All that, and more. My beautiful summer garden is on the wane and I check each day to see what is still faring well.
The echinacea is fodder for the birds now. The orioles certainly do like those pin sharp seeds and that is all they are getting as I had to stop feeding the birds due to the rats.
Love black-eyed Susans. They return each year like gangbusters.
Though the phlox are losing many petals, they still smell wonderful and the butterflies love them.
These flowers grow all over. I haven't a clue what they are. The first year I pulled them all up and saw one I had missed had snapdragon-like flowers climbing up the stalk. They also come in many different colors, so I left them all this year.
So, summer is hurrying by. It has been a strange one. Oh, by the way, in the past week, there have been 1500 earthquakes (fracking.) A fairly strong tornado passed within blocks of my first child's house and did quite a lot of damage. Buildings destroyed and trees down and people hurt at 1:30am. Sirens didn't even go off. Daughter's house was spared though only five blocks away. The tornado stayed on the ground for seven miles. It is only the third tornado in August since 1950 in Tulsa. Seems it was caused by unseasonably cooler temps. I'm not complaining about the cooler temps as August here is usually miserably hot, in triple digits. Global warming? Climate change?
Oh yes, and the fish kill on the lake. I saw a dead fish off my dock. Then another and another. Over about two days, every fish in our lake was floating. Small fry and huge fish as long as my arm. Everywhere. Hundreds. The smell was horrid. The wildlife department came out and tested. Seems the perfect storm of events occurred. Low oxygen levels, number of waterfowl and high temperatures and whatever else, caused it. I doubt there are any left. At least the turtles and waterfowl weren't affected. It was terrible.
38 comments:
Love your garden. We did turn all the black eyed Susans at the old house into ditch black eyed Susans, where they also grow like black eyed Susans.
Do you have plans for holding the worst of climate change in OK. OH is suffering mainly from cool autumn weather, and I had to tell a guest from TX it is not normal, I think.
None of our world seems normal any more. scary stuff
My favorite thing about my garden is the fact that it was planted so that things bloom at different times. I love that. That is too much thinking/planning for this old brain. It is different this summer in OK too. Jet stream and ocean currents too. Scary stuff, especially since Scott Pruitt (from OK) has taken over the EPA and has his hands in the pockets of Big Oil, coal, etc.
I'm with you.
Beautiful colors in the garden! Too bad about the fish kill - how strange. I saw some of the storm damage on the news. Frightening to be that close for your family. Mother Nature - the good, the bad and the ugly.
I have seen massive fish kill in Fl..red tide can do it:( Then the turkey vultures eat the eyes:(
I call your unknown flowers Wild Imaptiens:)
This is the first yr mine have not returned..
Everything that is blooming chez vous is blooming here.
These first days of August here have been first days of Sept.
too early...much too early.
Yes indeed, Ry. I've seen fish kills on tv, but never live. I feel bad for all the kids and adults that love to fish in the lake.
It must of been an algae bloom involved. I thought surely the city would come get all the stinking fish, but they didn't. I wish we had vultures in the city that would have finished them off. I don't think the turtles could have eaten them all. Well, I am glad to know what the flowers are. The stems at the bottom are stained red and so far I've counted 5 different colors of bloom. So are they weeds?
LOVE your garden. Bright and beautiful. I am so sorry about the fish though. Sometimes nature can be a cow.
You seem to be suffering from all of the terrible climate effects, not to mention fracking. I had a rat show up at my bird feeders. About the grossest thing ever. Had my son shoot it and will set traps. Also stopped feeding. Glad your daughter's house was spared. Stay safe.
I'm so happy to read, you were not affected by the tornado, nor your family, but how devastating for those affected, my thoughts and prayers are with them.
I love your flowers, they are still beautiful despite the waning season.
So sad about the fish kill, I watched a program last night about thousands of fish killed off by that algae bloom.
Hope you are making headway with your rat problem !
Hugs,
~Jo
I wish they could have done some aerating or something. It is only the second time in twenty years that it has happened.
Thanks Michelle. I wish I could shoot them, but they'd haul me off to jail. With a pellet gun or BB gun I doubt I could hit the side of a barn.
They haven't been eating the poison, but I haven't seen them since I quit feeding the birds. I'll have to figure out something for winter. I can't not feed the birds in winter.
Sometimes nature can be exhausting but we carry on regardless of rats or dead fish.
Oh dear Donna ...... so many horrible things going on ...... do you know why the fish have died ?
At least your garden still looks beautiful which is a happy spectacle. We have got torrential rain which is set in for the day !!! XXXX
Your garden is a little ahead of mine, but we have lots of the same flowers (but I don't know what the unknown flower is). That must have been scary having a tornado go so close to your daughter. As well, shocking and horrible about all those fish. -Jenn
Hey Doc. It is exhausting sometimes. It rarely stops. Those are the sweetest days.
We had the tornado and more rain today and this week which is rare here in August. Glad to have it though. Isn't it strange how things seem to happen all at once...
Yes, I had never seen it happen. Many people fish in this lake, so that is sad. Yes, she slept through it and we didn't know about it all until the next morning. They have closed a major road and highway to clean things up. I'm not going anywhere near it for a while. Don't want to pick up nails, etc.
Mother Nature is making me really nervous. I think we've really p.o.'d her. Glad your family was safe from the tornado. So sorry about the fish:( That is really scary. And unfortunately, the waterfowl will probably leave. Refresh me. What state are you in?
But on a happy note. You have such a beautiful garden. So serene.
Wishing you perfectly balanced weather.
Hasn't it been the strangest (albeit mostly pleasant weather here) Summer, with all the oddities of Nature? Even after 26 years up here, I'm still not accustomed to the scorches' being followed by balms and cool showery days. It's 75 here with windows and doors open, here in the throes of August, and that's still taking some getting used to.
But your lovely FISH! Oh, my the loss of all those beautiful creatures.
I'm just so glad that your family is safe---though we lived in TORNADO ALLEY of Mississippi for many years, my child-mind still associates OK and KS with those WIDE spaces where the BIG funnels grow in a gray sky. Too much Dorothy, I guess.
Stay safe and well, my faraway friend,
r
Oklahoma, Sandra. Perfect weather for me is 70 degrees year round and blue skies. Not too many places for that. Thank you. I've been a gardener for 40 years and love looking at it. Used to do veggies and can them but not any longer.
Thank you Rachel. I remember the days as a child where the tornadoes hit OK and Kansas, Then Wichita Falls started getting hit and now it seems to have covered many states. It came down so fast and no one knew it was coming it seems. By the time it got to the end of its trail, the sirens started going off. Crazy.
Your garden still looks lovely. I will think of the name of your mystery flower later in the day.LOL Sad to see the fish kill
Since the beginning of August summer has felt on the wane here too. The number of earthquakes that you have had is staggering! Is the government departments still not taking any notice, or is that a silly question? Sarah x
Oh, Donna. There is your first photo, all serenity, with flowers and water and a fat, happy little buddha. Then the story moves on in a rather biblical fashion! I hope more tranquil times are ahead, there is enough chaos in political life without nature getting in on the act.
beautiful garden. I think your flower is a type of impatiens. how awful about the fish kill. they've been happening all over the world. if it was a combination of events, wouldn't it be possible to restock the lake?
It was Sad. No kids fishing. Loved to feed them too.
They shut down disposal wells in a ten mile radius, but evidently there are a lot of disposal wells. Big oil talks and with the greed in the world, it isn't going anywhere. Our state depends on it and is hurting in every sector. Wish they'd have figured out a long time ago to not put all their eggs in the energy basket.
Yes, all this and under the terrible Trump cloud is just too much. It comes on a daily basis too. No one knows how it's going to affect their lives and he is so dumb. If they can't get him to quit, we all just have to hang on by our fingernails until 2020.
Yes, a neighbor told me they do that in the spring with fingerlings. Only problem is it will take years for them to grow as large as the ones that died. Thank you. I do love my gardens.
Every time I see your garden it leaves me in awe. I hope your couch is situated where you can see the garden when you're relaxing.
Have a peaceful weekend.
Hugs
Oh Yes Sandra. I spend a lot of time watching.
Dear Donna first and foremost - so glad you and your daughter were spared during that tornado...wow the fish - how terribly sad. I can't imagine seeing all of them dead in the water. Now for your garden - ah friend it is gorgeous...that tall plant - wondering if it is a balsam...looks like it might be. I have never grown them but they are related I think to the impatiens that are annuals and much lower growing. Well take care and keep safe friend. Hugs!
Thank you Deb. I guess they must be some kind of impatiens as you are the third to say it. They come back each year. A flower is a flower so I guess I'll let them stay. I need to map out the garden so I can plant a few seeds and bulbs next year. There is barely an inch to plant so pots are out. Thank you Deb.
I love the butterfly/phlox picture. Gorgeous. I need to get some phlox next summer.
YOU, have a great one.
Do Sandra as they come back each year and smell wonderful, and the butterflies too.
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