Thou Shalt Not Whine About the Heat

I have a little wooden plaque prominently displayed above my cooktop in my kitchen where I can see it everyday.

It reads:

I wish I could say that I am a faithful follower of that rule, but I have to confess that I have been known to whine "every now and then" ... and it seems that "every now and then" has become more and more often now that summer has arrived, bringing temperatures in the mid-90s and heat indexes hovering around 115.

I've been practically hibernating the past couple of weeks, only going outside to water my plants on our porch, and to watch the flowers planted around our courtyard slowly fade and wither under the sizzling June sunshine. It's as if they are on "death row," just serving their time until the inevitable happens -- I can't stand looking at their little yellowed leaves and scraggly blossoms any longer and pull them up!

I braved the noonday sun yesterday (97-degree high/117-degree heat index) to capture some pictures of my struggling red Verbena patch.

It doesn't look so bad from a distance ...

But when you look more closely, you see that it's really suffering.

Especially when you consider that it looked like this just a couple of weeks ago:

And, sad to say, I've already put some pink Verbena that was in one of my urns out of its misery, and this poor little "death row" plant's days are numbered, too.

This is the way it looked a couple of weeks ago, bless its heart:

When I looked out the window yesterday morning at the red Verbena, it seemed to be gasping for breath and begging for mercy, so I decided it was time to put it out of its misery, too.

While I was out running some errands, I stopped by Home Depot and was delighted to see a cart filled with a new shipment of "Chapel Hill Gold" Lantana plants that they hadn't even had time to price yet. They looked so fresh and GREEN and healthy, and I just couldn't leave them there. I thought they would be perfect to replace the Verbena.

I didn't get the Lantana planted yesterday, but hope to this afternoon when it cools off a little (hopefully, without too much whining about the heat, and before dark!).

Oh, and did you notice what it says on the tag? It says, "Promised Performance." I wonder if that means it will be granted a pardon before reaching "death row?"

I turned the tag over to read the planting information, and discovered that the sale of those Lantana plants supports the Sweet Melissa Lung Transplant Fund. I was pleased to be able to contribute in a small way and thought that was very nice lagniappe. If you would like to read Melissa's story, you can click on the link.

As I continued to read the "fine print" on the back of the tag, I also learned that "Asexual reproduction of plants protected by the Plant Patent Act is prohibited." So, remember that the next time you think about reproducing your plants. You don't want to end up on death row, too! That would result in some major whining, I think.