In the wildflower bed are lots of marigolds which need dead heading to keep flowering. There’s wild carrot too. I am fascinated how when the flower head goes to seed, it folds and becomes like a bird’s nest. There’s corn marigolds, California poppies, white campion and nipple wort. The latter is in the dandelion family which has so many similar looking species, that I wouldn’t put a bet on that I have it right.
Near the tap, a good place to be this dry weather, we a striking stand of yellow hollyhocks. The pond keeps delivering water lilies. There’s water forget-me-nots too. The tadpoles have gone which means I can’t see any. A few though stay at the tadpole stage through autumn and winter, and, if they survive, become froglets in their second spring.
In the Fothergill bed, we have achillea and penstemons. The fothergilla shrub flowered for a week or so, the white flowers described as like bottlebrushes, but have gone now. Heat moves everything on too quickly.
There’s agapanthus in flower here and there, blue balls of trumpet flowers. And our globe thistles have finally gone blue. We have a solar system of them in the herb bed.
The ultra hot dry days are coming. Last month, we had the hottest June days on record for the UK. The new high is 37.3 degrees in Suffolk. In Forest Gate it was 35 degrees on Friday 26th. All Europe was feeling the heat. July is building up to our next heatwave, made worse by lack of rain.
Climate scientists say the extreme heat is due to climate change, which is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, in our cars, in aircraft, in factories, offices and in our homes. Made worse by the increasing use of air-conditioning in the summer months, unless combined with solar panels. Climate deniers say the excessive heat is not caused by human agency, though I have yet to see them present a creditable climate scientist who has that view. I think they have got themselves up a gum tree. If you keep saying climate science is bunk, it is very difficult to do an about face, and say I have been wrong all these years.
The hottest months are July and August, so let’s see if this unwanted record breaking continues. June gave us southerly winds from the Sahara creating what would have been regarded as freak temperatures all over Europe. Climate science says they will not be; they will become the new normal as we continue to heat the world. A common view is that the UK can’t deny itself fossil fuels, even with climate change. But unless we take a stand and limit our usage, we cannot persuade other countries to do the same. We need more green energy (solar, wind, and wave power) and less fossil fuel usage much of which comes from unpleasant dictatorships. By taking their fuel we fund their brutal police states. All the tankers stuck in the strait of Hormuz are a bleak warning, a blackmail that can only be ultimately broken by a push for green energy in transport, industry and our homes. Of course, it has be governments who make the decrees, but governments respond to individuals, so we must all go greener or what we are witnessing will only get worse in coming years.