Just Dew Something!

A modest chance of rain this week;  I'll believe it when I see it.  Believe it or not, there was solace to be found in a dewy Sunday morning.  
Hellebore, dewy, slowly opening
 The recently planted Liatris spicata tubers are up
 New growth, dewy, on recently transplanted Kalanchoe luciae
 I have not been gardening all that much.  The past few weeks of sunny weather at or above 80F drives me indoors for much of the day.  

I got some new Dahlia tubers planted in the veggie garden.  Winter veggies are difficult without a real winter, and the past few years summer veggies are targeted by rats or chili thrips, or both. 
 Very dewy Sideritis
 Very dewy Dasylirion wheeleri, though the dew is not apparent in this photo:
 The Clematis are already shooting skyward.  All that warm weather...
 Still gettting and enjoying 'Tango' Leucospermum flowers.  The very first 'Yellow Bird's are opening--early this year.
 Bees everywhere. 
 Dewy Drimia maritima ala Urginea maritima looks fully recovered from being moved a couple of years ago.  Perhaps a flower stem again this coming August. 
 Dewy 'Wilsons Wonder' Leucadendron.
 I'm trying again with Craspedia globosa.  I've killed it twice, each time with insufficient water.  These two will get regular irrigation, so I hope to finally succeed this time.  Around them, the roses are leafing out.
 Gardening enthusiasm has been as scanty this winter as the rainfall totals.  Time to get back out there and do something, anything.  
Stay relaxed!
 Don't worry, be happy
Update:  we got about 0.1" (3 mm) of rain last night, enough to wash dust off foliage, and keep tiny seedlings alive.  It was lovely.   

Comments

  1. Snap! We have just had a freak summer thunderstorm - 4mm and counting!
    Your Leucadendron will be grateful for dew. Our mountain fynbos survives on condensation from clouds draped across the tops - the Table Cloth. Or a black Southeaster (blows wet)

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    1. The Leucadendrons got some collected rainwater this morning, too. Their winter treat.

      Clouds on Table Mountain = Table Cloth. Hah, that's a good one! Congrats on the rain!

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  2. Yay for rain, even if it was just a little. That Drimia maritima ala Urginea maritima...wow!

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    1. It's cool how the Drimia leaves all twist. Is that to collect dew, or to to manage sun exposure in their bone-dry native climes? I have no idea.

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  3. I love the couple of photobombers you have inadvertently shown! There's a Nasturtium in the Liatris photo and what is that in the lower left corner with the Drimia?

    Beautiful kalanchoe. I'm thankful for the rain too.

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    1. Lower left corner with Drimia is a stem off the Alluadia procera. Also a Gazania photobombing the Sideritis, now that you mention it.

      The partly cloudy skies today are wonderful, as well. And Not Hot!

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  4. I'm glad to hear you got some rain too! Friends in a nearby beach city didn't and neither did friends and family in the San Fernando Valley so the rain was indeed as spotty as predicted. Our weather station showed 0.17/inch here and I was outside at 10pm collecting what I could in plastic trugs from my rain chain while my rain barrels did their thing. The air is fresher today and the view of the harbor is less dingy.

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    1. I wasn't expecting any at all, so it was an extra wonderful treat to get even a little. I got quite wet running for my barrels, which were stored again. I figured storing them would the chance of rain. I also washed some windows outside. That's probably why we got what rain that did fall. ;^)

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  5. HB, your roses look great compared to mine, the heat is deadly to them. I'm glad you had some rain, here we had some strangely dry weeks with temps well over 100 F but then there were some big downpour (3 inches in two days) and everything revived.

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    1. 3 inches!?! More than we've gotten since October! I hope it cools off for you!

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  6. We have had plenty of dew, but no rain. I'm looking at the bright side-the soil is at that perfect moist-not-wet crumbly cake texture for pulling weeds-so I am pulling feverishly. Shotweed is public enemy #1 with the damnable poa annua in second place. Your dewy foliage looks splendid--

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    1. Weeds. One thing about drought, it has made snails, slugs and weeds pretty scarce...

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  7. Up with moisture! May a gentle soaker soon follow.

    I love most plants with spherical blooms, and from pictures that includes Craspedia globosa. I've never seen it growing, though; could be that despite its usefulness as a cut flower, it may not bloom strongly or early enough to be worth treating as an annual where it won't survive winter.

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    1. Planting C. globosa where they will get some irrigation will tell something. My neighbor planted one in an irrigated spot, and it looks fabulous--so I decided to try one more time.

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  8. Grevilleas fascinate me. So wow much colors. Today someone tweeted an image of G. lavandulacea in full bloom in a park in Davis: rosy magenta, with segments much thicker than the thread-like ones that are such a big part of the charm of 'Moonlight' and 'Peaches and Cream'. It made me realize I have no idea how big the genus is, or how diverse.

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    1. Big genus for a big continent. The ones that have almost pin-oak-shaped-leaves are very cool, too.

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  9. Dew is good. Rain is better, of course, but we take anything :-) Actually, we're supposed to be getting some rain in 10 days. Strangely enough, it's is always at the *end* of the 10-day forecast. 10 days go by, and they still predict rain 10 days out. Somebody said to me the the other day they wished they'd become a meterologist. You get paid big bucks and it makes no difference whether you're wrong or right.

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    1. Here the formerly very reliable local news weather guy exaggerates the chance of rain, for the sake of ratings. I only pay attention to the NWS now. We have a slight chance of widely scattered drizzle for tomorrow. Oh, boy!

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  10. The Drimia maritima leaves are so pretty. Just curious -- are the flowers fragrant? I googled it but don't see anything about fragrance, so I'm guessing not.
    Thanks!

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    1. As I remember there was a faint fragrance off the Drimia flowers, but it's been a few years since they bloomed so I could be wrong. They've been recovering from being moved, and the drought slowed the recovery down further. They look great this year, so maybe flowers again in August.

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  11. good to know someone else is planting dahlias already. Just saw some photos of liatris blooming with muhly grass -- wow. I did finally nab some drimia bulbs, but couldn't find the right spot to handle their growth cycle, moved them too much, and have lost them entirely. So glad we all grow something different to keep things interesting!

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    1. The packaged Dahlias I got from the big box store and local garden center are starting to sprout. The new ones are always earlier. I got rid of most of the 'Color Spectacle' as the flower quality declined. I planted another package of Liatris as a big mass of them is even better than a few, and they like to be dry for the summer, just the ticket here. Of course this year they should like to be dry for the winter, too... :(

      Sorry to hear the Drimia didn't work out for you. They took a good while to recover from their move here.

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