Nary a drop....

And the thunder rolled...but nothing happened. I thought sure we were going to get rain today and perhaps have a brief break from the heat and drought. The clouds came..the lightning bounced..the thunder boomed..nary a drop of water fell from the sky. It was a bit heartbreaking to see the plants so withered and dry. Each day, I try to water a different garden. I soak the ground in hopes that I can at least pull the plants through the drought. The heat combined with the dryness sears the ground and scorches the plants..yes..it is that hot and that dry. Today, the thermometer read 103. Late this evening, I dragged the hose to the north side of the house. Here, the squash garden lay bare. We had pulled out the dying plants and put in four rows of crowder peas. These peas are at least a bit more drought tolerant than most plants. But I did not come to water that garden. Next to the house there is a pathway with flowers on each side. These gardens have not been watered in weeks..I was trying to save the vegetables. The Irises and Day Lilies were already too far gone to benefit from the water but the Marigolds and Four-o-clocks still struggled on to put out a few blooms. As I was watering, a lovely scent filled the air!..the Red Crinum Lilies were in full bloom! How in the world can they be so lovely even with the lack of moisture?

The Red Crinum Lilies and the Peppermint Crinum Lilies are two of my favorite plants to have in the garden. Not only are they lovely but the scent is incredible! As the name suggests, it is a bit minty and lightly sweet. These lilies both grow quite large with the blooms reaching upwards near four feet tall. The Red Crinum is also known locally as "Ruby" lily. It is a lovely soft ruby red with each stalk bearing five to nine large blossoms. The Peppermint version of the Crinum Lily is equally large but is white or pale pink with darker pink stripes. These are definitely not a lily for a small garden or to be kept in pots. The bulbs in my gardens are near eight inches in diameter and are still growing!

A couple of days ago, I wrote about a quail that visited the bird feeders. I was elated to have him come and even put out a ground-level water pan just for him. Everyday, I scatter seeds on the ground and Hubby bought me a sack of cracked corn to supplement the quail's diet. This will be one well-fed bird! Today, though, I am a bit confused. While I was out near the feeders, my friendly quail paid a visit. I tossed a bit of feed on the ground and sure enough..he came running. To say that I was thrilled would be an understatement..I was ecstatic! I stood there wondering just how close he would venture. Sure enough, he kept coming until he was just about four feet from me. I tossed another handful of seeds and made a few clucking type noises. The quail seemed oblivious to my presence and just continued eating. After about twenty minutes of this he finally flew off to the clump of sawtooth palmettos. This whole incident started me thinking..is this someone's pet? Sure..I make friends with a lot of animals but my goodness!..a quail??? And so quickly? I will be out early in the morning to investigate this anomaly a tad further! I almost am afraid for the bird as Ms. Put is likely to take a hankering for quail for breakfast some day and this one would be an easy catch. After today's encounter, I told Hubby that I needed a "quail pen"! ................He just looked at me........and said nothing.