Drought August

 My July post was called Dry July, but now we've gone past dry, and all the way over to drought. We are currently in extreme drought condition, with no end in sight. Lawns are brown, trees and shrubs are fading, and my whole garden is struggling. I've been watering frequently, but there's only so much you can do at this point. In my garden, drought conditions always bring disease and pests right along with it. But you all know I don't like to show any ugly spots. Instead, I'll show you the good stuff, and you just pretend that's all there is. 

Even with an ongoing drought, butterflies are frequent visitors in August. I still haven't seen as many monarchs as I would like, but they did leave eggs on my milkweed. I currently have about 20 chrysalides waiting to pop, and tomorrow I may see about 6 of them emerge. Fun! 

Monarch laying eggs on balloon milkweed

Monarch eggs gathered! 

Hungry monarch caterpillars waiting for fresh milkweed 

Newly released monarch

August also brings a veggie party to Robin's Nest. It's been a feast of vegetables around here, but it sure makes a lot of work for me in the kitchen. I can hardly keep up with the tomatoes lately! But come winter, when I reach into the freezer and find sweet garden tomatoes waiting to be turned into something summery to eat, I'll be glad that I took the time to prepare them. The cantaloupes have been a big surprise. I mentioned the cantaloupe last month, but doubted I would get a successful harvest. I shouldn't have doubted it! I am duly impressed at how well they turned out, and how sweet and delicious they are. I'd like to try again next year, but I fear that if I grow them on purpose, they won't turn out. These were grown by accident, and simply popped up from the compost enrichment we gave to my roses. 

For some reason, my zinnias were underwhelming this summer. I don't know if I chose poorly performing varieties, or what, but the only ones that really turned out well are the Cut and Come Again that I always plant in the veggie garden. Even the Oklahoma Salmon barely bloomed. The sunflowers went wild in one spot, then barely came up in others. Of course the ones that really went crazy are taking over my walking path! I don't care, I just go around, because no flower makes me smile as much as sunflowers. 

Here's the part where I've zoomed into small areas of flowers that are still worth looking at. Truth be told, they're often surrounded by something brown nearby. With the drought, we've also had high temperatures, and it's been too hot for me to do much gardening except for watering. Hopefully September will cool off, and I can catch up on my garden cleanup. 

During these hot days, I've been catching on my reading, and other indoor pursuits. I found these tiny little birdhouse stakes to paint, and as usual, I switched out my tray decor. I haven't cooked or baked much, but my summer craving for peach desserts finally got the best of me, and I made myself these peach hand pies. I've never made them before, so they aren't pretty, but boy are they tasty! I just popped them into the freezer for summer splurging. 

The sunsets have been mostly subdued during this dry stretch, so I'll leave you with these two. Thanks for stopping by to visit my Nest. I so appreciate it! Hope to see you back here again at the end of September.