Infestations

We're in the middle of a few days of record breaking heat and high humidity.  In a rare moment of foresight, and after 9 years living in a 90 year old house with no air conditioning, I finally bought a window unit for my bedroom.  I say foresight, but in fact I've looked many times before, and never found something that would fit the window, and in a pique of British stiff upper lip, I have managed through years of hot summer weather, with the aid of fans and sleeping uncovered.  Tis true that since I live within 100 yards of the lake, it does typically get nice and cool overnight.....but if we have a few days of temperatures above 30 degrees, the bricks of the house just store up all that heat and it takes a while to dissipate!
With this preview of summer, the chomping hoards have descended on the garden in force.  Slugs and snails, caterpillars, aphids and now, leaf cutting bees!  I lost all of my swiss chard seedlings to the slugs, and last night, my highly successful experiment in repeating pea-shoots was wiped off the surface of the earth!  I guess you win some, you lose some!  On a positive note, the heat has resulted in at least half a dozen embryonic figs starting to swell on my fig tree.  I truly hope they grow to full ripeness, as the single fig I have harvested to date, was a true revelation and must be repeated!  Here are some illustrations of the ups and the downs.

The new hydrangeas that I planted this year are already pleasing me.  Lots of blooms, and lovely red stems to boot.  The flowers will apparently fade to a mahogany red by the fall.

This silver leafed sage has proven to be a talking point.....some love it (me), others hate it (my friends!).  I'm looking forward to see if it blooms.

This meadow rue is in it's third summer, and has reached epic proportions and is quite lovely right now.  It is right against the house, and provides a backdrop to yellow roses in the foreground.

This feathery astilbe will bloom fleetingly, but beautifully, in the heat.

Leaf cutter bees in action

slug damage - these zinnias were meant to add some zing, but they have proven irresistable!

see the tiny figlet....hang on little sprout!

Rosy bowers against my garage.