Wilted Plants, Wilted Gardeners

 It's too darn hot and way too dry. Even this black eyed Susan is wilted in this heat. I wouldn't even consider showing you a picture of the wilted gardeners at this point.

 For days Ed has spent his morning carrying water one watering can at a time  to try to rescue the suffering. The watering has to be done on a triage basis. We have a good well and we want to keep it that way.  The plants have to deal with it. He watered the summer sweet and cardinal flower yesterday. They look better this morning, but the relief is temporary. We need rain.

I gave up spending time in the sun  and 90 degree heat several days ago. I'm a pale delicate flower  who wilts easily. I've been watching the hummingbirds flit around the trumpet vine from inside the cool house. I even got a good look at a bright blue male indigo bunting sitting on the railing outside my kitchen door. Now the heat has gotten to Ed. The garden is important to us. We love our plants, but they are expendable. Ed  is not! Perhaps the heat will break and we will get some rain. It seem surreal here in Upstate New York to think of temperatures in the eighties as cooling off.

Oh My ! Was That A Baltimore Oriole?

It rained on and off yesterday and the wildlife took advantage of the fact that the garden was deserted. I watched from in the house as a doe and her fawn strolled by. Obviously the garden is a place they like to check out when no one is home. Later when there was a lull in the rain, I took out the compost, and three fox kits streaked from the garden for cover in the woods. I wish I had seen them from the window. I would have enjoyed watching them. In the evening a large skunk wanders about in the garden. I suspect the hornet nest over by the patio disappeared because of him. Bon appetit! With all this wildlife around it might seem curious that a pair of Baltimore orioles could cause such a commotion here. They are such beautiful birds. Who wouldn't want to see them in the garden? The trumpet vine is a hint.





Because last year we caged and netted the lilies and nothing happened, we forgot about the orioles. As soon as we spotted that gorgeous flash of black and orange, we remembered.It was the year before that the real carnage happened. Ed and I worked yesterday to put the lilies in the protective custody of cages and bird netting. The trumpet vine will have to endure. Thank goodness we saw that gorgeous pair of birds in time!

Circumstantial Evidence?

We will start with exhibit A, A nice photo of Liatris. It’s a beautiful, well mannered plant that butterflies love. It’s the dizzy lily buds that also show in the picture that concern us now. These lilies were eaten by the deer last year , and we have been watching them closely. They were looking good!

Yesterday morning Ed called me to the window to watch a large group of beautiful yellow birds. We enjoyed watching them frolicking in the garden. A quick check with the binoculars and my bird books determined that they were a group of female and immature Baltimore Orioles. Apparently the males are elsewhere. We had to go out yesterday, so I didn’t give the birds another thought. Last evening when we returned home , the birds were still here. I watched them from the window. They stayed right in the garden until the marsh hawk flew over at which point they made for the trees. It was later when I went out to the garden that I discovered the damage.

Here you see exhibit B. Some of the dizzy lily buds were in shreds. The lilies were damaged . The birds were here. They had opportunity . They had motive(nectar) . It looks bad. I didn’t want to believe it. The birds were so beautiful. We put the lilies in protective custody for their own safety.

Finally you see exhibit C. This morning the birds were back. I myself witnessed the carnage on the trumpet vine from the kitchen window. The culprits were caught red-handed so to speak. I’ve heard of a murder of crows, but I never heard of marauding gangs of Baltimore Orioles.
I tried to make a citizen’s arrest, but I can’t even get close enough to snap a decent picture. We’ll just have to harass them and hope they skip town. After all they are a flight risk!

For Hummingbirds Only

There's nothing quite like a red trumpet vine. This one given to me by Elle. We have had to move it several times and it resented it. It is a late bloomer and shows no leaf growth in the spring. I used to look for a replacement when I did my spring plant buying. I soon learned that the nurseries had dead sticks too, so I would go back home and wait for my dead stick to come to life. It always did, but up until last year we had only leaves. Finally a few flowers appeared . This year it is flowering like crazy. The flowers bloom for a short time and then drop off to the ground. I'm thinking about cutting it back. Did you ever hear of a trumpet vine standard? It's planted next to a fence post and has reached the top.

Here is a hummingbird's eye view of a trumpet vine flower. As far as I know only a humming bird can reach the nectar in these deep trumpets. The bloom is actually larger than the bird. The birds don't seem to mind, they fly right up there like you would drive into your garage and stick their extremely long tongue into the long tubular flower.

There was quite a thunder and lightening show last night complete with heavy rain and a power outage. I'm not fond of this extreme weather but some of the plants are loving the heat and water.