It's always either/ or isn't it? -When what we want, when coming to weather extremes, is really neither/ nor! Here winter just kept on lingering on and on (as it did in many areas in the US as well). Now we've got a heat wave, that seems to be lingering around as well. With day temps at a steady 27â / 80âÂÂ, it's far from the worst heat wave we've experienced, but it's still hot enough for delicate ME to stay inside with the windows closed and the curtains shot during the daytime. So far we have only had 2.2mm rain this July, and it just might become a record breaker (unless we get the 40mm that they say have a 25% chance on Sunday), but of course I'm not worried about a lack of rain, since I can still water the balcony. -The other day though, I forgot to water.... NOT good! Especially the tomatoes looked like they had been moved to a desolate place in Sahara far away from watering cans, or even spitting llamas! -Apart from the one tomato, that's growing in cat litter in one of the window boxes as an experiment... Well, it seems it didn't notice one bit, that it didn't get any water the previous night! -And it had even taken so much time to take off, that I've been close to pulling it! -The other tomatoes have made it though, and I'm just hoping that there won't be any damage to the fruits! Grace: Your toms look very happy! I most certainly did not have fruits that plump in June! Does anyone have experience with Livingstone Daisies, Dorotheanthus bellidiformis (used to be known as Mesembryanthemum criniflorum)??? I bought some seeds at the botanical garden, and the plants I got from them have taken their sweet time to take off. -They seem bushier than I would have thought (compared to other kind of ice plants, I've grown), and have also taken their time to flower. I thought the warmer weather would be a help, but so far, I still have only one flower on one of the plants. I WANT MORE!!! -Any ideas as to what is going on? Do they need a certain age to go into flowering, or what sets them off? VG

Ann the only time I visited Stonehenge was way back in about 1964 while I was at College and three friends asked me to join them for a 'over night' visit. We drove down in a rattly old van owned by a student and waited for the non-arrival of the sun. In those days the stones were surrounded by barbed wire over which we had to climb and I remember the boys helping an elderly 'professor' type (big black hat and cloak) to scale the heights. We were the only people there and the whole experience I found to be underwhelming. A mixture of tiredness, hunger and the fear of the likely trouble I would be in should the authorities notice my absence from College didn't help the mood. Do any RP'ers have midsummer festivals in their various countries? Are there pop festivals that echo the old Woodstock or is everything very tame and organised? Here the huge Glastonbury Festival is coming up where tens of thousands of people gather at Worthy Farm deep in Somerset to hear am amazing variety of bands and solo artists . . . Dolly Parton will be a headline act and claims that knee-deep mud (if it rains) will not faze her! My DD tells me that 'Glasto' has been running so long it is now full of 'old people' "Some as ancient as you and Dad, they even take their grandchildren." There is just no answer to that. ;-( Here is a link that might be useful: Glastonbury Festival

My bottlebrush buckeye today, note the ones to the right haven't opened yet. On an average year the flowers are infested with Japanese Beetles but this year, nary a one. BTW yes hummingbirds will come to white flowers along with so many winged insects too numerous to mention. I can't name any other plant with such a contrasting appearance summer vs winter. It is thick and lush now but in winter just bare stems. I raised these plants from buckeyes that I collected.

In Honolulu today sunrise was at 5:50 am, sunset this evening will be at 7:16 pm. In Hilo (on the Big Island where my son lives) sunrise was at 5:42 am and sunset will be at 7:02 pm. Their sunrise is generally about eight minutes before ours in Honolulu and the sun sets there about fifteen minutes before it does here. In summer we get about 13.5 hours of daylight. Our twilights, at either side of daylight, only last about half an hour each, much shorter than those of higher latitudes. Honolulu is 21.30 degrees N and Hilo is 19.71 degrees N. Visitors to Hawai'i often notice and comment on how short are the durations of dawn and dusk. They should visit the equator! There one minute it can be completely dark and the next the sun pops up and it's completely light, and that is also true in reverse at the end of daylight. There's little warning and it can be downright discombobulating until you get accustomed to it.