy winter will bring.