In the heatwave

The lettuces are bolting & the climbing french beans are looking rather sorry for themselves, but quite a number of plants are thriving in the heat at the Annecy Gardens.

One herb that particularly enjoys these conditions is sweet basil, Ocimum basilicum. Last year, it entirely failed in the Gardens, but this year it's looking good.

Sweet basil, Ocimum basilicum

The sunflowers are also producing masses of heads, the bumblebees are very active on them, so there should be plenty of seed.

The maize, variety Zea mays 'Quadricolor', is also growing very rapidly in the heat & the variegation is becoming more pronounced, at least on some plants.

Zea mays 'Quadricolor'

A Californian annual, Gilia achillaeifolia, is also looking pretty & appears unfazed by the heat. The bees like it too.

Gilia achillaeifolia

Also just coming into flower is Verbena bonairiensis. This South American plant is an excellent nectar source for bees & butterflies & is valuable because it continues flowering for a long time into the autumn.

Verbena bonairiensis

Another plant that's very attractive to insects is the herb, hyssop, Hyssopus officinalis. Apart from being used to make an herbal tea, it is not really a culinary herb, but it's well worth growing just for its flowers. Below is pictured the white form, the wild type is blue-flowered & pink-flowered plants are also frequently seen in gardens.

Hyssopus officinalis, white-flowered

There are also flowers on some of the potatoes; while you're supposed to harvest first-early potatoes soon after the flowers have faded, the tubers on the variety 'Congo', pictured below, do not form until September or October.

Solanum tuberosum 'Congo' flowers

Because of the heat & dryness, we spent much of the work session watering.