The climate here is mild. Winter chill is insufficient for some peonies and apples. Summer warmth is generally tolerable, particularly since humidity is generally low. Nonetheless, the weather occasionally gets quite warm. Fortunately, when this happens, it does not last for too long. It started to get unpleasantly warm on Wednesday, then remarkably hot on Thursday, but was then comfortably warm for Friday. I know that it is not much to complain about; but even brief warmth can damage the landscapes here.
1. Astilbe is something that I have wanted to grow since about 1987. I just never found a good excuse to do so. This is not mine, but was added to two of the landscapes at work on Wednesday.
2. On Thursday, a few of the fresh new astilbe looked like this. The weather got too warm, too fast. Gads! This is my first experience with astilbe. Fortunately, they are green and viable within.
3. Shade is certainly not a rare commodity here. Redwoods are the tallest trees in the World, and many live in and around the landscapes. It would have been even warmer here without them.
4. When I say that redwoods are tall, I mean that they are ‘tall’. This one is known as the woodpecker tree because woodpeckers store acorns in the perforated bark. Its shadow reaches Utah.
5. Anyway, this is how hot it almost got. The actual temperature was likely slightly less than this, but enhanced by the metallic roof above. What difference does it make? It was hot regardless!
6. Rhody knew what he wanted to do while it was so unbearably hot. He went out and laid in a sunny spot on the hot asphalt. He rolled around a bit too. He went for a swim in the creek later.
This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate:
https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/
Tony Tomeo 
We grew a lot of astilbes when we started the garden but as the trees and shrubs gained in size and dried out the ground, the astilbes dwindled so we have only a very few left now.
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So they do not compete well with more aggressive roots? That may be why they are uncommon here. I had been wanting to grow them for many years, but now that they are here, I have certain doubts. Redwoods are rather greedy.
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I think it is that the tree roots dried out the ground. They need damp to wet soil to thrive.
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Well, that could and would likely be a problem here. Redwood forests ‘feel’ damp because of all the dark foliage above. However, the soil below all the debris can get rather dry. Redwoods draw a lot of moisture!
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That is hot! No wonder the poor astilbe complained. Rhody has the right idea in that weather. Looks like he is getting used to having his photo taken. Love the redwoods, especially the woodpecker tree.
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Going for a swim was actually not his idea. He would have been content to roll around on the wickedly hot pavement. Immediately after the picture, I hastily grabbed him and took him inside until he went to the creek. That pavement did not seem to be safe. He seemed to cooperate for the picture only because he was distracted with rolling around on the pavement. The woodpecker tree is one of the few virgins, which are trees that were never harvested. Almost all redwoods here regenerated from clear cut harvesting more than a century ago. Virgins are something of a concern because there was likely a reason for their rejection. Some are obviously structurally compromised. I can not find a problem with the woodpecker tree, and I suspect that it was rejected because it was (at the time) a relatively solitary tree that was well branched on most of its trunk. Redwoods are grove trees, so typically shed shaded lower limbs, leaving an upper canopy, and straight trunks without branches. Unbranched trunks produce more clear lumber (with fewer knots).
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You’ve beaten me on heat and here it was followed by a day of torrential rain which certainly got everything going again. Good luck astilbe!
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The heat there might have been worse, or at least more uncomfortable for dogs and people, because of the humidity.
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There comes a point where it’s just hot, and whatever the thermometer says is almost irrelevant. I don’t mind the heat so much, but summer humidity on the Gulf coast is unpleasant, to say the least. I hope you get a break from your heat, dry or otherwise, soon.
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The thermometer is not accurate when it gets this warm. We all know it, but no one bothers to move it; perhaps because it does not matter much when it gets that warm. I think that the warmth here would be much more tolerable to those who are familiar with humid weather. Even here, it seems to me that 90 degrees is more uncomfortable than 110 degrees in Palm Springs, where it is even more arid.
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I hope Rhody liked the creek!
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Oh, of course. He came back all wet and muddy.
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Sounds like a wonderful adventure for a dog. 😊
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and a mess for me; although a happy dog makes it worth the trouble.
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Absolutely.
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Rhody is the opposite of my Mickey, who goes limp in the heat (we had 103 a week and a half ago), even inside with the AC on. It give me a break from his puppy energy! I sure hope there’s some rain for you soon. We are having to voluntarily conserve water due to a chlorine shortage.
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Most dogs go limp in the warmth, and Rhody should also. He would have content to just lay on the hot pavement if I had not brought him in. That seemed to be dangerous.
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Poor Rhody! It is not nearly that hot here! I tried Astilbe in Atlanta a few times and laughed at your second pic (sorry) as I had the same result. Another plant the gardening magazines get wrong as to where it grows…cold Zone 7 ?
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It is something that I really want to grow here because it looks like something that should live in a redwood forest. I suspect that there are reasons for its unpopularity.
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It’s that not living thing.
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Well, yes, that would be something of a deterrent.
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Love the redwoods and Rhody. But I have never had any luck with astilbe.
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Oh, this is not looking good for the astilbe. This seems to be the consensus.
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Even in our climate Astilbe is only for damp shade! Nice to see Rhody likes the heat… but a dip in the creek was probably much nicer! 😉
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Well, I did not think it was safe for him to be out on the hot pavement, regardless of how much he enjoyed it.
I am not getting a favorable response in regard to the astilbe. Well, I have no choice but to see what happens. If half of them survive, I will be pleased. I hope that more than half survive. There are a few in the neighborhood that I am supposed to dig and relocate over winter, but they are presently in a damp and shady spot.
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Too bad about the Astilbe. It may come back. I am not one of those who like it hot, except for hot colors.
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I suspect that the astilbe will regenerate in the short term. I am more concerned about it long term. I really want it to be happy, but am not getting much encouragement.
The sort of heat you get in you climate may be worse than what we get because it is accompanied by humidity. I never experienced that sort of weather, but am told that it is worse.
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