Settling into summer 

Jill Severn portrait

The fourth of July has passed and it’s getting hot. Independence Day has long been acknowledged as the real beginning of our summer, and often a time of relief from a wet, cool “Junuary.” But by Sunday, people are likely to complain about the heat. 

Nonetheless, the long, fierce heat waves in much of the rest of the country should remind us to count our blessings. The heat we will complain about is typically far less than the 109-115 temperatures my California sister has been experiencing. It’s been a long heat wave already, and it’s expected to last through the coming week. A couple of nights ago, a brush fire near her home was scary, and a possible preview of fires to come. 

We do not live in fear of fire, or prolonged catastrophic heat. 

So this week, in our lucky location, we are free to focus some attention on the rapid growth of our gardens, the abundance of newly fledged birds, and the billions and zillions of young, green, healthy leaves everywhere we look. 

I am spending time fawning over my favorite flowers and admiring my neighbors’ gardens. 

Next to my sunny front porch, a Corsican mint is covered in the tiniest flowers in my garden. It is a clever, creeping green patch that dies back in the heat of summer. The first time it did that, I thought it had truly died, but it came back the next spring. The next year it came back on the other, slightly shadier side of the sidewalk, and sure enough, that’s where it thrived and grew much bigger.  Smart plant. This year, it’s decided to try growing on both sides. 

Corsican mint

Here’s something else special about this plant: If you brush it with your hand, you get a powerful and distinctive mint fragrance. Some little boys I used to know would brush both their hands on it and then rub their cheeks – they called it “aftershave”. Now they are all old enough to actually shave. 

A honeysuckle vine that has been putzing along for several years has finally taken off and has been blooming for nearly two months already. It has grown past the top of the trellis and is decorating a bedroom window. It has also gotten close and personal with a neighboring climbing rose. 

Naturally, the honeysuckle’s abundant flowers are making hummingbirds happy. 

Honeysuckle and rose

One friend tells me he’s had the same experience with a slow-poke honeysuckle that is growing fast and blooming a lot this year. Another friend thinks this is true of many flowering plants, and that it’s a result of last year’s drought. He says, “I’ve noticed when plants shut down early due to drought stress, they respond the following season with an all-out push to procreate. There’s no science about this that I’m aware of, but I haven’t googled it.” So I googled it; and he’s right, there is apparently no science, but there is observation. And I do see similar evidence of early and extra-abundant blooming. It sure makes for good bouquets on the kitchen table. 

Summer bouquet

There are also the summer pleasures of ogling the neighbors’ gardens. I’m especially enamored with two of them: 

Daniel’s is just short of total anarchy. In a driveway visit a month or so ago, he said he only mowed half of his back yard, leaving tall grass where deer trust their fawns will be safe while they go out foraging. So clearly the poppies, Shasta daisies, lavender, lupine and a host of other plants in his front yard are not desirable to deer. 

Daniel's wonderful chaos

Just up the street from him is Chris Hyde, aka Souperman, who makes free soup for everyone and hosts Sunday barbecues in his back yard. His garden is tended by volunteers, surrounded by morning glories, and bordered in front by a very informal fence and California poppies. In it, kale, basil, tomatoes, potatoes and broccoli thrive. They will all grow up to be soup – or, since Chris is branching out, possibly other delicious dishes. 

Chris Hyde's garden

Everybody’s vegetable gardens are also entering the era of exuberance: squash plants are exploding, and baby tomatoes are appearing on burgeoning plants that will soon outgrow their cages, if they haven’t already. And it’s time to harvest all the lovely lettuce – quick, before the heat causes it to bolt and go to seed. 

Lettuce alone.

Baby tomatoes

So, tempting as it may be to complain, that would be a colossal waste of sunny summer weather. The NOAA forecast calls for the temperature in Olympia to top out at 95 degrees on Sunday, and to be back to 88 by Tuesday. And Sunday is the only night in which the temperature remains above 60. 

None of us know what this summer will bring in the coming months, but this week we’re in a pretty sweet spot. 

Jill Severn writes from her home in Olympia, where she grows vegetables, flowers, and a small flock of chickens. She loves conversation among gardeners. Start one by emailing her at  jill@theJOLTnews.com