Humidity – The Felt Effects – Louisville and the South

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Steve

The signal difference between the places I have lived Out West and where I have recently relocated – Louisville, Kentucky – are stark and prominent. In a word – it’s the “Humidity”. When you hear people speak of ‘dry heat’ versus ‘heat and humidity’, one often wonders what they mean. But when you walk out of an airport in Louisville on a hot, muggy Summer day, following the series of plane journeys to get there, it nearly takes your breath away. Nothing really prepares someone for it.

And of course, literally everything grows. Man, does it grow! I had a comment the other day from my good friend James at lostinthelandscape who, like my daughter, lives in San Diego. His words were essentially to the effect – “How odd that Louisville looks much more subtropical than we do here in the subtropics!” 😉 It’s true, too. Currently, summer in Louisville feels downright Equatorial. 95 degree days with high humidity ratings make those 108 degree temperatures in Reno seem nearly mild in comparison.

Here is a mid-July look at the local park. Bear in mind it is not irrigated. With that humidity brings a different sort of rainfall pattern. When it rains here, it’s a deluge on a regular basis. Electrical storms are the norm – huge, magnificent and scary, with peals of thunder and lightning strikes all around where the lights blink in near-cataclysmic disruption and the ozone is ripe. Later on the year, of course, there are tornado concerns. They are fortunately very rare and there is plenty of advance notice but they do exist.

I do understand the science of humidity. More than anything else, humidity controls the “moisture loss” from a plant. A plant’s leaves have tiny little pores called stomata. This is where they essentially ‘breathe’. Carbon dioxide enters and water and oxygen leave in a near pulsation of Nature’s balance. A lower humidity increases the water loss as it attracts humidity almost like a magnet. It is also why I always insisted – to some dubious looks – that I could literally “change the weather” at a home by adding grass and plants. Inasmuch as the humidity in the center of a plant is 100%, it acts like a little humidifier in its small circle of influence. Imagine what grass does.

Mornings in Louisville see the humidity averaging around 82%. Afternoons, it is always 10-25% less. The Sun acts to dry things out during the course of a day and, of course, the heavy dews of Kentucky mornings increase it dramatically. Even in Winter in this 4 season climate, where the seasons are nearly absolutely separated by conditions implicit in their times, it makes for a ‘colder cold and a hotter hot’. It’s real!

Back to how it feels 😉

The smells linger in the air. This can be good or bad, of course, but it is also the oft-referred to quality in fiction and in references to the American South. I remember how the air was redolent with the sour mash scents of bourbon-making of my youth. My home town, Owensboro, had some preposterously huge warehouses housing the whiskey barrels of fermenting sour mash, soon to become Kentucky Bourbon, a rather famous – or infamous – export. It is so accepted, of course, we took class trips to watch them make that good old whiskey. Needless to say, hours of speculation occurred involving having the job of “taster”, complete with giggles and wonder.

But the scents can also be attractive, alluring and very sensual. A lady’s perfume will linger in the air. After shave and colognes got great play at the male side of things, not just to hide your typical male’s sloppy grooming habits but simply because it added to the overall ambiance. There are some very sophisticated scents prowling the benches and outdoor seating of the many midsummer plays and musical events of Southern summer. It is a sensual delight, among many others. Needless to say, the floral scents can be stunning too, and there are many. Roses go in for some serious plays at this level, as do the Gardenias, Magnolias, Lavenders, Sages and the raft of odoriferous flowers and plants.

Impossibly beautiful Springs and Falls are a result, combined with atrociously hot and despairingly cold Winters which cut right through one.

I’m a big fan of “Impossibly Beautiful Springs”, myself.

Truly one of my favorites things to do on the Spring Days in Louisville has been to wander down to the free baseball games that the local university plays. It can be great, with excellent baseball. Plus, you never know who might show up, sitting a couple seats away! (it’s cool – Ali has a son playing – and he’s a freshman. I expect to see Muhammed Ali many times over the next few years. I’m a fan.)

July Blooms in Louisville – Part 2

Posted on July 12, 2010 by Steve

Once again with the Louisville, Kentucky July bloomage rant, we begin with some extremely local flora in the guise of Canna Lilies. I’ve always loved this plant because I like their lines, to say nothing of their color.

(click images to enlarge)

They seem to be a late starter – relatively speaking – in Louisville. In Vancouver or Portland, they develop just a bit earlier, probably owing to the head start they get from the warm Pacific North West Winters. There’s a lot to growing one of these bigger, very upright and very tall plants. They take a while unfurling. But they offer an almost Ginger-like brilliancy of color to their rangy ways. These are the ultimate in “back row perennial” development, providing a tall and colorful background to smaller plants fronting them.

Other lilies also bloom a tad later than what I have become used to – and, what is even cooler – they seem to stick around a bit longer. Here are some local lilies which are still blooming and looking fine:

This one I particularly like, owing to the setting. Far from super sunny, the property with this picture is a very early morning shot where the sun is at a low enough angle to get through to the floor of this man-made canopy of gorgeous White Pines.

The Rose of Sharon’s are also beginning in Louisville and this time, for a change, the pattern is reversed. Whereas these are late bloomers out West – even in Reno – back here they bloom far earlier. Typically, out there they stay in bloom darn near until late Fall, so we’ll keep an eye on the ‘bloom reliability index’ here. The good news, in any case, is that they bloom just as plentifully as anywhere else, once they get going.

Pushy Clematis pretty much takes the cake for being lush. Acting lush is not a sin, however. If you got it, hey, flaunt it!

Hosta’s are maybe the most reliable of all perennials in Louisville. I’ve always been a huge fan of Hosta and have not always been in climatic conditions which allowed planting them. I mean, certainly not in the profusion we see here.

This “small Hosta Grove” is from a picture taken at my friends Dave and Billie’s home. Deeply shaded with yet another gorgeous tree canopy, their Hosta’s looked so good, you could eat ’em. Dave and I rebuilt a wall at his place earlier this year, where we included our own architectural device I like to call “The Dip”.

Locally also we have many varieties of Hydrangea which bring back fulsome memories of this plant’s glory days when I lived in Vancouver, British Columbia. The English seem to know more about Hydrangeas than is normal and they were extremely profuse there. Locally, I have found an inordinate number of Oak Leaf Hydrangeas. I’m not sure if nurseries suddenly had a spate of them on their hands, but – whatever – they love Louisville and they are a terrifically interesting plant:

Subtle colors and great big huge old blooms and leaves make this a winner:

If you ever happen to encounter this guy on a street – no matter where you might live – do yourself a favor and walk the other way.

I’m not going to say he’s some kind of serial killer or something. But – then again – I’m not going to say he’s not, either.

July Blooms in Louisville, Kentucky

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Steve

So what’s blooming? Here it is early July and some stuff has hatched a plan to take off right in front of our very eyes. As you browse these pictures – which you can enlarge greatly by clicking on – bear in mind the scope of this adventure is just another trip around my local neighborhood. I save the special stuff for special posts, although to be perfectly honest, there is nothing not “special” about flowers anywhere, is there?

I cannot help but feature another one of my favorites – a picture I took this morning of perhaps the most perfect Southern Magnolia bloom I’ve ever seen:

Perhaps most apparent to me are these geographically new (to me) Crepe Myrtles. These are another wonderfully Southern plant, particular to warm climates and muggy weather.

This one above was actually a part of an interesting line of these gorgeous and rather informally-droopy plants. Here is a shot just a bit down the line:

And then here they are altogether, forming a rainbow-like wall of color and bright form, right up close to the street. I love this look:

Here’s a close-up.Is this plant cool or what?:

Some of the colors are electric:

I also like that they are used as masses, as is the case at this apartment complex’s central office:

Their colors match those – almost – of the local Hardy Hibiscus shrubs nearby, of which there are bazillions:

This of course is actually 2 Hibiscus plants, installed to hide the utility company’s ugly old box. I happen to be glad they tried it.

There is much variation in Hibiscii!!

Just as there is in the local Lily population:

We’ll explore Lilies more in the next post – including some interesting Cana’s. For now, let’s check in on how our Banana Plant is doing. It seems just about ready to begin devouring that poor house. 😉

I’d say it grew just about 4 feet this month. Poor Harry.

The Southern Magnolia & Louisville

Posted on June 27, 2010 by Steve

The Southern Magnolia – or Magnolia Grandiflora – is a literal symbolic “Tree of The American South”. Most comfy in a habitat that stretches across the southern portion of the Southeastern-most states in the U.S., this gorgeous evergreen prefers the muggy Summer, sub-tropical heat and humidity which mark the climate of this area. It is actually hard to determine which is its most beautiful characteristic – whether it is the deep green and extremely glossy leaves which – when turned – show a brown and green underside of velvety texture, or whether it is the uncommonly lush and gorgeous creamy white blooms which stud the tree at the height of its real glory. Late Spring and early to mid-summers, this tree is nearly unmatchable in its grandeur and striking beauty. That the flowers themselves are slightly aromatic makes it something more along the lines of a massive Gardenia in many ways, a plant which shares its native habitat comfortably.

Once I personally discovered a few of these fancies growing reasonably well in Vancouver, British Columbia – when I designed and worked there – I became something of a ‘Johnny Appleseed’ for the Grandiflora. Just on the merits of foliage alone, this gorgeous tree stands apart for general appealing color and texture. That hardier cultivars had been developed also helped as well, although, to be honest, it was and still is a novelty plant for the most part. But it most definitely augments garden areas wonderfully with its medium growing size and those dynamite deep green evergreen leaves.

It is an unbearably and usually fatal chore to try and transplant, unfortunately. It has a rather unusual root system – Unlike most other trees and shrubs, the roots are largely un-branched and rope-like. For this reason, magnolias tend to suffer more than many other trees if they are moved after they reach a large size. Most magnolias can safely be moved if the trunk is less than four inches in diameter. The bottom line is always dig as large a root ball as you possibly can, use Vitamin B and water frequently. If they’re big ones, good luck!

In Louisville, Kentucky, where these pictures have recently been taken just browsing the local neighborhoods, this year’s incredibly muggy and hot weather has really pushed them to some extremes of beauty. The cup-like blooms are getting progressively more plentiful, reverting somehow to their genetic bases of heat, humidity and sun.

These pictures are all taken during my local walks here in Louisville. People are now used to seeing me trundle up by their houses, camera in hand, getting inches away from their flora. Funny enough, it’s a great way to meet people, as long as you are rude and thoughtless enough to trespass! 😉 Of course, once they find out that you actually know a thing or two about landscaping or gardening, next thing you know, you’re walking out back and advising on plants or designs. Hi Henry!!! No more Banana Plants!!

Just as in the case of the Portland Chinese Garden, a well-cared-for Banana Plant can actually do its thing in Louisville. The biggest concern is “Will it overtake my home??” Here is a shot at an early stage of a local Banana.