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doodle by andre: domestic disturbance

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PROMISES, PROMISES. Who–even with the best intentions and a lot of sprinklers and hoses–can keep them when the weather is like it is in so many spots nationwide? Andre Jordan, our favorite doodler, wrote this week to say it was 124 degrees at his place, and I thought: No wonder those peonies are dead. All is forgiven, Andre. Tell the Missus I say so.

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28 comments
July 21, 2011

comments

  1. Jodi Anderson says

    July 21, 2011 at 8:55 am

    Oh, this really made me giggle. When you did the interviews with YouGrowGirl and talked about burning out (I don’t remember the wording), the last two weeks are exactly what burn me the heck out: Heat indices of 110 degrees.

    In Wisconsin, land of ice and snow. (Despite being a gardener, I love the brutal cold.)

    A friend of mine compared our recent temps to all of South America yesterday, and there was only one place as hot as here, and the humidity still wasn’t as brutal there. What the heck? I guess that the humidity is the reason that Wisconsin is so lush and green, and also the reason I wave at my garden through the window mid-day this week. I say, “I’ll see you later, when the sun is setting. We’ll have a little fun then, baby. With the hose!”

    Reply
  2. andre says

    July 21, 2011 at 9:05 am

    I find myself missing the -30s we had here in South Dakota.

    Reply
  3. Abby says

    July 21, 2011 at 10:01 am

    Hot here too. Can we just skip August? I am watering the neighbors’ plants while they are away. One planter I brought inside because of the heat, the others are doing okay, partly because their yard has some shade. Still, I’m a bit nervous about the potted ones.

    Reply
  4. M. A. Smith says

    July 21, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    This summer I feel like I am a nurse on the intensive recovery ward at the ‘plant hospital’! Each plant is like a patient who needs one-on-one care with all this extreme heat we are experiencing in the northeast.

    Sorry, got to go now. A hydrangea is calling me – it’s fading fast!

    Reply
  5. shira says

    July 21, 2011 at 3:14 pm

    Years and years ago when I still had a corporate life I had to be in Paris for 3 weeks in July (terrible, I know). At the time we lived in a condo and I had about 10 tomato plants in containers, my husband’s only job was to keep them watered for the weeks I was away. No comment on how that turned out! This cartoon definitely made me chuckle!

    Reply
  6. Sara says

    July 21, 2011 at 4:37 pm

    I copied Andre’s cartoon and sent it to my husband becasue we’ve been there…and lived to laugh about it later (sort’ve!!). I just plan on replacing a few plants whenever I travel and he is in charge of watering my babies!!

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      July 21, 2011 at 7:26 pm

      Sara, you sound very philosophical!

      M.A., my condolences; I hope the patient recovers.

      Reply
  7. Deirdre says

    July 21, 2011 at 6:30 pm

    Could they have gone dormant?

    Reply
  8. JWLW says

    July 21, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    I love it. I am the Husband and I have lived through many plant deaths.

    andre: Have a good night,
    John

    Reply
  9. Kay says

    July 21, 2011 at 7:23 pm

    Here in the land of little rain we’re coming out of a cool spell–yes, a cool spell–during which it didn’t break 100 for about two weeks. Everything in the garden is thriving at the moment (knock on wood). We’ll see how they hold up as the temperature climbs.

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      July 21, 2011 at 8:26 pm

      Hi, Kay. I am always awestruck at the tenacity of arid-region gardeners — and plants. Amazing stories of adaptation on both parts, right?

      Reply
  10. Dru Peters says

    July 21, 2011 at 8:25 pm

    aaww..this heat is wilting us all!

    Reply
  11. Sonya says

    July 22, 2011 at 4:23 pm

    This is eerily relevant to me and my husband. We just planted peonies and they have been burning in the heat. Though actually husband is better at watering than wife. Anyway, I absolutely love it. Makes me smile every time I see it. I might laminate it, put it on a stick, and place it near the peonies. Thank you.

    Reply
  12. Kay says

    July 22, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    Definitely. I’m requiring more adaptation than most: I just moved to the Central Valley from muggy northern Delaware. Here I’ve been digging up the lawn, which I’m sure somebody went through great pains to grow. I figure that if I have to water something, it might as well be something I can eat.

    Reply
  13. Matt says

    July 22, 2011 at 9:15 pm

    Haha! Hello from back home, Kay. It’s absolutely miserable in Northern Delaware right now! 100 degrees all day and overcast since 5ish, and of course we both know it’s not going to rain…

    Reply
  14. Broken Barn Industries says

    July 23, 2011 at 8:03 am

    Today feels downright cool, especially after Thursday’s hideous humidity. Maybe I can finally get some weeding done (they’re definitely winning now). No containers, no containers… this is why I don’t do them! And this fall, the hydrangea is getting moved to a shadier spot. I just don’t like having to water.

    Reply
  15. Deb Beacham says

    July 23, 2011 at 11:06 am

    I had to giggle about the husband who killed the plants. I have a gardening customer, who asked her husband to water the well over 100 pots of annuals on her deck while she was away. When she came back most were soaking in water by an overly “enthusatic helper”. She made him dump the pots of water then had him use a hair dryer to “dry” the soaking soil!!

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      July 24, 2011 at 7:41 am

      Hi, Sonya and hello also to Deb. Very funny to hear that both of you “relate” to this doodle, it seems. I guess Andre is at the pulse of things, isn’t he? :)

      Reply
  16. Kay says

    July 23, 2011 at 7:19 pm

    Hello, Matt! I’ve been hearing about how brutal it is there. I’ll do a rain dance for everyone back east.

    Reply
  17. Yvonne says

    July 25, 2011 at 11:25 am

    Its hot here too. Garden is wilting but the weeds are thriving without any rain. How does that happen?

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      July 26, 2011 at 2:01 pm

      Hi, Yvonne. The weeds have super powers, that’s all I can say to explain it. :)

      Reply
  18. Sharon says

    July 25, 2011 at 2:21 pm

    I’m certainly missing the cold wet spring we had in NJ now!

    Reply
  19. WIcki Boyle says

    July 25, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    Even my mint is dry and dead let alone other less hardy souls. What a week to go away. No one to water. It is scary above ground, but I hope that there are roots alive and things will come back maybe later this summer or next year. It looks the same as when i slow roast the herbs in the oven for winter use. What heartache. any suggestions, all hints are helpful.

    Reply
  20. Bellafiore says

    July 25, 2011 at 9:39 pm

    The peony might come back…they are really hard to kill unless you had just planted it this year. Mine always sort of wilt and not really die back, but definitely get brownish and dry. One year I trimmed it down to almost nothing because it looked like that in August. It still came back in the spring….it has been extreme though. I am in WI and it is hotter than I remember it being when I lived in LA. No humidity there.

    One year the electric company came through and cut off a large limb of my maple tree. They said they’d just be trimming it back because it was hitting the lines. The cut it off completely making one entire side of my shade garden into sun. I set up a tent of shade fabric for that year. Eventually other things grew in and I almost have full shade again.

    moral is we gardeners will do anything for our plants and all the mishaps they endure due to “MAN”

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      July 26, 2011 at 1:58 pm

      Hi, Bellafiore. You are right…it will probably be fine. Always shocking to see the crispy stuff before late fall though, isn’t it? See you soon again!

      Reply
  21. Kathy says

    July 28, 2011 at 6:36 pm

    My secret is to plant hardy & drought-tolerant varieties that are well-suited to my area. We’ve had close to 20 days at 100 or above so far this season. I’m going to lose a pentsemmon which doesn’t bother me because it never looked very pretty anyway. In another newly planted area, I might lose a butterfly bush and a Russian olive. Much of the garden is on it’s own–I’ve haven’t watered at all this year. Some plants I watered once this summer. I regularly water the pots, the newbies and then myself. Cheers! :)

    Reply
  22. Marie says

    August 2, 2011 at 3:46 pm

    Although I live in Seattle now, where summer temperatures are quite pleasant, I lived in the midwest for 20+ years, so I can sympathize with the husband here.

    Thanks, Andre, for another good chuckle. I love your doodles.

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      August 2, 2011 at 4:45 pm

      Thank goodness for Andre, right Marie? Nice to see you.

      Reply

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