After the Rain

  

Japanese irises (forefront) began blooming at the end of last week. (Click on a photo for a better view.)

 

        We have been experiencing a drought here in Georgia for the last few weeks, with south Georgia bearing the brunt of the hot, windy weather. The Highway 82 fire in Brantley County has burned over 20,000 acres, and, as of yesterday, is only 6% contained. The Pineland fire has burned an estimated 32,331 acres, and is only about 10% contained. These are among the worse fires the state has ever seen, according to news reports, and the amazement of a local woman indicates how unbelievable some may find these Georgia fires, which have also destroyed homes. "Only 10% contained," she exclaimed this past week in a local gathering. "How can a fire be only 10% contained?"

        Anyone who has lived in the west understands very well how a wildfire can be only 6% or 10% contained after days of fire-fighting, for the West has long experienced wildfires, droughts and high winds feeding flames that travel long distances, destroying everything in their path. Those wildfires, however, have increased in intensity and speed and have started earlier in the season during the last 30-40 years, due to climate change.While Tom and I lived in Eagar, Arizona, we were lucky enough not to have a wildfire come dangerously close to where we lived, but longtime residents certainly had that experience in the Wallow Fire of May and June, 2011, which started in the White Mountains near Alpine, a town just 28 miles from Eagar. The fire was finally contained by July 8th of that year, and had burned 538,049 acres of land, from Arizona into New Mexico. The largest wildfire in Arizona history, it destroyed 72 structures, including 32 homes, and cost an estimated $109 million. 

        And then, in May of last year, the Greer Fire, which started near the town of Greer, about 20 miles in the mountains from Eagar, AZ, burned 20,308 acres, and came, as close as I could tell, to about a mile from the house that Tom and I had owned when we lived in Eagar. Fortunately, by the end of the month, that fire was contained.

        Today we've had rain in the Atlanta area, and rain is predicted tomorrow for south Georgia. So maybe the fires there will soon be contained. Here I am happy for the rain that has watered my garden. I was out in the front yard earlier in the season weeding my flower beds and adding mulch, but I got a late start on the vegetable garden. And because I am a member of the Love is Love Farm CSA, I don't plant a lot of vegetables here, as the weekly delivery of vegetables from that farm begins this week. I did plant okra, tomatoes, 3 pepper plants, 2 squash plants, one cucumber plant, and, in late February, potatoes. Gardening has long been a habit that I find difficult--impossible--to kick.

The Irish potatoes are doing well,

I purchased the squash and cucumber plants from Oakhurst Garden.

I usually grow tomatoes from seed, beginning in February, but for the last two years, I have purchased plants. These are from Garland's Garden in Scottdale, GA.

 

My amaryllises have begun blooming.

This is the native plant garden I planted in Tom's memory. There are a few non-natives in this area, but most are native. Most of these flowers will begin blooming in early summer.