17/08/2018 - Reprieve

The never-ending dry-spell has ended after all. We've finally been getting some rain during the last few days. Temperatures have also dropped from 30-36°C to a more bearable 23-27°C.

However with this sudden change we have also noticed a significant drop in flower production during the last few days. The abrupt change may have startled the plants a little. Although I'm sure part of it is coincidental. Quite a few plants had been flowering vigorously for a while now (Heian no Sora, Pink Blizzard, Maisugata, many purpureas...) and are now covered in seed pods. So it is only natural for these to decrease flower production at this point as they will be putting all their energy in seed production.

At the same time a lot of the Ipomoea nil I planted later in the season still need to start their flowering cycle. Since it's August the plants have reached their critical night length and should start flowering in the next couple of weeks.

We've had a few newcomers as well though. This Akatsuki no Mai has shown its first couple of flowers. I only managed to get pictures of the first two so far but was astonished by their size. Possibly the largest ones I've grown so far although a few of the Heian no Sora may have come close. I haven't measured them yet though. I'm also liking the contrast I'm seeing. It looks like these flowers can vary strongly from mostly pink to mostly white and everything in between.

Another great surprise popped up. I have two plants growing that came from some mixed Kodachi (dwarf) seeds. This lovely faded violet variety showed up unexpectedly. I was expecting mostly solid colors with a white picotee edge from this mix. I hope it gives me some seeds so I can grow this one again.

The other one was a nice bright pink (usually referred to as red). More in line with what I was expecting to find in this dwarf mix.

It is my first year growing dwarf varieties. Their small size is a great asset and I'll be looking around for more varieties to grow in the future. I hear they are quite popular in Japan. Especially among city gardeners.

The above one had the label "Heian no Akatsuki". This is clearly incorrect however and looks to be Chiaki (which I own but did not plant this year). I either made a mistake when sowing or the seed(s) got mixed up. Still I like this delicate looking Youjiro variety.

Purple Blizzard Fuji is living up to its name again. I only spotted a single flower on the one I planted last year. I'm hoping to see more of the diluted patches as in 2016 which showed up a little later in its flower cycle.

Ipomoea tricolor varieties have started flowering as well. Although the Clark's Blue and Heavenly Blue still seem reluctant. They have been quite unpredictable so far in my experience. Some blooming as early as early July, others waiting for early September. I have found little specific information about their flower physiology so far.

A nice mix of Ipomoea purpurea in the early morning heat. Flowers don't last very long during these hot days.

As you may have noticed the blog posts have been less frequent for a while. Projects outside of the morning glory vineyard have been demanding some time but it was mostly the extreme heat and drought that threw a bit of a spanner in the works.

Here at Ruvan Asagao we like to keep things as sustainable as possible. We don't use pesticides, reuse old soil, pots and trellises as long as we can and don't waste water, especially in times of drought. This means the plants had to manage on a severely rationed water regimen.

Between the plants having a though time and us waiting for some relief of the weather not much interesting had been happening in the garden. With the temperatures changing we've also had a lot of wind which makes it hard to make good photographs unfortunately.

Now we've reached August the remaining plants should hopefully start flowering within the next few weeks. It also looks like the weather will remain somewhat stable for now so if all goes well we'll be having a new surge in flowers really soon and lots of new varieties to check out.