Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

Morning all, bit later today because I had to do some emergency watering, wilting pot plants at the front. Not surprising, I'm not very far from the hottest place in England. It was melting and same already today. I hear, true to form, it's too sunny for solar panels and we have to import leccy from France.

We may be importing thunder storms later tonight, hope so, could do with a god drenching

Away from that nonsense, the plant you described YBE is as Dusty said.I had one pop up when I was tending Volunteer Border. I left it, harmless enough, and a focal point, but it does have a giant tap root, just in case it pops up in a paving crack. Loves hot dry sun so ideal for it.

For Vengeance I'd save some seeds & sprinkle on Forsythia Corner 😈 Try to make sure none get in pavement, kerb, or gutter cracks or they may be hard to remove once growing. 😉

Lovely pics Wort, your lilies are ahead of me, mine are nearly there, a few more days required. I have Lucifer crocosmia, at much same stage as yours.

Dusty We're loving nasturtiums too, and don't know why we didn't companion plant with tomatoes before. I think nasturtiums are one of the hidden in plain sight marvels, maybe because they are easy & uncomplaining, will grow nearly anywhere & always just get on with it, no one thinks of them. You wait, next year Chelsea will be heaving with them !

I have one popped up, with variegated white & green leaves, I think it maybe a throw back from some Alaska strain I tried a few years back, but came to nothing. Hope it grows & seeds around. Not flowered yet so flower colour is TBA. Camera on standby.

I have a dahlia opened, Bishop of Oxford, the larger ones, cafe Au lait etc are still doing well but no flowers yet

MY ball courgettes, some are tennis ball size now, how long do I wait? not football size I know.

Much too hot for any gardening, but here's Paul waiting for a date

greenbee

Not too hot for solar @Farway but it is less efficient if too hot (which is why having grazing underneath it is good as it keeps it cool). The real issue is that a lot of nuclear power is offline at the moment (not just here, but also in France), and that while there are lots of wind farms in Scotland, no one build the infrastructure to a. store energy (hydro/flywheel/compressed air) or b. move it to where it can actually be used. And here in East Windfarmland there isn't much wind right now (although they are building a flywheel facility near me to store some of the wind/solar generation). Generation really needs to be local to balance the grid.

YBE - I have some mullein which I also leave the caterpillars on. They occasionally wander over to my prettier verbascums, but mostly seem happy to stay where they are. Farway's suggestion for forsythia corner seems like a good one!

Hot here still. It has made me realise that I need to design more shade into the garden. So that's something to think about during my unemployment! Hopefully I won't be unemployed for too long or I might have to dig holes for trees myself…

Annemos

Good afternoon, everyone.

Early August last year I had several of these caterpillars. They are very striking and they shredded my purple toadflax. But I don't mind, as that is not really an ornamental plant.

I am also attaching a Wiki description of it. And the UK Moths site.

My garden is in the East Midlands.

It is rather similar to the other one being discussed in the previous posts. I had to look very carefully not to get the wrong one, when I researched mine.

https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/calophasia-lunula/adult-3/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calophasia_lunula

This photo below is what my purple toadflax look like before being eaten. (This next photo is taken from the internet. The one above is my garden.)

-taff

I have watered some stuff…that's it. Yesterday we moved the furniture from one room to another and stripped the room. I have never sweated so much in my life. I will kill him if he does that again.

Yeah Farway, I think you're right about nasturtiums. I don't care if things are in fashion or not but they've always been pleasing to my eye, especially when they're full on blowsy mounds. I hope this lot self seeds…But then again, it might be a case of mistakes like the teasel :)

gb, in agreement about the shade. We scuttle round from one seat to the next but there's always a time when there's none. We will be building another goth box [covered pegola/shed with no walls] , when, I don't know

Love your shady corner wort..what are the pale pink flowers by the dianthus?

twopenny

I have some caterpillars like that. Interesting. I will keep my eyes open for moths. Good identification.

This morning a lovely cool breeze but all changed this afternoon. It's a hot wind and the house remains at 35c. It's unbearable. Not sure how I'm going to sleep.

All flowering plants are curling up their flowers despite watering. I've had to stop the solar fountain because it wasn't coping with the amount of sun. The pool water is hot enough for a bath then. It's been 50c or 40c for several days.

Put some cool water in the birdbath and changing it regularly

There are some clouds building but not looking like rain and no feeling of thunderstorms. I think they are trying to cover the fact they didn't predict the last one 😬

Wonder what's coming next 😲🥵

One site says another scorcher tomorrow, the other 20c........

Dustyevsky

2p :There are some clouds building but not looking like rain and no feeling
of thunderstorms. I think they are trying to cover the fact they didn't
predict the last one 😬

As I type, some lightning strikes have just occurred east of the Tamar. Nothing beyond Holsworthy yet, but I've a feeling it won't be long!

twopenny

Been watching and it doesn't seem to be moving upwards. The isobars are curving round Cornwall to Ireland to Scotland.

We have had a brief bit of cool wind and splash of rain which has bought the temperature down to 27c. Not a lot better for sleeping.

Hope you're doing better 🥵

There's a halo round the moon which bodes well.

Dustyevsky

Well… you were right, 2p.The storm didn't arrive! 🤔 Rather like the lorry that was supposed to remove the container yesterday, and didn't. We were all up at silly-o'clock, removing the security fencing and preparing the track.

Then, at a normal hour, the message came….no driver. 😫 It may go today. 😏

Meanwhile I went to Barney Rubble to get vittals for people who were coming to stay overnight tonight, but now they're not. 🙄 The car said it was 34c in the windy car park's shade. Despite the heat, people were cheerful and helpful, as the locals tend to be there. One man even removed a wasp from my shoulder in S'burys….with his bare hands! 😮 Another guy, about my age, parked his trolley and said: "That's it for a week now! I bloody hate shopping!" and we both laughed. 🤣

So, plenty watering needed today, and we have GS to look after. He was grouchy in the heat yesterday, I'm not surprised. Another sitooterie required…a cool shady one, preferably..

Farway

2P It's a hot wind and the house remains at 35c. It's unbearable. Not sure how I'm going to sleep. It was same here, and no sleep to mention, just a hot & sticky night

Nothing changing today by the forecast, storms went to Scotland, still baking, the breeze is a bit cooler, it was like a blast furnace yesterday. I've been watering the front pots. This weather is certainly great for outdoor toms, they are loving it. Even the self sown ones in Cat Poo trough have flowers on them, they have beaten some "proper ones" in my conservatory

While watering I found lily beetle larvae on some lily flower buds, never seen that before, normally they hide under leaves, brazen hussies 😉. Darwin was proved right again, I disposed of them, so the brazen hussy genes will not be passed on

Hope GS settles in the heat Dusty, do you have a paddling pool or is GS not right, safe, age yet? Maybe a blanket wigwam / tent? Likewise, hope container goes today, bit of cahnge for GS, big lorry & noise

No gardening with this heat, may squirt hose on the runners later this evening

Here's the first dahlia out this year, in a pot & overwintered, dormant, in the conservatory, now outside in same pot

Dustyevsky

Farway: Hope GS settles in the heat Dusty, do you have a paddling pool or is GS not right, safe, age yet? Maybe a blanket wigwam /tent? Likewise, hope container goes today, bit of cahnge for GS, big lorry & noise

We don't have a pool, but he 'swims' in a real one most weeks, and still enjoys the big bath we have. He's only 14 months.

Indoors is definitely where to be today, with a good breeze blowing through. Only 23c.🙂 When the lorry arrives, we'll all go down to see the action.😉 Due to happen at about13.00.

Someone has been banging-in fence posts all morning, reminding me we have 200 to go in before next winter. 😐️ Sadly, the person who volunteered to do them at a reasonable cost is no longer able following a medical incident. The old military saying, "Never volunteer for anything." comes to mind.

Nice Orange Bishop. Ours here was made Archbishop. It wasn't the best move IMO. Say no more! 🤐