Hot, Hot, Hot

It reached 103 degrees last week, and everybody was wilting.  This squirrel had the right idea - cover your head from the sun!

The heat had an amazing impact on some of my shrubs.  The Rose of Sharon started blooming its head off.  This plant is so full of blooms that the limbs were weighted down by them.  Russian sage is the plant on the left side of the picture.  My buddleia  (butterfly bush) also started blooming very nicely.

One of the great joys of the hot weather is the abundant crop of raspberries we get.  Every day at lunchtime I hunt raspberries - the prickly stems seem to keep the birds away.  I brave them for this treat.  When we moved into our house over 28 years ago we had a very aggressive planting of raspberries - they will take over your lawn if you let them.  Several years ago they were attacked by a virus, and died away.  My husband was advised to plant a new set of plants in a different section of the garden - evidently the virus can remain in the soil for years.  He did, and now we are blessed each summer with these edible rubies.

I recommend raspberries if you are willing to keep them in check.  Rose of Sharon flowers can turn a funky mauve color.  Both Rose of Sharon and buddleia can get pretty big - be aware that they can take over your herbaceous border.