North Pole Weather 7/28/14

The sun will rise today at 4:34 in the morning, and set 18 hours 38 minutes later at 11:15 this evening. We’re losing almost 7 minutes a day, now. The weather is still cool and wet; we might get back into the 70’s by midweek.

July probably won’t set a new record for precipitation, but it will be close. Right now we’re sitting on 5.78” for the month, and I think another .2” would push us over.

Red Lynchis

Pink Lynchis

Possible hybrid

The lawn and garden are lush, and the weeds are thriving all too well. The squash aren’t doing as well as they would if it were a little warmer, but they have reached the harvestable stage. The delphiniums are getting indecently tall—two or three feet over the 7’ top of the lattice. I think I have three varieties of Maltese cross: the dark red I bought, a much smaller-flowered pink I started from seed, and a few volunteers that I think are hybrids: large like the reds, but a distinctly lighter color. I wish it would warm up and stop raining, though.

North Pole Weather 7/23/12

The sun rose at 4:22 this morning, and will set at 11:30 tonight for 19 hours 8 minutes of daylight. At solar noon, at 1:57 pm today, the sun will be just halfway up the sky, at 45°. It still don’t quite get as dark as civil twilight, though that’s only going to be true for about 4 more days. As cloudy as it’s been lately, it actually gets fairly dark.

Yesterday it cleared off and actually got fairly warm – my sister in Sierra Vista, Arizona said it was warmer here than in Sierra Vista! They must have been having a cold wave. I still don’t think we made it to 80 yesterday or in fact on any day in July. At least the garden is getting watered! Today is supposed to be cloudy again.

My tall delphiniums. The two salmon heads are lynchis, and the lattice is 7′ high.

What with the creative writing classes and the rain the garden has been pretty much left to itself, but I did get the beans and the zucchini picked yesterday. I think I’ll take the excess to class today, and if any is left over take it to the food bank.

I swear the delphiniums grow taller every year. This year the base of the flower stalks are mostly above my head and the tips, not yet open, are a good foot above the 7 foot lattice. It wouldn’t surprise me if some reached 9 feet. The lilies are well budded, and the lynchis is blooming. I’m pretty sure the lighter shade is a hybrid with the salmon lynchis, though the flower heads look quite different.