I havent heard the stats for this summer but I'm going to say that it was likely the hottest in our 140 years of record keeping. Winter and Spring were well above normal and this carried into the summer when Western Canada was under the so-called "Heat-Dome" The heat stretched from the American Pacific Northwest where cities like Seattle and Portland saw temps over 100F and Lytton BC hitting the alltime heat record in Canada at 47.9C or 121.1F on June 29th. Everything scientists said about Global Warming 20 or more years ago is now coming true and still some people treat this as a political or made up issue, well, it affects everything especially food prices wether you believe it or not. Well, lets not turn this into a lecture and just enjoy the effects of living at the end of the world produces! For once we did not suffer large hail storms early on as the heat dome made us hot and dry, in fact it hardly rained at all and I can count on one hand the number of times it rained June thru August! The lack of rain made for a much less verdant growing season but the extreme heat and warm overnight lows benefitted some plants immensely like zucchini and made others bloom 2 or more weeks ahead of normal.
This was also an unusual summer for another reason as my older sister died suddenly of cancer, please no condolences as we were estranged for 29 years but we did have a pleasant conversation the day before she passed. Needless to say this really diverted my attention from gardening to taking care of several of her affairs, there are so many things that come up in this kind of situation so really the lesson is to plan ahead!
For this roundup I will use pictures from June 21 to September 21 even tho summer seemed to extend before and after these dates, it is now Friday October 8th and we really just had our first light frost! Compare to the usual mid September, we often have snow before now so I cherish all the frost free times!
The last day of spring finds the vegetable garden in and on its way, the little greenhouse was great for boosting the peppers inside and all the plants around as well!
After only 20 years this is how the Martagon Lily looks.
I collected Cow Parsnip seeds in the wild and had one grow this year. The large dimensions are wonderful and the scent is very nice, also loved by various insects and birds. The ripe seeds smell like celery!
I rescued this Persicaria polymorpha, Alaska Knotweed, a few years ago, do not mistake it for Japanese Knotweed. Long bloomer and large perennial!
Coal Seams black Iris, black leaves matter!
This was the sky the night the "Heat Dome" was on its way to Calgary, looks perfectly normal, nothing to worry about!
Some forcast!
Native Prickly Pear loved the heat
Some stats
Records broken
My thermomoter
Red Martagon Lily, was not expecting this as it was recently moved twice!
Hope For Humanity rose also loved the heat
This large flowered Calendula variety came from my greenhouse days years ago and really popped up again this year.
The vegtable boxes getting going
And a random Amaryllis, one never knows when they will bloom
A potted red variety of Hen and Chicks
These delphinium have all grown as self seeded volunteers
A different angle of the veg boxes
The zucchinis really take off!
Half moon, its not me cameras are just getting better.
Adelaide Hoodless rose
Smokebush and its vibrant new growth
Extreme close-up of Clustered Bell Flower, a Calendula variety
An immature Echinacea
New to me for 2021
Green Nicotiana, Langhdorffii, a Royal Horticultural Society variety from the UK, grown from seed. Charming and profusly blooming, the only drawback is they are scentless unlike their larger nicotiana cousins
Purple Kholrabi, seemed to grow well and got quite large by September, a nice raw veg!
Sugar and Spice Sweet Peas, I did not read the package carefully and didn't notice they are miniature. Apparently they would be good as a hanging basket, I will try that next year.
Tigridia or Tiger Flower, given to me by my brother-in-law from a dollar store. I potted the little bulbs up in March expecting nothing. By late summer the palm like foliage sent up these flowers which only last one day but boy is it worth it!
How about in red?
I think they were a wonderful surprise, I have never seen this flower before, everything about them is unusual including the cup like base.
Quinoa, ordered the seed from West Coast Seeds. I'm not so interested in it as a food crop but just generally as a plant. I have 14kg of the stuff and I always think I should eat more of it but not tonight. It resembles what we call Pig Weed on the prairies, and may be related but it grows much taller.
Where it is grown in South America looks a lot like Alberta, barren with high mountains looming in the distance so I thought it would love Calgary. Apparently is ready to harvest when all the leaves fall off. No birds or squirells have gotten into it, the damage you see is from one late season freak hail storm.
Memorable Moments
Amur Cork Tree lookin' good
Ginko Biloba doing well this year
Kentucky Coffee Tree also doing well
Planted these cannas in the front bed
Kangaroo Apple grown from seed
Grew Snapdragons from seed and was not disappointed
This pot of nicotiana took on an Asian feel as it grew quite asymetrically
Portulaca and zucchini excelled in the heat!
Datura also loved the heat, never been better than this year!
Fullers Teasel doing what it does
Bella Lugosi daylily, a diminutive but interesting variety
Smoke! Lots of smoke as North America was on fire once again because of unprecedented heat.
The shade garden
Daylilies also did well this year, I divided these this spring but everywhere daylilies exploded!
The orange corner
Mango from pits
This reminds me of 1970's Sunset Magazine articles, lol
Shoo-fly Plant excelled in the heat growing to almost 5 feet tall
Shoo-fly Plant flower
An idea for this old shoe brush turtle thing
Down at Nose Creek one day...
And this little guy too!
It's bananas B-a-n-an-a-s!
There is a theme developing
I grew this Cobacea Cathedral Bell vine up the dead part of the sumac, they grew to the very top which is about 15 feet, I had to get out the ladder to photgraph this.
I noticed that zucchini leaves I cut and put in the green bin were not wilting so I put one in a vase, a few days later it sprouted roots!
The roots got bigger so I planted it in some soil but nothing really happened, it just hung out as a leaf sticking out of a pot. I'm not a biologist so I can't explaing to you what is happening but thought it was kinda nuts.
Was at the zoo one day, apparently we now think Corythosaurus was coloured like an Okapi?
My old favourite, Cockscomb
This Zinna looks like an old 80's album cover
Begonia and sweet potato vine
Raspberry Sizzle Geranium, the colour is so amazing I have kept this for several years now!
Cathedral Bell close up
Well, that's it, I have to go or the dog is going to go nuts. It was a crazy but awesome summer, I miss it already and dread the winter, I guess it will be spring before we know it again!
