Frizzled and Frazzled

It’s gone well beyond a joke; well beyond being passing and enjoyable and well beyond being in any way tolerable. We’re not built for this weather; we’re by nature people of a softer climate with days of soft rain, soft cloud and occasional days of sunshine to break the monotony and dry the clothes.

Our gardens and plants are with us on this; they have suffered and are now in dire straits. There is a nationwide ban on the use of hosepipes but as we are on our own well here it is one we will enforce on ourselves of necessity as we don’t want our well to run dry which would be a worse state entirely.

Hostas in several parts of the garden are suffering from drought and from being scorched by the strong sunshine. 

Leaf fall is what we would expect in autumn. 

We are presently recycling grey water to maintain plants in pots or those which seem to be on their last legs. This latter is not applied to herbaceous perennials. We concede that many of these are finished for this year and we can only hope that they return again next spring.

Hostas and pulmonarias after collapsing from heat and drought

A large patch of rogersia now completely dried out. 

This Magnolia in still in a pot and kept well watered but the foliage was scorched by the strong sunshine. It is a particularly one for me as it is one of only a very few which was propagated from the parent plant at Mount Congreve and named for the late Ambrose Congreve’s mother – Magnolia campbellii ‘Irene Congreve’ . I expect it will recover. 

This hot spell has not broken temperature records but it has been the most prolonged spell of high temperatures on record and it certainly has done huge damage to gardens. Let’s hope it ends soon!

Rosa ‘Souvenir du Docteur Jamain’ is actually enjoying conditions and thriving in this weather.