next 7 days look like this.
111,111,111,110,108,107,108

no chance of rain all week. My citrus are holding up just fine. They need water 2-3 times per day. My meyer lemons are flushing leaves now and their spring fruit is rippening although smaller than last year. I think the late spring repot stunted it and my key limes fruits. My satsuma did get moved to a spot with shade during the midday. It was looking pretty tired and the fruits all stayed very small so I removed them in hopes it will re flush some leaves it lost this spring. My bananas, cannas, and plumeria are loving it except for my musa basjoo. The intense sun is burning up the new leaves as they emerge. Its in ground and 8 feet tall now so I cant really move it. My Gardenia is doing ok but really doesnt like the heat. It is in a spot the gets no sun after 12pm so that helps. My president hibiscus is also loving the heat and opening a new bloom everyday. I did the pot in ground trick and it looks awesome that way. I think I will do this next year with my plumeria and some citrus.

tropical bed. I plan to expand it this fall.

just keep on watering!

mike

Patty S.

Yup it is finally showering here Mike! It has been dry here too but not anywhere as HOT as you! We have not had more than 5 days of 90 this summer thus far.
Today it is 90 then the next few days in the 70's.
We had Canada to thank for the majority of our summers and especially winter which then I could do without.

It looks like all your plants are doing very well considering and I particularly LOVe those banana trees.
Do you protect the for the winter?
I am shocked that your Gardenia is doing well in those temps. Good work.

Patty has a great idea with the sunscreen thing. You should try that. There are many here who use that idea to protect their plants that have no trees.

I'll bet you can't wait to expand next year and watch, you will be looking all over for many more plant ideas up till then. I love the magazines..lol

Keep watering is right and keep up the good job. Beautiful.

Mike

I have planned to bring them under my awning tonight. Its basically a metal framed pergola with shade fabric on top. I usually us it to acclimate plants but now its to save them.

Hey Mike

glad you got rain. We are in the worst drought in 20+ years and the heat will be new records this week. Its absolutely crazy weather. Back in February we hit a record low of -15 and record snow fall for a single day.

The gardenia did suffer yellowing on about 30% yellowing of the leaves when I re-potted it. I didnt dare bareroot it it but I did soak the root ball in a bucket and removed a bit of the nursery soil. I have my fingers crossed it will make it through the heat.

the red abyssinian(close one with big green leaves) will get dug up and stored in the greenhouse. It should have more red leaves but the intense sun turns it green. I may move it somewhere shady next year. The Basjoo will get cut down to about 2 feet mulched well and maybe a trash bin over it. they will survive no problem this way. I also have a dwarf cavendish that is in a pot and will also go in the greenhouse. My palms will get little greenhouses built around them when it get close to freezing.

mike

I recently returned to OK for my high school reunion - luckily we had just endured a heat wave so I was kinda used to it. Pity the classmates flying in from Northern Europe.

Mike,

Sounds like you are having a huge heat wave.... WOW!!! I feel for you!! WE here on the East Coast are having a brutal summer as well...

I do have to check on all of my plants/ trees more often because of the intense heat.

Glad to hear you have tried sinking your pots. It really helps in this heat. I did this with some of my Plumeria and i also did place my Plumies inside larger pots with mulch in between to keep the heat away from the roots. They seem to like it better than last year when i just left them as is on the deck.

Loved all of your pics!!! Everything looks great!!

Take care,

Hi, Mike ( IN MA ) : )

Laura in VB

What part of OK did you come back too. Im in tulsa(green country) which looks more like brown country right now. We have 20+ year old oaks and maples dying because of the drought. There may not be enough foliage left to have any fall colors.

Thanks Laura! I am in awe of your plumie collection. I have seen your pics of the pots in pots method and they all look so great. Where do you get yours, online, ebay, nurseries? HomeDepot will carry NOID's every summer and one nursery here got in a few of Jungle Jacks. That is wher I got 3 of mine this year. Thank goodness they dont take up a lot of room overwinter or I would for sure need to expand the greenhouse.

oh ya we are headed for an all time state record of 115 degrees tomorrow. You know its hot when your temp outside is higher than Phoenix

take care
mike

I usually collect my Plumies form friends. Thats why i like to share with others. They are called "The giving tree" in Hawaii....We cant buy them here in Virginia. The only place i did find them at one nursery. They wanted 39.99 for a NOID.

When i do purchase i use JUngle Jacks, Maui Plumeria Gardens and Florida Colors. (Carol and Luc) are great people and do wonderful grafting on some trees.

You are so lucky to see JJ's available at certain stores. John is a great guy and will help you with all that u need.

I would love to visit his open house each year at his nursery. Talk about drooling!! LOL...

When i visited CA in April, i did bring back a few cuttings... some from the show and some from great people out there in CA.

If your ever looking for a certain variety, let me know and i can see what i can do for you!!!

Hope you all stay cool!!! It's been hot here, but not like what you all are experiencing!!!

Im impressed with your different tropicals and citrus trees...everything looks great!!!

Take care,

Laura in VB

I would say that I do not miss the weather but we are breaking heat records out here too (and we had a few tornadoes earlier this summer).

The west side of Ok is having a really bad summer. Some parts havent had rain in over 100 days. I have family down by clinton who rely on the crops for summer work and they havent had hardly any to work. As you know the weather here changes almost daily but this year I have really hated it. Spring was way to wet then shortly after we have weeks of nice temps but 20 plus mph winds and gust to 30. Now its so hot and dry. Oh well we make the best of it wherever we are I guess.

Meyer Mike.

I need your advice on my gardenia. I think the heat is really hurting it and I dont know what to do. I think I told you that it get sun from rise to about noon and then full shade. Im afraid the ambient heat is really effecting it. The older leaves are yellowing which I know is somewhat normal but now the rest is getting lighter in green and it just looks tired. I know it needs cooler temps but I cant give it any. Do you think it will make it.

mike

Mike, I think your Gardenia will be ok, but very sickly looking until the root temps start to drop at least into the 60's.
It may even look dehydrated as the leaves loose their gloss, firmness and starts to look a pale green.
I hope very soon at that! Mine do the very same thing so I too have to keep them out of full sun until temps drop and especially, get this, especially watch the amount of water I give them.
You see although the temps may be hot, the roots are very impaired to take up water which leaves them very susceptible to root rot and dehydration in a sea of moisture at the root level.
If you are growing in the 5.1.1mix or close to it, it should be fine.
We both know that once the process of drinking water is impaired in any way, this plant will shed it's leaves like an agora cat on a hot day.
Let me know how it does.
Too bad there wasn't a way to keep something cooler around the pot to lower the temps at the root zone.
You know, maybe until the heat wave is over, you could bury your pot into the soil until it's over? Just a thought. i would. If you do so, make sure you wrap it in weed blocker cloth to keep the bugs out for now:0)
Good luck Mike.

Laura: I must say it is so nice to see you visiting here! I don't recall, but how are your citrus doing, especially in your heat? I know your plumeria must be loving some of it, or at least the flowers!
Have they decided to jump into the pool yet?:-)
I must say being at the plumeria forum has certainly opened my eyes to all the wonderful plants you have.Wow!
I think you are suppose to cool off soon. My temps this am were 58 degrees! It felt like Fall already! Yikes

John: The weather where you are must be VERY humid. I saw some nasty storms in your area the other day. You must get some wild ones.
It is good to see you again.

Mike

When I say shower, I mean that, no down pours. The most rain we have had all summer, since the end of May actually is about an inch with a almost hit tornado.
The storms do the very same thing here as your area. Years ago it never did but for the past 20 years the storms that approach us die out too just about 10 miles from me and no one can explain it. They say it due to development.

The surrounding communities bask in plenty of storms and rain while the local area dries like a desert all summer until the cool North East winds in fall kick in and bring in low clouds and drizzle.

I hope you get that much needed best pH rain water you can to make your plants react very happily. They do react I tell you.

Mike

by the way, anyone try substituting ice for water on citrus in this 100+ weather?

They are all in containers. It sounds like a lot but recently it has been so hot and so dry that they need it. I can water in the morning and by afternoon some are wilting. I use the gritty in most and the 5.1.1 in others.

Good News. On saturday we got .75" of rain and in 20 minutes the temperature dropped from 109 to 79. Only bad thing was we had straight line winds around 70-80 mph for about 10 minutes. Nothing got damaged thank goodness.

mike

its raining again right now and its 69 degrees. We havent seen temps in the 60's since June 23rd. On a side note Oklahoma averaged the highest temp on Record ever for the month of july in the entire USA. the old saying goes around here " If you dont like the weather, wait a few days and it will change." i havent had to water anything in about 4 days.

mike

Mike, and watch your plants react as if they had steroids after watering them day after day with tap!

Watch the tornados! It's 67 here too.We never saw anything above 90 except for a couple of days.

MIke

nest few days will get into the high 90's again but at least we got a break for awhile.

Mike

It's already in the low 60's and the air is very dry. Very comfortable, but much like September a month early. The crickets are crazy tonight, a 2 weeks early.