Twin Oaks in July

Our rock terrace garden in early July.

The second half of the year begins with cicadas coming to life throughout our woods. The nightly emergence often rises to a kind of rhythmic reverb. Chchch-chchch-chchch. During the heat of the day a few of them sound off lazily here and there. They are especially loud around sunset, when they resemble some sort of electronic screech that can be somewhat deafening. 

Unlike previous months, July at Twin Oaks was hot and very dry. It rained just before July 4. For most of the month after that, every band of showers or pop-up thunderstorms produced rain all around us but none here. The heat cranked up into the mid-90’s, scorching grass and plants. The vegetation on the floor of the woods started to wither, as did most of our other plants. The first half of the month brought numerous blooms and blossoms that were fragrant and beautiful.  Most things withered later in the month.

Thanks to some nightly watering, the rock terrace reaches its peak for the year, though the dry heat quickly roasted many plants. Later in the month we had a terrific thunderstorm that produced 2.6 inches of rain in about 45 minutes. We lost power and suffered some tree damage. A fairly large maple tree broke off about one-third of the way up, its heavy leaves crashed onto the floor of the woods, luckily in such a way that it didn’t block any of our trails.

In early July everything is growing happily near the rock terrace steps.

Beautiful echinacea on our rock terrace.

Salvia near the echinacea.

Hosta near our carport.

Peachie's pick stoksia bloomed among the Blackeyed Susan.

Creeping thyme looking mighty healthy before the July heat shriveled it a bit.

A bottlebrush buckeye.  This plant, like many growing things at Twin Oaks,  just volunteered out of nowhere.

Our vitex bush in full bloom.

A closer look at vitex along with some of our spirea. 

Day lilies from Jennifer's grandfather.  They first bloomed in late June and continue to blossom through the first half of July.

This is just a weed of some sort.

Fruitless wild muscadine vine covers much of the ground in our woods in July.

A wider view of the summer ground cover of our woods looking northwest toward the lower field which is at the edge of the treeline.

Some kind of native pea with a critter along one of the walking paths in our woods.

A mimosa tree.  This is a classic southern tree for the middle of summer.  We cut all of ours down through the years because they are messy and don't live very long anyway.  This one is poking up through the privet hedge bordering our front yard and the road.

More Asiatic Lilies bloomed in the first part of July.

An Asiatic Lily above the rock terrace, towering over Saint Francis here.

Another spectacular Asiatic Lily strutting its stuff.

Little Miss Muffet caladium (left) and coleus (right) near our backdoor.

Blackeyed Susan speckle the lower field.  Even though we have seeded them for years they have never been as prolific in the field as they are around the rock terrace.

Black-eyed Susan in the lower field surrounded by a patch of goldenrod.

Sumac blooms in the heat of summer.  When we first bought the property there were dozens of these growing everywhere.  What we now call the "barnyard" was known as the "sumac patch" back then.  We only have a few left now.

The last of hydrangea of the year blooms in early July.  Its blooms are gone by the end of the month.

One of our crape myrtles in full bloom.

A very old miniature crape myrtle. One of the first things Jennifer planted on our property.

Arum italicum near our back door.

A baby wren it its nest, which was built on one of the large potted plants Jennifer has on our front porch.  We enjoyed watching the mama wren coming and going throughout most of July.

A doe in our woods.

Three black swallowtail on fennel on our rock terrace.  They love to munch on it.

A closer look at a future butterfly.

On the south side of our house in the strip of woods between us and our neighbor this Lamium galeobdolon (aka Yellow Archangel) covers a large space of the ground.  Jennifer planted this many years ago from seedlings she got from an old maid who lived near us and was a tenacious gardener.

The crescent Moon with Mars above my house about 6:15 one morning in mid-July.  Mars remained overhead through July.  Three space missions were launched during July due to the proximity of Mars with the Earth.  One by the United Arab Emirates, one by China and one by the United States which launched this morning.  

Our cherry tomatoes.  We used to have a big garden in the early years at Twin Oaks.  But, over the years, the population of deer has multiplied and they started eating most of our vegetables.  We never wanted to built the high fence necessary to protect the garden so, since other family members tended gardens, we just mooched off them.  Now we grow just a few plants and various spices.

Our Bell Peppers are coming along nicely.

The intense July heat conspired with a lack of rain for most of the month to bake our Blackeyed Susans, along with most everything else.

Jennifer surgically watered things during the hot dry spell to keep them alive.  Our Linton Rose were withering, as you can see in this photo.  The irrigation kept them alive until we finally got a decent rain.

Highlights: Cicadas everywhere. Lightning bugs diminish in the summer heat, not as plentiful this year. The last lilies bloom. Passion vine loves the heat and dry weather, proliferating such that Jennifer had to cut a lot of it out of the garden. Since it was hot and dry, I went three weeks without mowing. Taller grass survives the heat better than cut grass. Bermuda and crabgrass are prolific in the summer heat. The languid call of quail and doves is relaxing to hear. The crazy cackle of woodpeckers sounds tropical in my woods. Fantastic peach milkshakes from Chick-fil-A. We enjoyed some of the best tomatoes I have tasted in years, in many varieties. Fresh vegetables and all manner of salads, grilled chicken and hamburgers are the order of the day.  Along with...

All stocked up here.  Our carport fridge keeps our beer cold in the summer heat and humidity.