Dry summer, wet fall

Summer was fairly dry in St. Louis, as my water bills will indicate -- there was much hose dragging around a few months ago. Now though, things have changed. Since September 1 we are something like 8" above our normal rainfall amount.

I've spent very little time in the garden recently because of this -- it's always raining! A few dry days are forecast starting this afternoon they say, so this morning was a good time to take a look at the damp.

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My normal rain gauge (this glass jar) stopped being useful a while ago...

...as it's filled to the top!

Difficult to see, but there's no more room for rain in here!

This trash can which was set out ready to help with fall cleanup has now taken the jar's role:

There is 7.5" (19cm) of water in it. I'm trying to remember when I last emptied it... a week ago? Maybe 10 days?

Echeveria blooms surprised me. Echeveria itself probably surprised by so much rain:

Glad I put down the last application of fertilizer (Milorganite) for all of the bamboos a couple of weeks ago -- it's gotten a good soaking now!

Which just means that I have to get rhizome pruning ASAP. Can't skip it this fall!


The castor bean planted under my deck has added another foot of height, making photos of the top even easier:

I suppose it's time to put away the hose until next summer...

I'll do that on a warm, sunny day so the thing will actually bend.

I had planned on taking several more shots of the garden to show off its damp lushness one last time before things start changing too much...

...but my camera battery died after this shot.

Maybe it's better that I wait until things dry out a little anyway.


Are you seeing any precipitation changes in your garden this fall? (To my friends in California, I think I already know the answer.)

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