This Summer has been overall cooler long than in 2023. Last year was abnormally & brutally hot all Summer long and into late October. This year, there have been days significantly above normal and other days notably below normal. We've even had some days with cool, Fall temperatures back in July!!!
Bottom line is that the cool days (mixed in-between summer heat) back in July & August 2024 makes this September somehow now feel like the Summer is truly settling into closing down. Although we're still seeing days in the 90's and summer flowers are in bloom, there is already an intangible feeling of Fall in the air. Last year, it felt like Summer would never end.
2024 has been an odd year overall. Warm weather started back in February.
Come April, many of our Spring flowering trees totally failed to flower because they didn't seem to know what season it was. During the Summer, annual flowers did fine. However, my normally profusely flowering hibiscuses out-on-the-deck either didn't flower at all for the entire Summer, or else flowered sparsely.
That makes the above peach hibiscus flower a treat. This is only the second time it has bloomed since April... Normally, there would be new flowers on this plant every day during Summertime. I really wonder what season it thinks we're now in. Fall leaves have already started to drop from many of the trees that were late in leafing out in the Spring. As I said, 2024 has been a strange year.
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