Six on Saturday – Cold Front

Chris Mousseau

When I woke up Thursday morning it was 22 degrees (Celsius) and felt like 40 by mid afternoon; when I woke up yesterday morning it was 11 degrees and felt like 30 by mid afternoon. This morning it’s 11 degrees again and very windy, going up to just 18 with no humidity. Sunday night into Monday we’re expecting a lot of rain – the first in about three weeks so it will be welcome – the remnants of Hurricane Gordon ramming into another system and slowly chugging across the lower Great Lakes area.

Cold front indeed!

Although the garden is definitely showing signs of slowing down (seed heads everywhere) and getting ready for dormancy, I suspect it’s being speeded along by the excessive heat and lack of rain. Certainly the calendar says two more weeks of summer; the tomatoes haven’t yet given up so why should I?

Here are my Six this week; for more wonderful shots from climactic regions around the world, where winter may be giving way to spring, where it rains on a regular basis, where it never rains, or where there may already have been a first frost, head on over to The Propagator’s site.

birch Sept 7 2018
1 – I wish I could say the leaves on this Birch (Betula papyrifera) are turning a nice yellow colour because of the cooler autumn weather; but, sadly, the leaves are simply turning brown and falling because it’s been too dry in recent weeks. It’s never fully recovered from the drought of 2016, poor thing.
yellow tomato Sept 7 2018 b
2 – It’s been a fabulous year for tomatoes everywhere in the County. Most are still producing, unlike almost every other year I can recall where I’d have pulled them out by now. My favourite is this late ripening yellow variety – I neglected to write its name down and of course threw away the empty seed packet. When will I ever learn???
bee on garlic chives Sept 1 2018
3 – I was going to add this to last week’s Six (the title would have been SOS – Six Bees) but then I thought people would have said this isn’t a bee. Whatever. It’s still quite entranced by my big patch of garlic chives. It wasn’t at all interested in stinging me!
late Lavender Sept 1 2018
4 – One of the benefits of purchasing perennials in small pots is they may bloom later than normal – like this Lavender. Other benefits include being easier to plant than larger pots and, of course, being much cheaper to purchase!
King Tut fireworks Sept 7 2018 2
5 – I’ve shown this King Tut (Cyperus papyrus) grass before, but yesterday morning I thought I’d take a few shots of it from the ground looking up. Kinda like firework, eh?
Begonias in wall sconce Sept 7 2018 sm
6 – I was rummaging in the ‘basement’ this past spring and found a sconce I hadn’t used in several years. Up it came onto a nail by the back, east facing, door and into it went two Begonias. They haven’t flowered as much as I’d hoped (probably I’ve given it too much of the wrong kind of fertilizer and not watered it evenly enough) but the foliage has been interesting against the red wood.

25 Comments

  2. My tomatoes are still going strong and have produced loads of fruit this year. It’s been dry here too in Wiltshire and I’ve noticed that one of my Acers has succumbed to scorch either from lack of rain or maybe the cold front this week….such a sad sight. X

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  3. Your garden still looks beautiful. Our winter has been (still is) unseasonably cold and we are hoping for a warmer summer this year. Everybody in our security complex is digging up small patches for our summer herbs and veggies, which we will grow in wire cages to keep the monkeys out.

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      3. No, she eats the tomato like usual, but first removes and washes the seed, setting it aside to dry for a few days. You just have to make sure they are completely dry or they will turn bad.
        If you have any of those silica packets that come in vitamin supplement bottles, those are great for using with stored seeds.

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  6. Here we can also see the birch leaves that have fallen and I think it’s for the same reason because the rains were insufficient during the summer ( I have to put a net on my pond tomorrow). Nice Six, especially the photo of cyperus papyrus !

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  10. Love that sconce of begonia & seeing King Tut from down below, really wonderful. Hope the cold front slows down long enough to get all your tomatoes in.

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  11. Great six Chris, summer is still clinging on here. Not hot any more but warm enough. My tomatoes have been a bit poor this year, not sure why. Not enough feed and too many side shoots I expect. There’s always next year…

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