The weather over the last month has been wacky and affected a lot of the outdoor plants. First we had a freeze (not a frost) the middle of May or so. The Japanese Maple got bit hard as did some other pants. The Rose of Sharons and Burgundy Bell maple were just getting leaf buds, which were totally destroyed (they are starting to leaf out again though). Japanese maple then Burgundy Belle pictures taken 5/22/23.
Then, last week we went from being in the 60's to two days in the 90's, which caused stress to hostas, lupines and other pants. Doesn't help we didn't get any measurable precipitation for nearly 3 weeks.
We got wild storms Friday night where 5 buildings and a person were hit by lightning in the general vicinity (2 of those happening in the adjacent town of Antrim) and there was also a brush fire started by lightning. Unfortunately, we only saw about 1/8" of rain out of it. (following is from SWNH FB page)
But, I took pictures of flowers that were not affected by the freeze on Friday afternoon just before the storms hit. First are the Rhodies at their peak. The purple ones out fron are again stunning. I manipulated the red rhodie pic to more accurately show the color as phones/cameras want to make them pinker than they truly are.
Although most lupine plants were badly wilted from the lack of rain, this one managed to bloom. And, with cooler temps and the little rain we did get, the other lupine plants were looking better onsaturday.
Columbine
Variegated Weigala (I cannot get the pink to stand out as it does when personally viewing
I have been impressed by "Fruit Punch pinks" in the south side garden. I bought and planted them in early May and they have been blooming non-stop - even shrugging off the freeze and the fact that I haven't watered them since planting.
Yesterday the high was 61 - at 12:01 am. The daytime temp was 51-53 and heavily overcast so no solar heat gain. The main floor pellet stove ran once yesterday afternoon and is running right now (5:30 am). It will be cool and heavily overcast for another couple of days, so it will most likely run a few more times before it is time to put it to rest for the season.
The baptisia is just starting to flower so should come into its own in a week or so .I also saw a miniature root beer iris bloom yesterday, but failed to get a picture.
So despite the wild swings in weather, it seems that I am having a fairly good year for color in the gardens.
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