One Good Thing About the Heat

It hasn't been easy to find much good to say about the record-breaking heat last month. But there IS one thing... I've never grown better moonflowers. These morning glory relatives love heat and rarely amounted to much in my Connecticut garden. But here in SW Ohio, they are spectacular. Last night, I counted 10 open blooms -- tonight, it was 16! The buds look like soft-serve vanilla cones, then unfurl as twilight approaches. I took these shots without flash, so there is still a bit of daylight when the blooms open.

We're careening towards the equinox, so the flowers are still open -- although growing limp -- when I fetch the newspaper in the dark at 6:30 a.m.

I salvaged one freestanding, 4-legged trellis from my garden, and we installed it near the front door here. An interesting vendor at the Flower Show at Coney Island was selling pots of annual vines, so I snagged a moonflower, a cardinal flower (source of the cut leaf under the white blossom) and a morning glory. Almost lost them all when the temps plummeted to 20 in April, but I kept moving them in and out as the weather seesawed, and they managed to survive, although all looked the worse for wear when I finally planted them, and basically sulked through May. I should have known better than to plant them all on one trellis, but they were so pathetic, I figured I'd be lucky if even one survived, much less thrived.

The moonflower has definitely won the competition -- I occasionally see bright red trumpets of the cardinal climber and one or two morning glories, but the moonflower has hidden the trellis, reached for the flagpole and would eat the mailbox if we didn't keep pushing it back.

The fragrance is heavenly, and an excuse to linger out on the front steps in the evening, enjoying the cooler evenings.