Well it may be gone for this week maybe. But we are about to enter 'tornado' season. Now ya'll all know that!!! hehehe Frankly though, I am so sick of all this nasty, nasty weather. And cannot wait til spring comes. One of my biggest disappointments so far this year though has been that warm spell we had back in January. And I am still hoping it hasn't really hurt my tulips, hyacinth, daffodils and other spring blooming bulbs. And trees and shrubs. Sometimes something like that can stunt their growth. OR cause the flowers to not be as attractive. Oh well...sigh. what are you gonna do???

just commenting so this doesn't stay at the top of the page.

It's been in the 90s in my backyard for a long time now. Very hot in the daytime but cool at night. Blazing sun. No clouds, no rain for a very long time. The earth in the neighborhood is parched, cracked and bone dry. Many now-dead evergreens and deciduous trees have browned and lost their leaves. Avenues of trees along shopping centers near Clackamas Town Center have died. We are on a Fire Weather Watch for extreme fire danger. Low humidity and extreme prolonged heat with winds due to increase, and an unusual heat wave forecast for this upcoming weekend (again). The forests are dry dry dry tinderboxes. In my yard the trees are experiencing a lovely flush of new growth. I've kept the ground wet. 2 years 8 1/2 months after planting the 1st batch of about 200 trees, can see definitely happy growth in these trees. Even some of the trees planted last spring are having a flush. Most trees have put on at least 1 foot of new growth in the last month. The tiny bare-root cherry tree we planted in spring has grown over 5 feet on its leader and 4 feet on the other branches, which has amazed me. The baby eucalypti planted almost a year ago are really taking off in leaps and bounds. They love ample water now and all this hot sunshine. The 2 year old eucs are growing fast also. These trees are very beautiful and favored by the birds who seem to enjoy swaying in the breeze on their young delicate topmost branches. Praying the roots are starting to grow and dig deep and reach out and greatly cover more territory which is what they are supposed to do in fall. I'm keeping the ground wet so those roots can have an easy time digging through the earth. I'm so tempted to start pruning while I can see which branches are dead before the leaves fall off the live branches. In January will be pruning and shaping a lot in here, very excited, will be 3 years since planting late Dec05 then. One thing that is puzzling is the birds are flocking just frantic to eat us out of house and home. We have 28 bird stations around the house and bird seed is now quite expensive and if I keep the feeders full they'll easy go through $120 a week. I cannot afford that so have to let them scrounge a bit. There must be plenty of food out there but these birds seem to be frantic to stuff themselves, never seen them like this. Lots of goldfinches. And this year they've plowed through suet without any stopping. What does their behavior mean? Haven't seen the juncos yet which is my bellweather signal that fall is here.

Xeric, where do you live? I dont see any reason at all why you shouldnt plant them now. With most perennials, you can plant them anytimeeven during the winteras long as the ground isnt frozen. The main problem with planting when its really, really cold out is that since they wont start growing, you dont know till spring if theyve actually made it or not. When planting at this time of the year, put them in and then water them really wellSLOWLY and DEEPLYso the soil BELOW the roots is well watered. Then dont water again over winter unless the soil down at the level of the bottom of the roots is drying out. If we get a long, drawn out and dry fall, you may need to water again before winter really sets in. Rather than trying to divide them now, put the 4" plants in as one plant and then wait till they start growing well in spring and then go thru them and dig small rooted "plugs" out of the middle of them to transplant where you want them. Pink Chintz should be pretty easy to successfully plant now. Also, as Bonnie said above, if theyre planted now, the roots will be growing pretty much all winter, anytime the soil isnt frozen, so theyll get a really, really good start when they start to grow next spring. Were glad youre here, and dont be afraid to start your own thread when you have questions. Any fall/winter posts are welcome on this threador any posts at all for that matterbut youll usually get more responses if you start a separate thread and people can see from the title what youre asking about. And if you start a separate thread, you can also have replies sent directly to your mailbox if you choose. I got back from my trip last nite and found that the temp had only gone down to 36 while I was gone! Even last nite, which was a little bit colder, it only went down to 34. Guess I really didnt need to cut my tomatoes down after all, but with as cool as the days are going to be this week, and with as cold as the nites are getting, they wouldnt have developed anymore fruit anyway, and they can ripen slowly in the garage as well as outsidewhere Id need to keep worrying about them freezing. Since cukes dont "keep" if you "hang them in the garage," and since I wasnt quite ready to give up on them yet, I did cover them. Theyre easy to cover because of the "framework" provided by the trellises theyre on. Just uncovered them about an hour ago, and theyre looking the same as when I covered them. I already have a bunch of cukes in the fridge, and there a lots of little ones on the vines, so the longer I can leave them outside, the longer Ill have them to eat! I covered a couple summer squash vines that have small ones on too, in hopes that they may keep developing, but that may or may not work. It sure is nice out here today! Its 60 in the shade on my deck, and Im sure its much warmer in the sun out in the yard (but my thermometer on that side of the yard needs new batteries!) BP and Dafy, its really nice to see the two of you around here! We miss you when youre not posting. My perennials, which were, in large part, ignored this year, are looking typically "fallish!" Buds are just starting to open on the Hillside Pink Sheffields" Dendranthema, and Im not planning to cover it this year, so it probably wont have time to develop its usual fall splendor! If Im around when were gonna get a hard freeze, Ill cut them and bring them in to enjoy indoors! The many dried flower stems on my Acanthus are going to be wonderful winter interest this year. Theyre visible in this pic behind the flopping (not enough sun) Agastache! From Garden - 2009 July to Fall Im hoping for a nice mild winter so I can get the tomato area turned over this year and ready for spring, and maybe even do some perennial "rearranging" over winter. Skybird