That is a term that we do not hear much. There are not many plants that it applies to. Cyclamen is one of the more familiar plants that is summer deciduous. It is from a climate with reasonably mild winters and unpleasantly dry and warm summers. Just like most deciduous plants are dormant through winter to avoid the unpleasantries of the weather, cyclamen defoliates as the weather gets warm in early summer to avoid the expected heat and aridity. It somehow knows how to stay dormant until the weather starts to get cooler in autumn, and is ready to regenerate new foliage and bloom as the rain starts. The active growing season is through autumn, winter and into spring. It is all a matter of taking advantage of the weather while it can, and avoiding the discomforts of severe weather when necessary.
Rhody, like most dogs, has been shedding his fluffier inner winter coat through spring. He still seems to be too fluffy for the weather, but he must know what he is doing. The remaining wiry outer coat provides a bit of shade, and helps to dissipate a bit of warmth when necessary.
Unlike Rhody, I do not have a fluffier undercoat to shed. All that I could do is shed some of the sparse and wiry outer coat. It might have provided shade, but also interfered with cooling air circulation. It does not seem to be designed to dissipate heat like Rhody’s is. Regardless, it was shed just before the Summer Solstice, and will not regenerate until autumn. A barber sheared back the upper evergreen growth first. I then pollarded most of the lower growth, leaving only a pair of formally shorn hedges flanking the upper margin. They too may be removed soon. Antithetically of https://tonytomeo.wordpress.com/2018/01/17/winter-coat/
Tony Tomeo 
Woah!!! Mind you don’t catch cold!
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Looks much better! Now to turn up the lips, and you’ll be all set to go!
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Rhody is adorable in his fur . You, well I hope it took care of your fleas .😎
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Holy moley! You could have a nice part time job as a rent-a-Santa during the holidays!
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Well, that’s a surprise after about six months of seeing a small photo of you clean shaven on your blog!
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My hair was mostly brown back then too.
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Top photo of you Reminds me of what Jack used to look like after 6 + months on the road. Around December little kids would tug their mothers hands and point, I’m sure they thought he was Santa
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Yup. I have had young children climb on my lap in the coffee shoppe and start telling me what they want for Christmas.
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😄
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My niece wanted to do cornrows with beads in it. I probably should have done so, even if just to get a picture.
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Yes would look very trendy
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Clever sequence! Interestingly, I saw a cyclamen in a nursery here last week—with leaves and in flower.
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They can do that if sheltered. When I was a kid, my cyclamen lasted until the weather got hot, which in our climate, sometimes took a while. We have warm summers, but it does not get very hot.
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Hair today, gone tomorrow!
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The chops will probably be gone within a month or so. My colleagues do not like them.
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All that looks a lot cooler. You have a good gardener, groomer, barber…….. 🙂
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The barber only took the top off. She does not mess around. In Los Gatos, there are no barbers, just stylists. The difference is that barbers cut hair. Stylists just move it around. Anyway, I did the rest myself. The chops will likely come off soon, depending on what those whom I work with say about them.
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You seem to have avoided the error a friend of mine once made, of leaving it a little late in the summer to shave off the beard. The rest of his face was already tanned and it took a while for the lower half to catch up.
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I do not get that pale, and the beard is not that shady. It normally leaves in spring, but has stayed right through summer before as well.
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Not everyone can grow a beard like that! I know where you can get a pretty good job during the Christmas season….
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I am terrified of children, even though they really like me. Some parents are remarkably comfortable with their kids sitting on my knee to tell me what they want for Christmas. I get nervous about it because I think I would not want my child to do that sort of thing with a stranger.
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I’ve never been great at keeping indoor plants alive, so my husband got me a cyclamen when we had just started dating because the lady at the nursery told him it was hard to kill. I knew it went dormant in the summer, so when it looked dead I figured that was what happened. Nope, I killed it. I’m hoping for better luck with my outdoor flowers!
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You know, that is a misconception about cyclamen. I find that they are difficult to kill once they are established out in the garden.However, in pots, they are very susceptible to rot. They were forced to look as good as they do in a synthetic greenhouse environment, so it is difficult for them to adapt to the outside world, even if it is inside the home. Most of us do not mind because they are grown as annuals. If I am going to pay that much for an annual, I intend to grow it as a perennial!. They may not be as pretty in the garden as they are in pots, but they are more resilient than people think.
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Great post Tony. Great post.
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Thank you. I thought this one was sort of silly.
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Reblogged this on Tony Tomeo and commented:
Should I be embarrassed by this article from three years ago? Yes. Am I? No.
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