August, are you trying to kill me?

hanging on by a thread

August has been brutally hot, although we did have about five lovely (life-giving) days last week. This upcoming week will erase that pleasant memory with some triple-digit heat. Making matters worse is how dry it is. My dusty ground looks like something you would see in the streets of an old Western movie.

A desperately dry Alabama Snowreath

As one who thrives on my time in nature and my native plant garden, I struggle when I see plants and critters struggling to stay alive, let alone flourish. I'm also experiencing a bit (a lot) of withdrawal from not being out and about with my camera photographing my favorite subjects, especially mountain streams with crystalline waters tumbling over mossy rocks. Oh, how I miss the sound… the smell! 

The good news is that there is change in the air. A significant weather trend, with lower temperatures and hopefully some rain, promises to give us a break after this next week. All the berry-producing plants are heavily laden this year, a bounty for birds and visual candy for us two-legged types. We so often forget to add these berry-producing plants to our gardens. I encourage you to see what is available to plant in your part of the world.

In other good news, yesterday, I taught a class on Mosses at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens in Nashville for an enthusiastic group of people who wanted to know how to grow a Moss Lawn or Moss Garden. I brought along lots of moss samples with their corresponding names, as well as my favorite Moss ID books. We concluded our class by taking a pleasant stroll down the hill to the Japanese Garden, which has an extensive area of mosses at the entrance of one of the pavilions. We said our goodbyes, and I left feeling that I had successfully made a few moss converts.

I will stay positive during this period, knowing that conditions will improve soon. In the meantime, I will enjoy the Hummingbirds visiting my garden. Their acrobatics, as they dip and dive, guarding their territory around the Hummingbird feeders, are a source of constant entertainment. I keep fresh nectar (sugar and water) in their feeders, as it can quickly go bad in the heat. I will continue to water (as best as I can) my garden and container plants and keep my ground-level birdbaths filled with water. The surrounding birds, box turtles, and other wildlife will find a little oasis here to get them through the heat and drought.

I will also end this article with a photograph of a mountain stream with boulders so you can imagine that you are there now, taking a stroll beside it, taking your picture, or propped up on a boulder reading an engaging book.