Summer is a time for sleep...in the garden

Here is southern California, especially over the last week or so, Summer is a time for sleep. Almost like a hot Winter, the heat and drought sends nearly every plant into a formant period. I see very little growth and almost no blooms in my garden, although the lack of blooms is probably more of a factor of the natural bloom cycles of the plantings, rather than the heat. The plantings, most done by the previous owners of the house, seem to favor the winter and spring. This is especially true of the wonderfully naturalized collection of bulbs that come up every year. I suppose I could go and find some late summer bloomers, but we haven't done that as yet.

I do find myself drawn more and more to flowering vines, though, and I have my eye on a number of possibilities for placement. Sun is always an issue, but after some judicious pruning, I am starting to see some holes opening in the canopy.

The birds, of course, are seeking out the feeders and bird bath in the heat, so there is always a bit of activity in the garden, even if I have been avoiding the heat myself. Recently I noted the return of opossum to the garden. During and after the construction of the large parking garage behind our house the opossum disappeared, but it looks as if the birdseed dropped from the feeders has attracted them back again. This one appears to be a juvenile, where in the past we had seen large adults, usually with a brood in tow. You can read about my inital experiences with oppossum in the garden in a AGN column "from the 1996 archives, "Summer, Summer Quite Contrary, How do our gardens scorch!".

I find that the opossum don't do any damage to the garden, although they can occassionally freak out a visitor or two. They do sound like a bear is digging around the garden at night, though!

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