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Talk about strange weather

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So far October is shaping up to be more like the end of August or early September temperature wise.

It’s been no less than 10 degrees higher than the average temperatures for this time of year and often a lot higher than that.

This weekend is Thanks Giving here in Canada and the temps are supposed to be close to 30 Celsius each day. That’s the mid 80’s for those of you who are stuck in Fahrenheit.

I remember Thanks Giving weekends when we’ve had snow or when it’s been so cold and rainy that you don’t want to step outside. Luckily most aren’t like that, but neither are most as warm as this one will be.

There’s also been quite a bit of humidity. On Wednesday night I was out with my husband shopping and when we came back to our car at about 8 in the evening the car was blanketed with moisture. It wasn’t cold out so it wasn’t condensation due to temperature change. It was warm and sticky wet humid.

Then, last night at about 6 pm a strange fog descended on the city. You can see photos at BlogTO if you’d like to see how dense the fog was the blanketed the city during daylight hours. The CN tower has clouds at half it’s height! Very strange.

As much as I’m enjoy this strangely warm weather I’m worried that it’s giving my plants the wrong message. How are my roses ever supposed to get the message to stop growing, leaving out and creating new buds if it doesn’t begin to cool down?

Many plants need the gradual cooling of temperatures to signal them to go into dormancy. Without beginning to slow down and become dormant before the harsh cool weather of winter comes along the plants might end up having more winter damage.

How’s the weather in your area? Do you wonder strange weather in your area might affect your plants health?






Hosta’s in bloom

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Hosta Flower buds

These are hosta flowers.

I’m not always that into them when I look at them from afar amid the rest of the plants in the garden, but when I get up close to Hosta flowers I do appreciate how pretty they really are after all.

Do you enjoy your hosta flowers?

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Rows and Rows of Liatris flowers

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This weeks theme is Rows

Liatris

When you take a close look at many flowers or leaves you can see that there’s often a pattern to how it’s been formed.

I mean, take this Liatris stalk. When it’s in full bloom it just looks like a puffy floral stalk in the garden, but when you look a little more closely you’ll notice that the stalk is composed of many flower buds in tight rows. Each stalk must have at least 50 flowers on it.

I can’t remember if this Liatris was about to bloom or if it’s blooms were fading when I took this photo, I believe it was finishing up it’s bloom.

I have several clumps of Liatris throughout the garden. I plant five to 15 bulbs or corms (I can’t remember which they are at the moment) in a circular pattern so that when the individual plants grow they form a natural looking clump.

I’ve only been growing Liatris (Gay Feather) for a few years and I haven’t yet noticed if any of the bulbs have naturalized to produce more plants. Does anyone know if they naturalize?

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