The Missing Monsoon Trough and the New Gardening Year

Interesting to read about your climate and gardening routines to go with it. You have some beautiful flowers to look at :)

Thank you Hywel. I'm always fascinated by the weather conditions that affect people's gardens and love learning about the impact it all has on gardening routines and preparations.

Very beautiful pics! I especially love the Mussaenda ‘Calcutta Sunset’! The Cassia fistula is awesome, also!

I have Cassia fistula in a pot. I have no room in the ground for this tree, unfortunately. It grows too fast and large.

I have the same problem with all my Acalyphas. The grasshoppers love them! But, Acalypha grows so fast, it doesn’t cause a problem. I have 5 or 6 varieties of Acalypha in the ground. The yellow and green variety is called Kona Gold here. Is it called the same there?
In Florida there’s a different name for this variety.

Thanks Delonix. I'm not sure what the green and gold variety is called now. It's been growing here for over 30 years now, so I doubt it had a variety name back then when it was either purchased or struck by the previous owners.

I know it’s called Copperleaf in Southern Florida.

Do you take cuttings from your Acalphya? I just started taking cuttings recently even though I’ve had my original plant for about 20 years.

This year is the first time I've taken cuttings, and so far I've had luck with them which is great.

Nice to read about your gardening "exploits" BB! Your conditions are so very different from those we have in the UK!

Though I lived & gardened in Spain for many years on balconies, & had to make allowances for the blazing hot summer in the summer we never had to face cyclones or hurricanes or monsoons like you do just the absence of humidity made gardening more difficult.

I discovered how the Spanish water their gardens, (mostly vegetable), by pulling back a circle of soil from around the base of their plants & pouring water in the depression & flooding them. In rows they pulled the soil back & did the same. As I gardened on a balcony I only had to water the pots - frequently!

Balcony, I always view the challenges here as opportunities to learn. The technique you described used in Spain for growing vegetables is very similar to practices used here in some areas of Australia. We are always looking for ways to use water efficiently and effectively. It's such a precious resource.

You are right about water use, here in the UK water is very rarely a problem so it is often taken for granted. In the coming years, due to climate change, that attitude will have to change as heatwaves are forecast to happen more frequently & be more intense leading to drought conditions in many parts of the country.

People will have to forgo lush green lawns & watering of our plants. We will have to use more Mediterranean style plants that are better adapted to dry, hot conditions.

Yes I agree, I do think the attitude of gardeners in some areas of the world will likely have to change soon, with conditions becoming drier.

In my corner of the world, we have to pay for the water supplied to our houses as part of our rates, and there are excess fees if we go over the yearly limit. Gardeners are often amongst the group that have to pay excess water rates.

When our dam that supplies the water to our city starts to dry up, we then have further water restrictions. We've had years where we have even had to time our showers so that we don't use much water. We have even had to place buckets in the shower to catch the excess water and use on our gardens.

We also use greywater from our kitchen sinks, bathroom sinks, showers and bathtubs to water our gardens.

We also pay for our water through council rates but, as far as I know, there is no limit to what you can use. Occasionally in drought like years a hosepipe ban comes into force & people can no longer wash their cars or water their lawns (or gardens for that matter!). I use loads of 2lt water bottles, most of which I've had since we moved into this flat over 20 years ago! (How's that for a recycling record! :D)

That is a very impressive recycling record. I have also used large water bottles, but have never kept them that long. It'a amazing how creative we can get when we need to keep our gardens going.

Thanks, BB! :)