It came around three this afternoon, the point when normal gardening became impossible. Not many outside of Ireland realise that Irish people melt when the temperature goes above 25C (that’s 77F, Google has told me!) but it is a fact and that point was reached yesterday and today.
In these days of staying at home – social distancing, is the new name for this – gardening has been our daily activity, our pastime and we are fortunate to have a reasonably big garden so there is always something to be done. This morning, I trimmed a number of hedges. They only needed a trim as they had been cut in the not too distant past and there has only been a little light regrowth so the clean-up afterwards was a very easy job.
There had been a build-up at the compost bin so I started a little shredding before lunch and finished it in the afternoon but only after taking time for a short walk across our road and down to the riverside to see what wildflowers I might spot. It is amazing how a visit to an area visited many times already will reveal plants not noticed previously or plants which were not in flower on earlier occasions – there always seems to be something of interest.
Burnet moth on Teasel 
Sea Aster 
Red Bartsia 
Ink Cap Mushroom 
Lesser Sea Spurrey 
Yellow wort 
Common Blue Butterfly 
Fleabane 
Lesser Tortoiseshell 
The beautiful colouring on the back of Lesser Hawkbit.
On return home, hardly a five minute walk, I completed the shredding, piled the shredded material onto the compost bin and cut the two front lawns. They need to be cut every second or third day to keep them looking well and I was anxious to do this before tonight’s forecast rain arrived.
It was time to call a halt! To be honest, I was being a little careful this afternoon as I had overdone it yesterday, working for too long in the heat and not drinking enough – I drank two litres of water when I went indoors today as I was so thirsty.
Anemone japonica ‘Prinz Heinrick’ 
Anemone japonica ‘Honorine Jobert’ 
Crocosmia ‘Severn Sunrise’ 
Dietes bicolor 
The lane with petals from Eucryphia 
Eucryphia x nymansensis ‘Nymansay’ 
Geranium ‘Penny Pink’ 
Geranium ‘Rozanne’ 
Hydrangea aspera ‘Anthony Bullivant’ 
Hydrangea ‘Hot Chocolate’ 
Kniphofia ‘John Benary’
The forecast is for very heavy rain overnight, even thunderstorms, and then rain all day tomorrow. It will be a chance to take a rest and will be an ease from this heat – tomorrow, I may not melt!
Paddy Tobin, An Irish Gardener 
It’s true, Paddy. I melted on Tuesday on a long wildflower walk – but she introduced me to some new things so it was worth it. But so hot and bothered.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m less than cautious of the dangers of dehydration, am not inclined to drink a enough during the day and can end up feeling stressed by mid/late afternoon. Did you see the stretches of Yellow wort, by the way? Loads in flower here at the moment – I thought of you when I was photographing them!
LikeLike
Yes – I have severe Yellow-wort envy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I knew you would – I had to take care not to stand on them, there were so many!!!!! LOL
LikeLike
Brat.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just melted in the heat. Promised thunderstorms still awaited.
Always a joy to read your blog
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was woken by a clap of thunder/flash of lightning during the night but went straight back to sleep. I don’t think it amounted to much and it isn’t raining here at present – considering a walk!
LikeLike
I so enjoy your posts, Paddy! Here in the NE corner of Massachusetts, we’ve had a very hot and dry summer with one heat wave after another. Temps in the 90’sF have become the norm and gardening chores have been sporadic. Still, the plants keep growing and flowers keep blooming!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Indirect mode: Paddy’s posts are a joy!
Direct mode: Your posts are a joy, Paddy.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you, Pádraig!
LikeLike
Ours is really a mild climate. We never get the very high nor the very low temperatures of continental Europe, always in-between, but we feel these hotter days when they arrive. I should go to the seaside and float about in the water to stay cool. Best wishes and take care!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, my, Paddy. Sure wish we were at 77. Here in the US & in the deep, deep south we have had 96 with heat indices of 105 & no rain for 3 weeks. Even when we had it, it was only an 1 1/4. So very, very dry here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, I couldn’t survive in those conditions! On Tuesday afternoon I really was careless and had failed to drink enough water and worked the entire day under the sun – old age is no guarantee of an increase in common sense! Take care and stay safe!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Be careful and stay cool!
I saw our forecast here for Sunday includes a high of only 76F so I hope my neighbors and I don’t freeze. I love the cooler days of spring and fall, and the first hotter ones are always a shock, but if I soldier on through the heat my blood thins and I’m ok for the summer.
I dug some snowdrop bulbs yesterday as sweat rolled down my back. It was downright uncivilized.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am finding these days too hot for me at the 76F you describe as cool! Pfffffff Too much! No gardening today as it was damp all day so we went for a walk – wildflowers etc. I noticed the first snouts of Sternbergia lutea peeped out of a pot in the glasshouse today and I always take that as a signal to water the pots of Galanthus reginae olgae which are also in the glasshouse. I cannot manage these in the open garden – regularly a little too wet in summer and they are inclined to decline very quickly. I grow a big selection of snowdrops in the open garden and should see the first of them appear in November and they will continue until March.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a sternbergia along the foundation and it has yet to bloom, but also yet to die. A friend is trying to convince me to try r-o in the open garden as well, I’m not so convinced. The fall bloomers only just barely manage to survive. Here it’s the winter blasts, not the summer damp.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Paddy, what’s the name of the tree u have in the left in the lawn picture? Farigated like leafs
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good morning, Noel. I had to look carefully to spot what you had in mind. On the left of the picture, the variegated shrub is a Philadelphus. The one on the right-hand side is a Cornus alternifolia.
LikeLike
Sound thanks the Cornus one I was on about, famously tree
LikeLiked by 1 person
We Scots have the same melting point Paddy, and Wednesday was the day I had to put the gardening tools down. Lovely photos and post, your lawn and borders look immaculate.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Head Gardener sets a very high standard here, Catherine!
LikeLike
Now, in my country the weather a bit exaggerates! Temperatures are very high, about 30 Celsius degrees so it is hard to work in garden, even with hat on! You took beautiful photos for this post! I noticed that also you grow wort. I have a few flowers in my garden grew from seeds. Once, I came across milkwort on https://gardenseedsmarket.com/european-umbrella-milkwort-seeds-tolpis-barbata.html. It’s beautifully flowering now ; probably I will grow another variety next year!
LikeLiked by 1 person