Rain yesterday! Woo!!

Just a note that a small thunderstorm rolled in and actually brought some measurable rainfall yesterday! Woo!! We appear to be in an even drier spot than most of Austin (if that is even possible) and haven't seen rainfall in quite some time as most of the storms split and go around us. So, it's kind of a big deal that we received some measurable rain. It's really too late for most of my plants though. The veggie garden is pretty much dead except for the Thai bush beans. Almost all my canteloupe vines have dried up, I still have tomato plants, but no tomatoes as it is too hot for them to set tomatoes and their leaves are so small it's ridiculous, and the eggplant never grew taller than 6 inches and is a complete loss as are all the peppers in the yard. The cucumbers all got mildew and died. I tore those out and replanted - hopefully I can get some new ones going. The scarlet runner beans all completely dried up even though they were growing in the shade. One quarter of my flowers and plants in the front yard are dead or nearly dead. Luckily my native trees are still hanging in there and they really appreciated the rain yesterday! Thank you Powers That Be for the brief drink of fresh water!

Bloom day - August 15th 2009

So we are on what now? 55? 56 days of 100+ weather? I am losing track. And our average is 11? 69 days is the record set in 1923. we are gonna break that for sure. Son-of-a-B****. Seriously. My garden is drying up. In the hell-strip out front, the spanish lavender and blackfoot daisies are dead. The salvia greggi are alive, but barely - the leaves on them are so small, they are nearly undetectable. Good thing I have some cactus and agave in the hell-strip as they are still looking good. So there's that.

Cactus Blooms:



We did have a tiny bit of rain about 2 weeks ago - and some rain lilies sprouted as a result of that sparse sprinkle. Really, most of what rain does appear just keeps missing us here. Here are the rain liles from a couple weeks ago. They have gone to seed now:













The Texas bluebells have been real troopers for me throughout this summer. Here they are still blooming along with some chocolate flowers:



And a purple passionflower that came up in my shrimp plants that the gulf fritillaries have yet to demolish:



A few other things are blooming right now such as Turks Cap, Texas Yellowbells, Rock Rose, Milkweed, Shrimp Plant, and Flame Anisacanthus (which is still only a foot tall due to lack of rain even though I planted it 18 months ago).

My coral honeysuckle is just about dead - I may have to replace it next year. Really, this drought is crazy. Not only is it dry, it is effing HOT. If the weather keeps on like this, I will need to replace my current plantings with a more Arizona-ish landscape scheme.

I am holding out hope the El-Nino event that is in play will bring us much needed rain this Fall. I am taking pro-active steps to induce the rain. I have recently aquired some goat hair for my rain-dance headdress, which I was lacking previously. I feel with the goat hair, feathers, and turquoise, and the appropraite zig-zag dance moves and chanting, I will be able to entice a few clouds our way. Wish me luck.