Rain at last!

June, July, and the first week of August have been terribly dry; add the two weeks of appalling triple-digit heat--including a new record high of 114 degrees--and you can imagine the effect on the trees, gardens, farms, and ranches.  Even my ten-year-old redbud is very stressed, with some leaves dropping and others ominously browning.  The live oaks are shedding the undeveloped acorns in huge numbers (though I will be happy this Fall, not having to rake and sweep up bushels and bushels of acorns!)  I've lost shrubs that had been well-established.  Although I've been watering the fig tree and the asparagus bed, along with some of the roses, the heat has been so relentless that all of these are suffering.  The fig has dropped a lot of immature fruit, and what does ripen is much smaller than last year's bounty. 

I woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m. to the sound of thunder--the third day in a row!  Not only did the storm fronts bring us desperately-needed rain, but the blistering temperatures have abated at last.  Monday night we had a series of storms, with just over an inch and a half of rain. Yesterday's early-morning storm was brief but violent--toppling a trunk from our neighbor's silver maple into the back yard. This tree is now slated for removal.  Hoorah!

Fortunately, it missed almost everything!