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.

AND THE WIND IT DOTH BLOW

I'm not sure which is worse no rain or a 40 mile an hour wind. When the fronts pass through they certainly do it with fury. It is a struggle keeping the seedlings growing and everything standing. I know this happens all the time in the spring so you would think I would be prepared. which brings me to my mini greenhouses and a third life for gallon milk jugs.

Earlier this year I used the milk jugs in the greenhouse to line the walls. They take up heat during the day and give it back at night. I did mean to try painting them black this year to see if the water would warm up more but never got round to it. At the same time the jugs of water act as watering can for the seedlings. They prefer a warm drink to one straight from the tap. So yesterday I planted out the basil seedlings and they are lucky to get mini greenhouse. I cut out the bottom of the jug making sure to cut below the reinforced bottom. That makes it easier to put in the ground. When I plant out the squash they will also get a greenhouse as their stems are always susceptible to  breaking off in the wind. Finally the jugs will go to the recycle bins. Another use for the milk jugs is to cut out the top sufficiently to add a few rocks. Make a few pin prick holes in the bottom and fill with water. The water will trickle out slowly to feed new plants. You can even add a little slow release fertilizer to the jug. I suppose you could also fill the jugs with water and position them around a plant just like a wall o' water. As you can guess we drink a lot of milk.