HOTober

Fog.  Ahhhhh!

Was that the last heat wave for a while?  Say until late next July?  I'm dreaming on that, but a spell of cool weather is most welcome.  I've been indoors since we came back from Cambria, waiting out the heat.
Stayed occupied by painting the dining room: 

 Finally, with fog announcing the loosening of HOTober's grip, I ventured outside to see the damage done.  Foliage scorch on Aloe thraskii:

 Aloe castanea which I brought home as a 4" pot from Annie's Annuals when attending the 2014 Garden Blogger's Fling was pristine two weeks ago:

 Stephanotis likes heat, but is planted in too much sun.  Without some sun, it doesn't grow and bloom as well.  A balance must be struck.

 The new Phylica is dead.  I thought it might be iffy when I bought it.  I was right, d-mn it! 

 Very recently planted Eremophila 'Blue Bells' nearly died too, but a deep soaking of water saved it. 

 The roses, Acer palmatums, and the Lagerstroemias dropped foliage;  it's nearly time for them to start dropping foliage anyway, so they preserved themselves at essentially no cost to their health.  No fall color on the Acers and Lagerstroemias again this year.  It takes a cool October and a sudden chill in November to get autumn color here.  A HOTober means the leaves take a straight line from green to  brown.

Not that we don't have weather-created foliage color here...

The just-planted Grevillea 'Kings Fire' is fine.  No damage.  Whew!

Aloe suprafoliata, in a much hotter place than thraskii or castanea, suffered no damage at all, and has sprouted six flower stalks.  Six!  

A few weeks ago before October became HOTober, I cut Salvia 'Waverly' to the ground.  New growth rapidly sprouted.  More hummingbird food soon. 

The hummers are making do with Grevilleas.  I cut off the water to 'Moonlight' late this spring, meaning to run a new drip line for it, but never got to it.  'Moonlight' hasn't noticed.  It slowed down just a bit (not a bad thing) but grown and bloomed continuously anyway.
Bee happy! 

Leathery leafed Leucadendrons are more beautiful without constant heat-waves, but they can easily endure a few days of 100F. 

 Plenty of toasted and bleached rose blooms, but some are still worth looking at.

We're all so tired of the heat here, plants and humans alike.  

I became neglectful of the pond conditions over this long hot summer, and did not check the pond water chemistry as should have been done when the koi's appetite became sluggish.  A entirely preventable, entirely my error pH crash occurred.  I walked out on a 100F day last week to find all the koi near death.  Frantic swift action saved all of them, but Ranger, who died. 
The survivors are all fine again:

I learned a Lesson that won't be forgotten, but Ranger paid for it.
I'm sorry:

  Although the heat was somewhat destructive, when it comes to destruction there's nothing as terrible as human sloth.