Garden in August

 I cut down quite a bit of the bee balm.  Bee balm is pretty tough here and does okay with things like being cut to the ground.  I moved a few pots in to fill the space a little.  Looks pretty good.

Here is the other side of the front.  Our yard is so small.  It doesn't look like it here, though.

The cosmos lady

We just had three days of 100 degree weather.  These photos were taken before the heat spell.

Cosmos 'Diablo'.

This year I shared my seedlings and there are three houses up the street with this cosmos blooming.  I am so pleased about that.  Makes me feel like kin to the Lupin Lady, Miss Rumphius.   My neighbor gave me that book some 30 years ago because she said it reminded her of me, always sharing my plants.

Quoted from Amazon

Barbara Cooney's story of Alice Rumphius, who longed to travel the world, live in a house by the sea, and do something to make the world more beautiful, has a timeless quality that resonates with each new generation. The countless lupines that bloom along the coast of Maine are the legacy of the real Miss Rumphius, the Lupine Lady, who scattered lupine seeds everywhere she went. Miss Rumphius

 received the American Book Award in the year of publication.

The heat pretty much finished the bee balm.

The cleomes have too much purple.  My fault.  When I thinned them, I had a strong preference for those with purple tinged leaves.  But there are some later pink ones coming along.

Walking in the neighborhood

These people seem to have folks living in their yard.  It's been going on a LONG time....

It isn't this house.  I just like this house.  Things are all jumbled together in Portland, though.  Homeless.  Nice houses.  Etc.

I like these art deco chairs.

Community garden

Homeless car campers

Homeless campers along the edge of the park.

Roses in August

This has been a peculiar season.  It started dry and warm and then in very early June we had a hot spell with 100 degree temps.  The roses were early and in full bloom when the heat hit and it pretty much finished their flowers.  Then it cooled off for the rest of June and all of July; it hardly hit 80, many days not even 70.  It's been a great summer.  The best we've had in several years.  And now we are having a second rose season.  The flowers aren't as plentiful or as large but they are delicate with gorgeous colors.

This beauty is blooming with  salvia Amistad.  I think they look great together.  There is bee balm on the left and a big hardy fuschia on the right.  Hummingbird paradise.

Front garden in July

We are having wonderful summer weather.  It's been mostly in the 70's.  This is the first normal summer we have had in several years.

For a small yard, we have a lot of bee balm (for the hummingbirds and bees).  This is the patch on the left of the stairs.

 And this is to the right of the stairs

South side of house

Garden early September

Summer records

I have not enjoyed this summer.  We've had far too many days when the only decent time to be outside is between dawn and noon.  The evening weather has just been too hot to be out and about.  I've felt trapped by the heat and I don't like it.

We follow this local weather guy, who does an interesting job of covering our weather.

One Two Punch

Not only are we having more 90 degree days for the weekend but it is chokingly smoky.  Being outdoors sucks.  And on a 90 degree day, we have all our doors and windows closed.   I've never seen it like this here before (in 20 years).

Yesterday

source

The smoke is from Washington fires and is being funneled down the Columbia Gorge by the wind.  It's supposed to get better today.

It was much worse in the Columbia Gorge.  That is where we hike but it doesn't look too inviting.

source

August garden

 Still lovin those cleomes....

Most people in Portland don't water their lawns and the lawns go dormant in the summer.  But this year, with the drought, the dormancy is very long and the grass is scary dry.  The city has warned people not to mow their lawns during the heat of the day because of fire danger.  There have already been multiple fires sparked by lawnmowers.  But why anyone would mow a dormant lawn is beyond me.

We're back in Portland again

The heat wave broke and the weather is delightfully the way it should be.  Here is what the weather blog guy has to say about the historic heat wave.

Historic Heat Wave

It's nice not to be restricted to a few hours a day of decent weather.  And it's been really fun sitting on the porch watching the hummingbirds who are crazy for our bee balm.  There are usually three hummers chasing each other around.

Neither of us got a lot done during the heat wave but here is a wonky pillow I managed to make.

Here it is before it was sewn.

Escaping to paradise

It's been dreadfully hot here.  The afternoons and evenings are not fit for life.  So we drove to the coast for a hike at Cape Lookout.  It was paradise.  I couldn't stop smiling.

This is the very start of the trail and most of it is in the trees like this...

With views of the ocean like this

Cape Lookout is a 2 mile spit of land made by lava flows; the cliffs are 800 feet high.  Here is a photo of the spit.  When you are hiking it feels like you are deep in a forest.

It's not our first time on Cape Lookout but it's been a while since we hiked there.  You can see lots more photos of Cape Lookout on Google Images.

Cape Lookout Photos