Late Summer Ups and Downs

Thursday before this long weekend it rained, finally.  Downtown, at least, there seemed to be quite a bit of rain.  Of course, that is never an exactly accurate indicator of what goes on up here.  I once zoomed in on the Weather Channel radar photo, and was surprised to see that the micro-systems in New York City can vary pretty dramatically - one would think the island of Manhattan, being not so big, would have one consistent weather system throughout - not so, not so.  But it seemed like it rained on Thursday, so that on Friday morning, when I took these photos, everything seemed perky and re-hydrated again generally, and progressing and growing well.

Purple buddy sawtooth - close-up.  This is part of the second wave - rain seems to have done it good.

Purple buddy sawtooth - in context.  There's another bud to the right of the opened flower, the one with the "angel's hair" cardinal vine in the background.

"Angel's hair" cardinal vine bud.

Clown violets - more blooms post-rain.  Regular violets - these are the few that remain vibrant.

Red large "salvia" - also seems to be benefitting from some moisture.  But it also seems clear this is not salvia - the little red pouches seem to be a mere envelope for the elongated flowers, not salvia-like at all.  Wondering whether any of these true flowers will get fertilized and form actual seed.

Clematis - now fully open.

Large-leaved "angel hair" cardinal vine - marching on up the trellis.

Morning glory pregnancy.

Strawberry plant #1 in trough.

Strawberry plant #2 in trough.

Magenta alyssum - continuing to flower.

Magenta "ten o'clock."

Although in the case of the hydrangea, on Thursday morning, when I was not so trusting of the weather forecast, it looked dire enough that some gentle watering seemed to be called for.  My little creamer cups hadn't all drained - the holes probably weren't large enough.  So I came up with a new system - gently streaming water from one of our salvage yogurt containers.  And that seemed to be gentle enough for absorption and minimized run-off through the worn wooden planter, and, surprisingly, I was able to control the flow pretty well.  So who knows whether it was that watering or the natural rain watering, but happy to see it happy again.

Perky hydrangea leaves.

Then there are its other formerly droopy friends that have re-perked too - a veritable hootenanny of happy plants....

"Fingernail" flowers - perked up and ready to party.

Perky basil, too - but note the little black insects... spiders? mites? ticks?

And herbs - also hydrated.

But there were also some post-rain casualties.

One of  neighbor Susan's mandavilla flowers came loose and flew over the fence.  They seem to do that often. 

And then the first of the super-sweet grape tomatoes to ripen blew right off - at least it had a soft landing.

Prize fruit - will have to taste to see if it takes after its parent.

And its brethren.

But not everything seems to be salvageable; the rain can fix only so much.

Transplanted hibiscus - the medium one, the struggling one.

But then there is the hope - new little leaves on the transplanted Japanese maple.

Little leaves, just beginning to unfurl.

And then, during the weekend, while we were scheduled to be away, Hurricane Hermine was supposed to visit, bringing rain, so I thought.  And the temperatures were to moderate, and fall-like weather was to be ushered in, so there should have been some natural watering.  But Hermine was a bit of a bust - wonderful for our getaway, not so terrific for the plants.  I came back to just a very moderate amount of water in the catchers, and some of the flora being worse for the wear.

"Fingernail" flowers - wilted.

Although some of the "fingernail" flowers seemed perfectly fine.  Maybe the different pots and planters picked up rain differently; maybe it's the soil.

Hydrangea - re-drooped.

 In my ideal week, Mondays are my gardening mornings (Tuesdays and Thursdays are the running mornings).  So, even though it's Labor Day, seemed like the right time to do some watering.

Tomato - drooping, but this seemed because the wind blew it out of the cradle of the supporting stakes.  Maybe they also ripened more and got heavier.

Not quite ripe yet here.  And some of the leaves atop clearly ARE drooping.

Super-sweet grape tomatoes - little jewels further ripening.

And a few more.

Uneven fates of our little flora friends.

Still no positive changes for the medium hibiscus transplant.

But the Japanese maple and unfurled its baby leaves.

So, speaking of planning for the week, looking ahead, some stray herbs to be harvested for a dinner.  Gotta have a plan for the meals and try to keep things manageable.

In with the geraniums.

In with the clown violets.

In with the rosemary carcass.

And sure signs that fall is approaching....

The beginning of flowers on the green shiso.

And earlier Labor Day sunsets.

The prettiest pinks and blues to the southwest.

And to the northwest.