Damage of a Different Type

Yesterday I posted about storm damage to a castor bean plant and some vines. Today it's more damage, but not from a storm. Today's damage is brought to you by a couple of weeks of extreme heat.

First up is this bamboo. It's a Fargesia dracocephala 'Rufa' (also referred to as Fargesia rufa) that gets a fair amount of sunlight. By "fair amount" I mean "probably too much".

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If you have an interest in bamboos you may know that Fargesias are clumping bamboos that typically can't handle sun, heat, or humidity. They do best in areas that are shady, aren't too hot and have cool nights. The 'Rufa' is a little different in that it can handle the heat, humidity, and sun better than most other Fargesias.

Apparently it's not a big fan of too many 100ºF days in a row though. I probably should have been watering this a lot more than I was, but it's not looking too bad actually.

Well, compared to this other 'Rufa' that's planted in pretty much full shade, it does look pretty bad. It will rebound though and once those fried leaves fall off it will look as good as the shaded plant. Well, probably not that good, but it will look fine.


Speaking of not watering enough, my big, beautiful, potted Elephant Ears (Colocasia esculenta) have really outgrown their pots.

I've been watering them twice a day during the heat, and it's still not enough.

Well, to be honest there was one day I didn't water this one until the afternoon, when it was super droopy, and that's probably when the most damage occurred.

It's easy enough to remove any of the ugly leaves with the pruners, and the plant looks as good as ever.

Before:

After:

The fact that it has fewer leaves now means that it will dry out less quickly too, which means a little less watering. I'll still need to water these pots every day, but at least I won't have to do it twice a day.

Interestingly, this other plant that's in front of the house is difficult to water well, but it sustained much less damage:

It takes forever for the water to seep into the soil, with the result being that this rootball doesn't get as thoroughly soaked as it should, and the plant droops almost every day. It gets less direct sunlight though, so I'm sure that's a big reason why this plant didn't see the leaf damage that the other one did.

So yesterday's damage was wind/rain, today's is heat... I wonder what tomorrow will bring?