The Good Side of Hot Weather

OK, that isn’t the official forecast, but it’s accurate.

Photo source: National Weather Service

Just four days after ranting against mosquitoes, I have something good to write about. I am not usually a big fan of summer in Texas. My motto has always been that two hundred years of evolving on the shores of the North Sea did not prepare this German boy for here. Bug again, I have nice things to say about the heat.

And it has been hot. Yesterday’s official high was 103° F. That would be about 39.4° in most of the rest of the world. On the ride home, the sign at the neighborhood community center read 115.3° (46.3°).

But the low last night was in the mid-70s, and it’s been dry. So it felt even cooler. I was able to enjoy my morning coffee on the back porch listening to the birds and watching the dogs snorful around the yard. It was very nice.

“But what about the mosquitoes?” you may ask. I think the heat got ’em. I only killed three in about a half-hour of bliss, and those were teeny. Four straight days past the century mark (Sunday, too!) seems to have been more than they could take. I’ll take the heat—appreciate it, even, until the light bill hits—if it kills off the mosquitoes.

Lobelia Sadness

Now that we’ve had three days in a row that approached the century mark, it turns out that the lobelias (Queen Victoria) are not as happy as I thought they were. They get a bit droopy if I forget to water them twice a day. Although they were listed as full sun and are planted where they only get that in the afternoon, they apparently are not rated for Texas sun. Sigh.

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6/2/08 Update: The Backyard Gardener identified the problem for me. Queen Victoria, “Prefers moist, rich soil and will continue to self-sow once established.” And a table lists “Water Range: Normal to Moist.” Unless you live in a river bottom, nothing in Central Texas can be considered “normal to moist.” Everything here is well drained. This certainly explains my the lovely LQV wants so much water.