Hibiscus 🌺

The heat wave continues in central Oklahoma for now. It has continued to be hot and dry here all week. I am already hoping for an early autumn but it seems that summer is here to stay. The hot and dry weather here has caused a larger number of differential grasshoppers this year. They have eaten a lot of my garden plants and many others have suffered in the heat. One plant that has handled more than 20 days over 100° F well are the two hibiscus that I have. I have a hardy hibiscus and a Texas star hibiscus. The Texas star hibiscus has two buds and I think it will bloom soon. They also have done a great job not being eaten by the swarm of grasshoppers living in my garden currently. Some other plants that have done well in the hot and dry conditions are the two sages I have. The scarlet sage and the edible sage are both doing well and uneaten by grasshoppers. Other plants that are tolerating the hot, dry weather and the grasshoppers include Turk’s cap, black eyed Susan, coneflower, ajuga, Shasta daisies, lantana, mist flower, parsley, and the hardy banana. The fig trees and pear trees were also left untouched by the grasshoppers. They stripped the pear, plum, pomegranate, walnut, and pawpaw trees completely. We have covered the trees with netting and they seem to be growing new leaves. We have ordered a new solar fan for the cat 🐈‍⬛ and I hope she likes it. I saw lots of spiders this week again at the farm and one gray treefrog. There was also a praying mantis hanging out by the plum tree. I have not been cooking much due to the weather but I did make my first Dubai chocolate bars this week. They turned out great. I did sketch a horse 🐎 this week named Geoff. I didn’t finish the drawing yet. We wanted to go out walking but it was very hot so we went to a nearby lake. It was very beautiful and I was lucky to see a raccoon during the day. We are also starting to plan for the fall garden and have bought a few grasses the grasshoppers don’t like to eat. Be like water: fluid, flexible, unstoppable. Lao Tzu