I joke that my recent, annual tour of nurseries in the southeast is the coolest two weeks of the year. Seldom do my travel partners and I venture out of an air conditioned vehicle or hotel room, though after sitting and doing nothing for a week I managed a six mile hike in the one hundred ten degree heat index in Mobile over the weekend. I suppose my return to eighty-eight degrees in Virginia should feel pleasant, but of course the humidity makes certain that it doesn’t. My wife will go outdoors only as the sun sets, but after weeks away there’s stuff I must do in the garden.

With today’s more extreme heat I’ll spend more time in the shaded parts of the garden. Thunderstorms this week have veered to miss the garden, so I’ll be watering containers on the patios that dry out quickly, but I will not be watering anything else. Even new plants are now conditioned to the dryness, and of course I’ll watch for signs of decline, but I don’t anticipate breaking out the hoses. Still, the red leafed coral bell seedling (Heuchera) I moved into a shaded crevice between stone steps might need another sip to make it through the week.

As usual, I’ve forgotten the names of several exceptional Pineapple lilies (Eucomis) planted in recent years that are nearing their full glory. Often, the leaves flop to obscure the flowers, but happily, this summer the blooms are standing tall. There’s no mistaking dark leafed divisions of ‘Sparkling Burgundy’ (Eucomis comosa ‘Sparkling Burgundy’, above) that are scattered through half sunny spots in the garden, but others (below) also are marvelous in this dry summer. Again, I should keep better records so I have a clue what I’ve planted.

Belying its common name, the Pineapple lily is not native to a tropical paradise, but to the dry climate of South Africa. I suspect floppiness results from too much moisture rather than a lack of it. I suppose this explains why they look so happy while the rest of us are whining about the heat and lack of rainfall.