If The Weather Doesn't Cooperate, Just Wait a Minute

The hot, dry summer and fall created confusion for many of our plants. The trees turned brown and shed most of their leaves a month before their normal time to drop, but when the rains came last month, some trees began growing replacements. Those new leaves displayed far more fall colors than is normal for this part of the country. The are also more than a month late, and only now have the trees seriously begun shedding their leaves.

The shrubs and flowers are also perplexed. Our single rose bush has been totally ignored since I planted it under an oak tree three years ago. I'm not a rose fan and only planted it because it was given to us. It normally bears a few pathetic looking flowers in summer, but by November it didn't have a leaf left, and I was certain it was dead. It has never bloomed in the fall, but this is what it looks like today, after after several frosts last week.

It looks as if the Texas sage is also getting ready to bloom again. It loves hot summers, but it's awfully late for it to bloom.

The heat killed most of our encore azeleas, but one keeps trying despite being baked all summer and now frozen several times.