It's been HOT

I hear from mother ... and lots of growers.. and my cousins... they have been hot foit's startting here .. and has gone on for a week... record highs... for weeks now... mother has it ovrer 100 for what seems like two weeks...
Todat it's cooler and only air temps of 91*F wth a strong breeze... well the roof is hot also.. from early on... the plants that have their pots right on the roof are HOT especially the ones in the plastic and clay pots... the insulated foam planters fare better ... all of the plumerias are down on the rubber membrane.. and get the breezes blowing off it onto the plants... but not at 91*F this air is off the roof... pickig up it's heat... and you can see by the thermometer just what it is like... the root balls are close to that temperature.. although they have moisture and are cooled by releasing it to the air.. and the heavy winds.. which hit alll the plants with this newly aquired heat... but given water ... they do well... if a little warn out from the effort to dispel so much ..
so.. what zone has my temperatures.. perhaps zone 14

Gordon,
There is something similar to the plant hardiness zones map, but for heat. You need to measure the heat either at the level of the lower leaves or the soil. Right now, you are measuring the temperature just above the asphalt. The air heat is bad enough. It has been in the upper 90s here with very high humidity levels, but it hasn't been as bad as last year so far. At least my Brugs haven't gone dormant on me.

its 103 for me today and humidity is 86 %..than we have Alex lurking.what a week


Elva

Gordon
we had a big rain, then cooling down, the humidity is really low right now, we had a thunder storm, it sounded like a great big firecracker went off, naturally I had too watch it on my enclosed back porch, I love the storms, my Brugs are looking great after the rain, I hope you have a cool down soon

Elizabeth

I was watering my potted plants just now, but decided to come inside. The lightening is getting too close. I sure hope that comes with rain. Some of the pasture grasses are beginning to look gray.

Elizabeth, I used to love watching lightening storms until a few years ago when we lost 2 cows and their unborn calves to a lightening strike. Now, I pray that lightening goes by without hitting anythings on the ranch. We need the rain though. The drought we had in late 2007 - 2009 has taken its toll. Many of our oaks are dropping huge branches. We and the cattle have been lucky in that we weren't around when the branches fell. We would have been toast. One cow and her newborn calf came pretty close — within 10 '. I'll have to wait until late August or February to have the trees pruned. It's going to cost a fortune since about 1/4 of the ranch is wooded.

How many ac do u live on

We have 180.46 acres. It seemed large at the time we bought it, but I tend to get attached to animals and hate to send them to the auction barn. At times, I wish I had more land so I wouldn't have to sell any.

All the cattle have names and I can track back their ancestry several generations. Until this year I was allowed to keep almost all of our heifers. I sold my first group of replacement heifers earlier this year. My DH has had to remind me that this is not an old cow's retirement home so my oldest cow is 7 yrs old. I'm not completely gaga. I just behave that way when its time to send someone to market.

It has been sweltering here in the Carolina's too....the thunderstorms that have been rolling in during the afternoon have been breathtaking in their beauty...sometimes we get the rain...sometimes we just hear drums pounding for hours LOL...last night was a treat with all the rain..the lightening was def. a lightshow worthy of taping...

Deanna

same here this past week, Deanna

We've had unusually hot temps here also. My brugs all seem to be doing great except for one problem. My Doosie has had several blooms but each time the edges seem to stick together and the skirt is not dropping. The last couple got their color before the edges started turning brown and you could see the skirt but it didn't drop. I have about 5 that are opening right now. It has been cooler the last several days and they seem to be doing better. Could the heat be affecting the blooms??

The heat definitely affects the blooms. If they are in directly sunlight for too long, the tips of the calices dry up and don't split properly trapping the flower inside. The flowers don't last as long either. Some Brugs are affected by the heat more than others. It all depends on what species are involved in their genetics.

There is a tabbed thread containing the names of Brugs that are not as affected by heat. Here's the link:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/797671/

same here. june has been hot as hades.

it will be a good test for my brug seedlings to see how they come through this year and stand up to the elements.

the daylilies are closing up shop and look ready to go heat dormant.

however, the agastache, rudbeckia and coneflowers seem to really love this hot and dry weather. they are looking most spectacular here.

Betty thanks for the link! I think it must be the heat. It looks better today. Actually has colored up like it is supposed to. I can see the skirt but it still hasn't dropped. It's not in the full sun. It gets some sun but not several hours of direct sun. I also noticed that Doosie did not appear on any of the list. Maybe that should tell me something.

Doosie finally decided to do what she is supposed to do. Here she is with her skirt dropping.

She even has a flush going.

That is so pretty..cperdue..

Yes..Charlotte.. Doozie is holding on there and flushing... I like Veronica lost mine also... it was weak last year... and got through the winter.. I thought in good shape.. and got out and was OK.. then keeled over.. seemed like a weak type here...
Love the garden ...Charlotte.. great formal nature to it.... You have a walk way...

ell...by all acounts it's hot today... bet we're over 100... it's 98 here at almost 5 PM..
I put my thermonetor down again today.. about 4 pm.. it was 3' away from the lawn.. so that part was cooler.. but as you can see the roof temperature was right @ 160 * F.. real hot for anywhere.. and the wind blowing about off it is like a convection oven ..

Here through the heat.. and I guess as a reaction to it.. everything on Dark Rosella was poping... even though the color isn't real dark..I think it's energy into flowering is enough to keep in in the keeper catagory here

I just hope you heat wave does not last. Ya'll can't handle it. I do know a lot of people in the far north do not AC and when it gets that hot it wears you down. I build boar docks and there is only so much I can take of 100 + days. I do look forward to weekend, so I can go home and work. In 1980 I lived in Fort Worth and we had over 100 days of over 100 temps, that was a long Summer.

Yes Kenboy.. it's hot... is that boat docks you build... all construction is hot work.. I worked outside all day today.. just puttering... and I've worked construction for years outside in the south.. and gulf islands .. so I have a diffrent take on it than most do.. it's just hot.. but it part of a cycle.. you start the day and it's cool at 6-7 am.. then it heats up.. and then cools down with the evening.. it's like cooking a frog.. you throw him into hot water and he'll jump right out.. put him in the water and turn up the heat.. he'll sit in it till he's cooked... you might have heard that story along with one concerning the removing of liberties.. I haven't urned the A/C on yet.. I'm not liking them too much.. unless you have a great inside aeroobic activity going on.. then they are wonderfully necessary.. I'm up on the cool roof as I write.. but the most restorative is the aroma.. but the cool is nice too.. and the night time moisture is restorative to a dry skin from a day in the sun.. night time rebuilds it.. if you stay out in it.. if night time comes and your inside under the humidity controled A/C.. the skin is week in the morning when you're back out in the sun...
as far as us handling it.. I know I can. and the 4' brug in a 8" plastic pot on the roof with 5 open flowers .. gets a bit wilty in the sun... on the 160* roof.. but can handle it... you'd not have thought it could either..ok so the flowers don't bounce back like the leaves and limbs do... when it's watered... but it will make new ones soon...

well two of the flowers did indeed come back... I don't know that the other ones might have been open more days..and it was just their time.. that trooper was Kelly Anne..
I've me headlight on.. but still can't get the name of one I was going to show.. I must have had it when I planted it as it's in the most photogenic spot on the front fence in the corner... but it is the cutest.. it has tiny 4"- 5" long double white flowers...