If you live in Miami, Los Angeles, or Phoenix, you probably don't care that us Seattle folk just celebrated our
13,232nd minute of 80° (26.6°C) temps or higher this summer. Well it's a big deal to us and this being our hottest summer ever in the Pacific Northwest, I can finally say that I have successfully grown watermelons:
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| Watermelon 'Sunshine' |
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| The watermelon vines love basking up the heat stored in the rocks I made for them. |
And cantaloupes and eggplants too:
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| Cantaloupe 'Sarah's Choice' & Eggplant "Little Fingers' |
This is a practically instant castor bean forest. There will be plenty of seeds to share!
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| Ricinus communis 'Carmencita' |
I was floored to see Gloriosa rothschildiana come back to life. It didn't pop up out of the ground until mid-June but it has been making up for lost time, completely devouring this magnolia tree.
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| Gloriosa rothschildiana |
Another unlikely survivor is this Alocasia. It was planted in the ground last summer and left for dead when winter came. It obviously thought differently.
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| Alocasia (unknown species) |
Our peach tree has produced about 80 pounds of peaches - the most ever. This one is a cultivar named 'Frost' which doesn't have the most spectacular taste but makes up for it by being resistant to peach leaf curl.
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| Peach 'Frost' |
We're lucky to see crape myrtles bloom in September around here in a normal year but this year they're a month ahead of schedule.
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| Unknown crape myrtle & Rose 'Just Joey' |
As are the grapes.
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| 'Lakemont' seedless grape |
I guess it's a good sign if the fish are always begging for food.
Thanks for reading! I'll do my best to not go more than three months before the next post.
