I really will be glad when it starts to cool down some, hopefully next month. I have a few plants that simply are not doing well with this heat, and I'm just praying they'll make it until cooler weather. Even when it rains the day before, it seems these are always wilting, and I'm beginning to think something is wrong with the soil in that area. I may have to treat it for insects, although I hate to put poison in my soil.

Last year things grew like mad there, but this year they seem to be suffering. I have a lovely brugmansia that has lost almost all its leaves, despite watering and fertilization, and an iochroma next to it that isn't doing so well either. They were beautiful in the spring, but have been going downhill as soon as it started getting hotter.

My purple leaf plum never did fill out with leaves all the way to the tip of some limbs! So strange.

I'm thinking I'll cut the brug back and just let it come back out fresh. This is the time of year they love, so if I give it a fresh start, maybe by January, I'll be getting some more blooms.

Also, things I planted that took off at first are just stalled now! The heat this year has been atrocious, and even my shade plants under the oaks don't look well, because even though they are shaded, it is still very hot and dry.

I usually depend on the summer rains to get the plants strong and healthy for winter, but we've been drier than any summer I can remember since we had that three year drought.

I hate to say it, but we need a good storm! Not a hurricane, maybe just a mild tropical storm to dump some much needed water and cool us down.