Sunday, July 19, 2015

The Summer It Rained

This year has become the Summer It Rained. To most of you, this would not be unusual. Summer means thunderstorms and cloudbursts, right? Well, that's not how summer usually goes around here.

Sometime in June, someone puts up the dome, and the rain simply stops. Storms build up, then pass us by. Just a little north of us, it will rain buckets. The dark clouds will hover, threaten, then move on without giving us a drop. 

 But not this year. It has rained and rained and then rained some more. Streets often flood, crops tend to rot in the field, and the sun rarely shines. This year, the dark skies threaten, then cut loose with torrents of rain. 
I thought it might be a short term thing. I figured that a few rainy weeks would pass, then we'd dry up like we so often do. But not this time. 

It's been nice not having to drag the hose around the yard, like we usually do. And I've never seen so much green! Is this what it's like in the Pacific NW? 




I've missed the sunshine though, that's for sure. The tomatoes are sulking from lack of sun, and the green pepper plants have given up. The weeds are prolific, as you can guess. 

Because our summers are generally dry, my garden is mostly planted with drought tolerant plants. So far they are accepting the heavy rain with good grace. But I discovered that some of my flowers actually like more water. My tall phlox has never had so many blooms.


And the hydrangeas are just loving it. 


On those rare sunny days, I hustle outside with my camera in hand. On this day, I discovered the red admiral butterflies were having a party at my house. I tried counting them, but as you can imagine, it wasn't easy. There seemed to be about 30 of them, and it was delightful! They were so intent on gathering nectar that I could practically reach out and touch them. 


Black Swallowtail
The red admiral butterflies are fairly common, and have been visiting in droves. But many other butterflies visit me here, much to my delight, along with numerous other pollinators.
White spotted sable moth
Viceroy butterfly
Honeybee in flight
As I'm writing this post, yet another storm is building, and heavy rains are imminent. Yes indeed, it is the Summer It Rained. Every summer I wish for more rain, but I guess I'll have to be more specific in the future.



14 comments:

  1. Oh it's all so lovely. Makes me even sadder that I got nothing done in my yard this spring..and now it's 104 in the shade and has been so terribly dry here. I love looking at all your photos and seeing the butterflies, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trust me, I wouldn't work in the yard if it was 104 either! Just enjoy the AC for now, and maybe in the fall you can work outside.

      Delete
  2. We've had a ton of rain here in northern IL, too. Every time I check the extended weather forecast, every day says "chance of rain". We've only had dry days here and there. The mosquitoes are insane here - can't be outside but for a few minutes - and even then, we're doing the slap dance. I guess the positive thing about having a lot of rain is that we don't have to water all our plants. And I think I'd rather have all this rain that the drought that the west coast is having. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, the rains finally stopped. It really is much better than drought. Having to constantly water things is such a pain!

      Delete
  3. We have had our share of rain, too. This morning it is foggy and cool. Wierd. But the rain has filed your garden with lovely flowers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The rains really did make my flowers extra big this year! I didn't really know that till I saw pictures from last year. Wow, what a difference.

      Delete
  4. I love the fresh, happy look of your plants and creatures (the pictures are gorgeous!)! We need some rain!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Funny, this year it was you out on the west coast needing rain, when you're usually so green and lush! The rains finally stopped, and we are having our usual dry summer now. Phooey.

      Delete
  5. Robin, your garden looks so lush and beautiful, and clearly the plants and the pollinators love it. I have experienced both summer droughts and summers with almost daily thunderstorms, and I definitely prefer the rain! We have had lots of rain so far this summer. I think it may have something to do with El Nino. But we still have August to go, and hopefully the rain will continue.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The heavy rains we had earlier made my garden so green and lush, but at one point it was so wet and soggy that we could never even peek at the sun! Now we have our usual, hot and dry.

      Delete
  6. I know it's too much rain for you...of course we have the opposite, but your plants are stunning...lush, and gorgeous.

    It's so odd how many parts of the world seem to be turned on their heads regarding weather...I'm sending you some sunshine!

    Jen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It has been such odd weather all around this summer, hasn't it?

      Delete
  7. Robin girl we could use some of that rain here ... it is so HOT with no rain .. not as bad as Jen has it though!
    Before 9 AM it is already 26 with humidity to choke you with .. I slept in to almost 8 this morning so that took my plan for watering off the schedule .. tomorrow for sure !!
    Your plants look VERY happy no matter the rain .. I think given the choice they would choose rain over drought any time ? haha
    I swear this mystery plant had to be something else .. mislabel incident yet again ! Waiting for it to flower to have some idea what it is ... and ? it is VERY leggy or should I say long legged ? haha
    Gorgeous plants looking very happy indeed !
    Joy : )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My plants truly have loved that extra rain, they've grown enormous this year!

      Delete

Thanks so much for commenting, I always love to hear from my readers! I'll respond by commenting back on your own blog.