Forget about frying an egg on the sidewalk; this kind of heat would fry an egg inside a chicken. – Rachel Caine, American novelist (1962-2020)

I was raised in Mississippi heat and humidity; it is my bread and butter. It keeps me going. — Morgan Freeman, American actor, producer, narrator (1937-)

The dog days of August have arrived in July. Even Wilhelmina the cat seeks a shady place to lie down and do nothing. Everything growing inside the greenhouse or outside is desperate for a drink. It’s hard to believe not long ago we were deluged with rain for days on end. Thus far everything is green and blooming. I love flowers so much I have added and added flowerpots and hanging planters. Watering all over takes up a good bit of time, but it is worth it. I think sometimes we look something like a garden center if you just drove up and didn’t know. I do hope they make it through a possible drought. Rain does a much better job than water from a spigot. We used to have a well. The well ran dry and started sucking sand so it is no more. Sand in the shower, the washing machine, the ice-maker, it was just a little too much grit. It was sometime later I realized as long as the Prairie house was on well water the occupants were never exposed to fluoride. They were never exposed to chlorine. Fluoride is available in toothpaste and chlorine is “fairly benign.” Chlorine can cause harm if splashed in the eyes, breathed in, or swallowed in high amounts. I do wonder a bit if chlorine harms plants. Apparently not much, as I do water them with county water. The best of course, is nature’s rain. I try to collect rain where possible. I don’t have a rain barrel. Collecting rain also attracts mosquitoes. If it’s not one thing it’s another.       

Inside the perennial garden is a new Musa Basjoo Banana tree. It has grown several feet in a few days. I love this plant. It makes the garden have kind of a tropical setting. The tree is probably close to six feet high and growing. They said it would grow fast and it did. The fronds come out from the center. It’s rolled up and as it grows it unrolls. Then the next one comes up the center and so on and so on. I worried it would be so large and if I planted it in a flowerpot it would tear up or blow over. The information said they are amazing trees. They can survive hurricanes by allowing their fronds to rip. The wind passes through. All that’s needed for the fronds to continue growing is the tree’s trunk. A few months ago, we had some pretty terrific windstorms. Some of the fronds on the banana tree did rip but the tree stood firm. There was a slight tip over in the flower pot but the tree was fine.

From here on out we’ll be battling the heat and trying to keep everything fed and watered. Of course, a Musa Basjoo Banana tree loves tropical heat so it should do just fine. Great tree, but no bananas.

Shannon Bardwell is a writer living quietly in the Prairie. Email reaches her at [email protected].