Overcast skies this morning, we have not seen that for a while. Cooler temperatures are expected through the weekend, with a high only at 80 degrees.
The garden is coming back to life, perhaps with the end of the end of the intense heat. Two of three bottle brushes are showing their deep red brush flowers. The third bottle brush is on the west side of the slope garden partly sheltered by the valley oaks. The blooming habits of bottle brushes are a continuing mystery to me.
I reduced the drip irrigation in the front garden to once a day and will monitor. The camellia that has sheltered under the front porch for the summer may need to be rolled out into the air.
Today, with gloves to avoid contact with poisonous sap, I cut back the white oleander in the front border garden by half. I removed suckers and outliers, and trimmed branches eight to twelve inches away from both the sidewalk and the house wall. I expect it to bloom to its full size again next summer. I applied another round of Sevin dust to keep the mange in check.
The asters finally have buds. I regret having to cut back branches that are falling onto the sidewalk before they have fully bloomed, but a generous number of branches and buds remain. I hope October has sufficient sun to encourage the spectacular blue blooms outside my bedroom window.
Outdoor and indoor temperature reached equilibrium around 6.00 this evening, 75 degrees
A Year at the Snake 