Missouri and Arkansas Phenology--August 2007

[TastyofHasty]

Okay, WU, I'm pickin' a leaf from YOUR plant ...

August, and most of the ground is hard as rock. They call it the "freeze in August," so I have heard. Ground in the garden is crumbly and dust-dry. Sun is baking down, pepper plants have leaves hanging wilted-looking, peppermint is slowly drying up in the ground. Tomatoes ripening all over the place. WATER! I know there won't be any rain, but watch the weather reports a-wishin' and a-hopin'. Only the tomatoes, "white habanero pepper," "New Zealand Spinach," "Manna de Montana Amaranth" (although leaves are full of holes), and that tall thing I THINK is a Jerusalem Artichoke, look like life is even TOLERABLE. Oh yeah, and okra, although it gets pretty droopy most of the day, but perks back up overnight!

Amongst the weeds, there are tall yellow spires of flowering AGRIMONY.

[winter_unfazed]

The last of the Oriental tiger lilies are closing up. Lady's-thumb and snotweed still going strong. Cardinals still in molt.

[TastyofHasty]

August is an awesome month here in northern Arkansas, just for its dryness and hotness. I haven't been watering the garden (waste of water) ... but instead have been watching it. In the mornings, everything is somewhat perked up, regardless of not having been watered by me. Makes me wonder ... about the rising and falling of water underground ... and what happens in plants overnight? Of course, that makes me wonder ... what happens in PEOPLE when we sleep?

[winter_unfazed]

The bergamot began to bloom yesterday. Butterflies like the blooms.

[TastyofHasty]

Lettuce is almost ready to harvest seed. Peppermint has fuzzy-looking purple flowers on what's left of its foliage. On the side of the swimming pool with rainwater in it, what I think is mustard has taken root and put out big green comfortable-looking leaves, meaning it's getting water from somewhere. Probably underneath the swimming pool, it is damp. The grass has stopped growing, although I last mowed about a week and a half ago, it's not much longer now; there's been no rain in a couple of weeks, at least.

[TastyofHasty]

The hills are turning from green to tan.

[winter_unfazed]

Mostly still green here except for the elm trees.

[moonlilyhead]

I can't remember the last time I heard the cicadas so loud.
Everything is pretty dry here; things are turning brown. We still water the garden, but never water the grass. I just can't bear to see all that hard work dry up. The crape myrtles are about finished with their flowers.

[TastyofHasty]

Those black butterflies with silvery-blue spots on the bottom wings (and rust-orange on the same spots on the undersides of the bottom wings) are flying around again. Sun tea makes up really well right now.

[fawnmeadow]

Found a gob of red catapillers stuck together on a tree today. No nest around, but must have just hatched.
The water in our ponds is getting low

[Eccentric Follies]

Squirrels started shelling out the walnuts a week or so ago. And have been seeing lots of butterflies. Some never seen in this yard before. Monarch migration usually comes through here around Sept 10th, but i think they've started early this year.

It's hard-hat time out in the yard again. The acorns and walnuts are dropping from the trees. Real nice when a walnut hits the aluminum awning. :eek:

[dirtundernails]

I see goldenrod blooming.

Watch out EF!

[TastyofHasty]

We are anxiously consulting the weather reports for chance-of-rain-percentages. Chances 50% or over have us wishing and hoping. But it's been more than a month with NO rain (well, just a sprinkle enough to dampen the dust & that was IT.) I've been making "sun tea" regularly; black tea, green tea, and mint tea. A couple of young cypress trees have turned orange (dried out.) I've started feeling how valuable water is, again (I seem to go through this in August every year!). I've started saving all water used in the kitchen sink, in a dishpan, and regularly throw it on the garden.

[winter_unfazed]

The elm tree in front is drying out and losing leaves, but there has finally been some rain to soften the ground and water the trees.

[TastyofHasty]

We got rain, too, the day after I brought in my sun-dried tomatoes. (whew!) About an hour of steady delicious wet RAIN. And it stayed cool (about 70F) all morning, then went back up into the 90's. Yesterday was mildly humid; today we're back to ... hot and dry. But more rain is possibly forecasted for Wednesday; two days from now.

I'm still dumping water used in the kitchen sink, in my handy-dandy dishpan, on the garden. I try to do it in the morning or evening, when the sun isn't too hot.

The cowhorn okra is putting out new leaves at the top! I'm still getting small tomatoes, about 1-1/2", from Arkansas Travelers and Japanese Trifeles. And still picking White Habanero peppers, though the new peppers are getting smaller ... and fewer. The beets that are left have lost their leaves; black weevils are showing up on the new growth on the tomato plants (they get squished as soon as observed). A new stand of white cherry tomatoes I had planted very late (started from seed about late May? can't remember) is now about 1-1/2 feet tall, with 6" thick grass mulch all around it, it is green and leafy and putting out little yellow flowers.

[moonlilyhead]

No rain down here in Hot Springs for the entire month of August thus far. It's SOOOO dry that when I water it can't get down to the roots, and I have to dig around, making vertical water canals.
The only thing prolific in my garden is okra and peppers, and the fig tree has really put some figs on. My 15 foot tall banana trees wilt every day if I don't water them. There's not much sadder than a wilted banana tree!
Let's do a rain dance please....I'll wash my car or get some clothes on the line...

[TastyofHasty]

It rained again yesterday while we were in town. Seems like the hot-dry spell is breaking up at last. More rain forecast for this coming weekend, two more days ... till maybe rain! Each okra plant is putting out fresh leaves and a bunch of tiny okras at its top. I'm seeing a few black weevils (about an inch long, pitch black, big squishy butt end, head like an ant with antennae) on the tomatoes, which are squished by me as soon as I see them. They can be a PLAGUE; they eat the tiptop leaves, then all the leaves off tomatoes. Today I pulled a bunch of dried-out, dead brown leaves off the (mostly) bottoms of the tomato plants, hoping they will go ahead and send out more flowers ... now it is getting a bit cooler and wetter ...

[johno]

TOH, you might want to be careful squishing those things. I believe you are describing blister beetles. They are poisonous, and touching their goo can leave nasty blisters on your skin.

They do generally appear here in large numbers around August... There are a few types... I also had the margined blister beetles this year. They wiped out 8 large tomato plants in just a few days.

It's bad for livestock if they are accidentally bailed up in alfalfa hay, one of their favorite foods. I have read that horses can die from eating as few as six of them.

On the plus side, the larval form eats grasshopper eggs...