I think we have a winner in the mystery flower contest. A blog-reader named Terry identifies it as a Gloriosa daisy, the cultivated version of the Brown-eyed Susan. (See earlier post: Name that flower)
Gloriosas are very tolerant of heat and humidity. They love weather like this, in other words.
True enough. My neighbor's patch of Gloriosas looks fresh as ... a daisy, while so many other things are shriveling up. I thought of taking pictures of my dessicated hydrangeas, but how depressing would that be?!
I know rain is coming, but I couldn't stand it anymore and yesterday headed for the hoses and started watering. It's best to do a deep watering, so as not to encourage shallow roots, so I resigned myself to a couple of hours of standing there holding a hose. Two hours later - boy, did the time go fast - at least one part of the garden was looking peppier and this morning, despite the already stifling heat, everything was still looking good.
All the experts advise against planting or transplanting in such heat, but I had a plant that was nagging at me to move it. Not sure whether this sunflower was one I planted from seed in May or one "planted" by a bird who fed from my late-season sunflower-seed buffet last year. In any event, a nice strong sunflower popped up along the walkway in front of a whole host of shorter things.
In the best gardening tradition, I made a mental note (gotta move that thing) and then ignored it until it threatened to get so big it would obscure all else. Yesterday, in the afternoon's final burst of energy, I gingerly uprooted it and moved it to the middle of the garden, amidst a sea of now-shoulder-high cleomes. Water, water, I gave it plenty.
It seemed a perfect place. It would immediately draw the eye as you enter the garden and wouldn't blot out anything else.
This morning I reflected on how dumb it was to move it yesterday. I was almost afraid to look at what I had done. Figured it had wilted overnight, rebelling against both the heat and my insistence on uprooting it on the hottest day of the year. But there it was ... perking right along, leaves upturned, asking for more sun, more heat, more dry weather.
Even as we humans are clamoring for artificial air-conditioning and complaining of the heat and humidity, the humble sunflower not only tolerates. It thrives.
Sorta like the Gloriosa daisy.
