I just cry.

My rain gauge shows it's mostly drizzle in Oregon City, not much true rain accumulation. I've been watering and my trees are loving this weather and growing. It seems cooler than normal but if you work outside you can feel the solar energy right behind the clouds. The various Eucalyptus trees are growing visibly. The mimosas aren't so sure about the weather but are reluctantly unfurling their leaves an eensy bit each day. The conifers are ecstatic and growing by leaps and bounds.

Cry is right........

Here in the convergence zone at a school net site we had almost 3 inches in one day earlier this week.
My rain guage has a leak and still showed 2 inches that day.

My garden is flattened.
Of course the blooming plants, which were in their glory just last weekend: clematis, magnolia sieboldii, PC Iris, hardy geraniums, tree peonies... now have all brown or mushy beat-up blossoms.
An azalea in full bloom is broken with the weight of the wet on the blossoms.

My skin was a prune as I finished up a pine pruning job the other day.

On the bright side maybe, I did get my lawn fertilized the evening before the rain, I guess that fertilizer sure did get to the root zone! but now I'm worried it has gone clear to China--or into Puget Sound by now!
Sure don't have to water under the trees in the woodland.

My DH planted his beans and wondered why they didn't come up. They have all gone mushy and are not planning to grow at all! So, he has reseeded but if this lousy weather doesn't turn, they won't grow either..on the positive side, my raspberries are growing huge and I think I will have a bumper crop this year. They are just in bud now so a little sunshine later this month will be ok. The tomatoes are growing slowly, the peppers are stalled. I have noticed that the weeds are large and lush though.....Please send us some summer!

Since we're having nights in the 40s here it is still too early to have tropical vegetable plants like tomato and basil out in the open. Probably best to rig up a plastic tunnel or similar shelter for these in our climate, grown them in that instead of trying to rely on the at most three months out of the year when it is liable to be consistently hot enough.

It is very depressing. My roses are doing just terrible. Everything is laying down. I guess we're lucky in that we aren't dealing with severe weather. I feel so bad when I see all of those people dealing with tornadoes. That would be incredibly scary. I was also in New Orleans for Hurricane Dennis (a few weeks before Katrina, the outer bands of Dennis hit New Orleans) Now that was scary! Hopefully some better weather is coming our way.

I look around and I see exuberance. Japanese cherries, rhododendrons and many others were loaded with flowers this year. These bud the previous year so it's not current conditions that brought heavy flowering on. But I think I'm seeing good growth now in response to the weather we are having, too.

If something is being fouled or retarded by the cool and damp then it really isn't right for the local climate. It needs assistance like a plastic shelter or an overhang.

It hardly rains here. Mists, if we're lucky drizzle. Cool and cloudy. I've been watering a lot since February and my baby trees are looking really good. Will post pictures soon. It's already a thick jungle in here 2 years 5 months after first batch planted. Of course since that 1st batch Dec05 we keep planting trees, but now only if one expires. If this summer skipped the searing hot relentless scorching sun I'd be so happy! A few days of heat is OK but the endless hot hot burning hot dry bone dry days turning into weeks and months with no rain is awful.

Too bad global warming is a scam, would could use a little dose of it up here.

My corn and tomatoes have been riding this out o.k. I set out a bunch of clear two liter bottles filled with water throughout the patch, and they have been getting just enough sunlight during the sunbreaks to warm up and act as radiators at night.

When the changing climate here predicted by the University of Washington climate think tank is farther along some years from now the "scam" will not be seen as one. Cold and dark springs followed by blazing summers, with snow packs reduced by about half are what is being projected. Wait until gardens are not allowed to be watered at all. That may become general policy here in not too long a time.

I swear Cascadians lives in another state not twenty minutes from me......

;)

Rain, rain and more rain in SE Portland.....

I cut the bottoms out of some black nursery pots and put them around my tomato, peppers, watermelon and cantelope...Glad I got my corn planted early and is about 1' high...These are all in a raised bed so hopefully it won't be too bad...I'm in the SW along I-5.

Mr. Sunshine, please come see us and make us warm :)

Cry, cry, cry that's all I can do also.Anyways I had lots of things covered for protection from cold and rain.Peeked today as we got a bit of sun and looks like things are still alive ( barely ) Will see what this weekend brings.MY tomatoes, beans, corn, peppers, basil are all in the garden and I did not cover those.Some look very, very sad.Not much can one do but wait and see what survives.I can't ever remember such a weather in June.We had bit of sun and hot temp in May so I never expected this.
Let's hope we get lots of sun in the coming days..

bboy, can you tell me where I can find the UW study on climate change? How soon are we talking about?

Inadequate snowpack was expected to be in full effect by something like 2040. There would of course be some kind of build-up to this situation for some years prior, I don't think it's expected that all of a sudden one year we have half the snow we used to.

This stuff came up when they had that climate powwow here awhile back. Saw TV coverage with a guy from UW talking about the local forecast. Think if you search combinations like "university washington climate center" or "climate group" you can find their web site. Don't remember which exact terms bring up the prize.

Found it, thanks! Here it is if anyone else is interested:

http://cses.washington.edu/cig/pnwc/pnwwater.shtml

Dug up and replanted some heuchera that were in the wrong places today. Was shocked to discover the root balls were bone dry. Cut back the asters today; usually do that in July. Most of the ground covers like blue star creeper are getting way too tall. Most of my stuff likes this cool weather. Still haven't planted herbs - maybe next weekend will be warm enough.(Been saying that since April!) Tomatoes planted last weekend; probably should have waited. Want some variegated sweet potato vine and can't find any at my usual haunts. Should have saved last year's I guess. Who knew? It was EVERYWHERE last year.

"Was shocked to discover the root balls were bone dry." -- Milwaukie, OR

That's why I've been watering :-) The mist that barely wets the pavement is very deceptive. I use a water meter and my fingers and examine my 300+ trees every day very carefully for any signs of overwatering.

When the sun comes bursting out with its full-on summer heat ppl will be shocked to see plants and trees croaking fast because ppl think it's been raining. It's only been misting around here. Without supplemental watering the root balls are indeed bone dry.

So yesterday I found first aphids on my roses.Very late this year.Not that I want them, but I take it as a signal that summer is coming.Aphids know when to come and waited? Will see..

Well, one good thing in all this is that my lettuce, peas, broccoli and caulflower are all growing like crazy. Don't get me wrong, it should be warming up and the rest of my garden is suffering. Just trying to look on the bright side, hehe.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure.

Dry rootballs are often the result of textural differences between the soilless potting medium or claylike field soil the plants came from the nursery in and the soil on the new site. If the rest of the bed was moist with the heucheras only being dry then it was something like that - something involving the heucheras specifically - and not the overall conditions.

This should have been apparent when these were dug and pulled apart(?) but heucheras specifically are prone to weevil larvae gnawing the roots off and leaving a sort of nearly rootless husk sitting on top of the ground, unable to keep itself turgid without diligent watering - and maybe not even then. The same thing is common here with primroses.

So we're on the tail end of a La Nina, which I already knew, but hadn't really thought about its effect on my veggies. Cooler than normal temperatures all the way through October, then NOAA predicts am El Nino year, with higher than normal temperatures. Yields of tropical veggies (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants) will be lower this year, but cool season crops will do well.

I've got early season peppers, tomatoes and eggplant in so maybe I'll get something out of them. My overwintered broccoli is approaching 3+ feet tall! But my cucumber plants have given up the ghost:(.

I think this year is a write off for some heat loving veggies.I feel sorry for them looking so sad and I can't help them out..Feel guilty for putting them outside..

You are right, scarleta, i feel guilty for putting heat loving veggies outside as well. I am so happy that last year i bought greenhouse and the only regret that is not bigger. Tomatoes in GH are growing good, they already have small tomatoes, but those that i planted outside are not so happy with cold rains and wind. I have surrounded cucumbers with bottles with water and covered with row cover. Not so bad. Even my chicken are complaining about cold.