OH, CRUEL WIND

My neighbor brought over some iris for me to have in the house. She said the wind had just knocked them over and there was no point leaving them outside.

The weather man was not wrong in his prediction of strong winds today and a high in the low 90s. How is it he is only wrong when he says we will have rain? Will my garden ever see rain again?

It just amazes me how I can go out in the early morning and photograph my garden in the still air under a cloudy sky and within a few hours the sun is out once again and a fierce wind is blowing. By afternoon very petal on my poppies was blasted off and the garden was littered with rose petals. I probably wouldn't mind if I wasn't a gardener. Grumble, grumble, grumble. We walked around Lady Bird Lake this morning and the wind made the walk bearable.

These knockout roses in the foreground, photographed early this morning, have also lost most of their petals.

There will be no sweet smell of chocolate, (from the chocolate daisy), on the air tomorrow morning.

Two plants that seem to stand up quite nicely to the wind are the Hinckley's yellow columbine, Aquilegia chrysantha var. Hinckleyana. and the Gulf coast penstemon, Penstemon tenuis. In this corner of the garden a battle rages between these two plants and the heart leaf skullcap, Scutellaria ovata. I know who would win here if I didn't have a plan to take charge in a few weeks.

Salvia greggii survives a windy day. It has sheltered the pink evening primroses growing beneath. If given plenty of space for themselves the pink primrose grows low, but will compete to any height if necessary.

So what does the weather man say? Another day in the 90s tomorrow with a cold front that may bring us some rain. I know that front will bring more wind but if it brings rain this time I shall be ecstatic. Of course a Texas cold front means down to the 80s. Still way above our April average of high seventies. We shall see.