On 20/7/06 04:10, in article ,
"madgardener" wrote:

Good Evening, garden friends across the pond. Madgardener or "Maddie"
here. I had a question after hearing something out of the corner of my
ear this morning during the starting madness of my day. Is anyone
seeing some disturbing trends in the warmer than usual weather over your
way? I see Sacha has Japanese anemone opening up earlier than usual. I,
myself have noticed that blooming seasons are melting together, so to
speak. My "fall" Japanese anemone's ever since I finally got them to
take for me have consistently started budding just in time for the
arrival for the voracious munching habits of the "beneficial" insect,
the Blister beetle. This "beneficial" insect, touted by Rodale's
Organic Gardening book is listed as a "good" bug because it's larvae
love to munch upon the larvae of grasshoppers. Thus their consideration
for "beneficial" interactions. Now don't get me wrong here. I am as
organic and beneficial as I possibly can be. But let a gardener who has
tried and miserably failed to get Japanese anemone to take root and
flourish for me YEARS to do this get undone by one hatching of black and
charcoal black striped eating machines that I can't pinch with my
fingers because this is why they buggers are called BLISTER
BEETLES............(apparently they are the main ingredient in the old
sexual powders, "Spanish Fly" that they used to tout as such wonderous
medicinals. Dried up and ground blister beetles taken internally caused
the penis to get irritated and engorge..ouch!

I don't know if we have those in UK but they do live in Southern Europe.
Their real name is Lytta vesicatoria. I was curious, so I looked it up! I
will now approach our Japanese anemones with more respect but I must admit I
haven't seen these things on them! They seem to be trouble free and in the
gravelled area where we park our cars, they spread very well in beds facing
north and south, as well.
snip

I also disturbingly noticed the absolute lack of a beautiful spider that
I would be seeing right now. She is black and yellow and quite large,
making a rather impressive web with a distinctive "zipper" in the middle
of her nets. I haven't seen her in nine years here on the ridge. I see
the red ones that everyone walks into the webs that she slings across
great expanses and blows your mind at the sheer size of, and once you've
walked into her web, you do the "there's a spider in my hair" dance
because she WILL be on your head or somewhere close when you walk thru
her ministrations. At least, I HOPE I see her.

I'm sorry but the LACK of a spider is not going to give me any sleepless
nights. Quite the reverse! We don't get poisonous spiders here - or not
seriously so - but I just detest spiders, fullstop. In this house we do get
some of the large so-called house spiders but we seem to be especially
favoured by those little pin bodied long legged, thready ones. It's my
personal conviction that spiders know I don't like them, so they make a
beeline for me!



But it bothers me that
the black and yellow one (I don't know her Latin name or identity) is
literally GONE from this area. I've even looked down in my woods. I do
NOT spray my gardens unless I am forced to. And even then I am careful
to what I spray. And I don't madly spray. Only the blister beetles.
The Japanese beetles I pluck. And this year, I noticed less than normal
"June beetles" which oddly have always as long as I've played with them
as a child or noticed them as an adult arrived in July.......So that
tells me the larger than normal populations of skunks have sufficiently
done their grub loving jobs. Hardly any June bugs, and less Japanese
beetles, at least where I am at. I can attest to the high population of
skunks because I kept hitting them with the van and was tempted to
rename it "Pepe La Phew".....LOL

And we also seem to have quite a high population of raccoons around here
too....hmmmmmmmmmm, that could only mean their love of people's trash
has hit payload payoff because more people are moving in here and
building subdivisions where there once used to be pastures and hillsides
and woods.

Reading all this about raccoons and skunks, I must admit I'm quite relieved
we live in boring old England! I can do without those in my life!

But what I was worried about was hearing today that London had
temperatures around 101o F ???!??? Asphalt was melting and there is
also a drought going on?

Yes, it hit an all time record high near Gatwick yesterday and the tar was
melting in Plymouth, too, about 30 mins from us. One of the more bizarre
sights was of gritting lorries going around, adding grit to the tarmac to
make it more durable. Normally, they come out when snow is forecast! The
temperatures are truly exceptional. But as to drought, that's not all over
UK. The South East has a drought problem and a hosepipe ban but not our
area, the South West or AFAIK, the north of England. I don't think
Scotland and Wales are experiencing any problems either. But even then, the
reservoirs aren't as low as they were in 1976 when it didn't rain in Jersey
(where I then lived and that year had my first child!) from May until
October. It was immensely hot but living near the sea certainly had its
compensations in terms of lots of swimming and some cooling sea breezes.
Yesterday and today have been very weird here in Devon. Rain was promised
and we got about a couple of dozen drops but nothing to do any good. It was
hot and humid because of the cloud cover. This morning it's still overcast
but cooler and it's a bit windier which, for once, is welcome because it's
cooling things down a bit.
I think there's a lot of publicity about drought because winters have been
very dry in the SE for a few years so stocks haven't been replenished but
also because that area includes London and most newspapers are
London-centric!
On the nursery and in the garden, we're still watering like mad and just
doing the nursery takes 3 people about 2 hours each per morning. The garden
has had spray lines on it most evenings.

Now, having grown up in Nashville, Tennessee
and experiencing summers that I remember sometimes got so hot that tar
bubbled up on the roads and we kids played with it.....well, I have to
wonder if this is a foreboding sign of other things that might be out of
our control. Yes, yes, global warming and all that. I'm not here to
talk politics. And I will not carry the total blame of gas guzzling
consumers. Apparently the Chinese are now eager to embrace Western ways
and there be far more of them to consume and pillage.

Things are getting out of control and we all have to do something to try to
redress the balance. There is talk here of tax on lightbulbs that aren't the
long life energy efficient ones. I don't know if that's a political gimmick
but it's certainly true that the atmosphere is filled with the pollution of
hundreds, if not thousands of aeroplanes, chugging back and forth laden with
un-seasonal goodies such as roses and asparagus from Peru. Now, honestly,
who NEEDS asparagus so badly that it has to be flown to England from Peru?
I'm making it a policy now not to buy veggies that have come from further
afield than e.g. France, Italy or Holland and of course, wherever possible I
buy stuff that's grown locally in Devon. We have a very large, very good
organic farm near us which sells its produce in its own shop and distributes
it round England and we have a pretty good local greengrocer, too. And our
butcher has his own abbatoir and knows personally all the farmers who supply
him with meat.


So here's the
extended tangent... I keep a ten year journal. I've kept records of
blooming perennials for quite a few years now. It's not a bad habit to
have, actually. What I'm seeing lately is that some perennials are
arriving earlier and finishing quicker. That varies of course because
each year is different. But I have noticed changes.

Well, I've made a note of the Japanese anemones and also noted that on 17th
January it was warm enough for two of the nursery staff to eat their lunch
in the garden. This is NOT a usual occurrence here, by any means. We've
also noticed that this year the Rosa bracteata is flowering wonderfully for
the second year running, that the Rosa banksia alba is doing the same and
that the Fremontodendron could well have fallen over with the weight of
gorgeous yellow flowers it was carrying.
snip

back to what I was concerned about. I'd just like to know how things
are over there with you all and your gardening efforts and how Mom's
Nature is treating you. Believe it or not, I care and despite that I
can't change the weather, I'd like to keep track of things with you. I
hope everyone is well, and that the heat wave has only caused
discomfort. I fear we're all in for some adjusting. My love and
concerns. I, myself have shut off the central air many times recently
and turned just the fan on to circulate the airs around. But by mid
morning with temperatures barely hitting 80 this last week, if I had
ventured to open a window, I'd have let in hot evening air. Yep, things
are certainly not what I'd consider normal. I do remember hot summers,
but usually at the end of July and August. When my youngest son was
born, I took him home on the 5th of August and the temperatures were
104o F. So hot summers are normal. But not like this I don't think.
I'll have to research this more. Thanks for putting up with me.

Very few English houses have air conditioning so our method in this house is
to open windows but close curtains or shutters, keeping the rooms aired but
cooler.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(email address on website)