Last year at this time we were ramping up to a summer-long heatwave and drought. My plants were droopy and unhappy. The weather this year has been the opposite—cool and wet—and my plants are STILL droopy.
I took a walk around the yard yesterday afternoon to check out all things green. My plants looked a little confused by the presence of the sun and temperatures in the mid-80s.
This is one of my annual snapdragons:
This is my perennial Maltese cross plant:
Even my roses are droopy:
At least I’m saving money on the water bill this year. I planted all my annuals 5 weeks ago today and I haven’t had to water them since. That’s a first. We’ve had more than 8 inches of rain since then. Last year the soaker hoses were practically running 24/7.
Many of my perennials are ready to burst open and my daylilies are just starting to send up scapes, so it won’t be long now before my flowerbeds explode with color.
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May and June have been one of the worst on record re: rain and low temperatures. I’ve managed to get a few of my plants outside – the hardier ones – but the more tender ones are still in the basement. Thought I’d get some out today as yesterday’s forecast was calling for 19 degrees C. But this morning it has been changed to rain today, and continuing until Friday. So different from last year! Our temperatures were always in the twenties and very little rain.
Two of my Deja Vu have bloomed in their tiny nine pack. Beautiful orange with red tips. Don’t know how much longer I can keep them so confined. I guess if this weather continues most of my plants will have a short hardening off period.
Seems odd about some of your plants are drooping. Have you had flucutuating temperatures? The same thing happened to a few of the plants I had outside yesterday. Lots of water, but still drooped.
Let’s hope the weather will change and our summer will be great. Just heard the forecast again. Must go and put my tomato plants (Latah) outsiden. No rain for four or five hours. Talk again soon. Jamee
I guess I’m not the only one with wacky weather, huh? Our temperatures have been steadily climbing over the last couple of weeks, but the sun hasn’t made much of an appearance until recently (mostly because it rains all the time!), so I think maybe the plants are just readjusting to the light intensity. I can see the Maltese cross from my window and today all the stems are standing up straight again. I suppose some of my plants’ roots could be suffocating from all the rain too. Hopefully they’ll get a chance to dry out for a few days now. It was supposed to rain today, but they took it out of the forecast.
I’m glad to hear you have some nice ‘Deja Vu’ blooms. Calendulas don’t mind chillier temperatures (they are usually one of the few annuals to still be blooming in my garden in late fall), so you may be able to harden them off even on some of your chillier days. If you have any leftover seeds you could plunk a few in the ground and see if the plants will sprout in the cool, wet conditions. They grow pretty fast and might even eventually catch up with the ones you planted indoors and hope to stick in the garden soon.
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