Thursday, August 27, 2009

HOT AND HOTTER

Now this is what I call a hot flower. Tithonia rotundifolia x torch, a Mexican sunflower, has a  color hot enough to match our sizzling summer days. I had forgotten that I threw out a packet of seeds earlier this summer. As I cleaned away some of the invasive Texas sunflowers there she was. Butterflies love this plant and it is not surprising as the flower is a beacon in a sea of green.  But if you think this is hot look below.

I was repotting some succulents and left a plastic container with gravel in the sun. When  I went back later in the day the plastic container had melted! I might try cooking eggs out there tomorrow!

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10 comments:

  1. CarolineAugust 27, 2009 at 7:22 PM

    Good lord. Forget frying eggs on the sidewalk...it's more like a microwave outside!

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  2. Pam/DiggingAugust 27, 2009 at 9:18 PM

    That's a knock-your-socks-off orange and looks great against the sea of green. I believe I got some Tithonia seeds last spring and need to throw some out this fall (or next spring?).

    I'm not at all surprised to see the melted plastic container. Yeesh.

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  3. HermesAugust 27, 2009 at 11:02 PM

    What a fantastic colour.

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  4. Deborah at Kilbourne GroveAugust 28, 2009 at 4:07 AM

    It is hard for me to imagine the heat you must get for the container to melt like that. It has aready turner cooler in Ontario, 21 degrees yesterday. Autumn is approaching!

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  5. Lisa at GreenbowAugust 28, 2009 at 4:16 AM

    OMG melted plastic. This looks how I feel when out in the sun. Just shows you need to be in the shade during that time. The tithonia is a gorgeous plant. I love that screaming orange.

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  6. Dee/reddirtramblingsAugust 28, 2009 at 5:55 AM

    Now, that's hot! Did you, like Pam, get rain?~~Dee

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  7. sweetbayAugust 28, 2009 at 6:38 AM

    Yikes, that is hot! You know it's near 100 degrees when it literally feels like an oven outside, even with a breeze. Then it feels like a confectionary oven.

    I love Tithonia too. The petals look like velvet in your photo.

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  8. Nell JeanAugust 28, 2009 at 8:11 AM

    Tithonia is a butterfly magnet, in the top three in my garden. I dotted them all around. Next year I'd like a whole field of them, lol.

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  9. Rock rose August 28, 2009 at 8:20 AM

    Pam- Mine went in in the late spring and they are just an annual so I don't think planting them now would be the right time. They make for rather a large plant but I love them as they hold their color well.
    Deborah- I have often had things melt in the greenhouse but never outside before.
    Dee- No rain here. I think we get far less rain on this side of the I35 corridor. Maybe tonight.
    Nell Jean. I always plan to have more but somehow the seeds must get lost to ants and the like. Always 'next year'

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  10. Linda/patchworkAugust 28, 2009 at 8:54 AM

    I think I know how your container feels.
    We did get a couple of showers last night. Worked it's way up to .04 on the rain gauge. But, things perked up, even with that little bit.
    We'll all keep hoping for more.
    I love that sunflower...wonder if deer like them.

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