Ah, found the source of that smoky smell..a brushfire in Livermore, it is about 25 miles to our west..no wonder the smoky smell is strong awhile ago. Good vineyards on that side, hope they can control it fast.

I sure hope it doesn't come any closer to you Tarev.

Thankfully the mountains here are quite bare, not much fuel for it, so it is easier to control. And it is nice that our temps are in the low 80's not anywhere near the heatwave temps a few weeks back.

Very good news.

My Brother and sister used to live in Redding and said it would often be so hazy you could barely see the sky during the fire season...this was before the 10 year drought that ya'll are having! Take care Tarev et al

I like how you arranged them, Tarev. It looks nice and natural! sorry to hear you lost some of your other ones! I hope they grow back. What kind were they that burned? We can still see the smoke here too, the entire horizon has been dark pink for days now.

I have to agree, Greg. They grow much better here during the cool weather in spring than in summer for the most part (like everything else save cacti and natives lol would that everything grew as easily as the tumbleweeds do!). I do think it is hit and miss though, in the past I have had some burn with just a few hours of afternoon summer sun whilst others grow actively all year until they go dormant in winter. In my experience it seems to be an individual thing as far as heat tolerance goes, although without exception they despise being in full sun in summer. Right now all the different types of tectorum I have are growing vigorously, and I had read somewhere once that tectorums were the most heat-sensitive of them all! I think my regular ol' tectorum would try and take over my yard given half a chance (if I can just get out of this pot...)

lol Paul now I'm going to have dreams of plants trying to escape from their pots
I agree that it seems individual. For me it is dampness (winter especially) some rot really quickly while others are more tolerant and I never know which ones it will be! (although now this is a non-issue since I cover all of mine with plastic in the winter

Paul the ones that got burnt were just noids. Been moving the container year to year. they did well during the cool season and with the extended coolness of Spring..but croaked this summer..oh well...win some, lose some.

This is the batch of noids that I lost this summer: one container, I was documenting how it was growing then:
Photos taken during Oct 2015 to Feb 2016:

me too, Greg! I live in fear of the day any of my mints escape. They certainly try, they all send runners into each other's pots. What kind of plastic do you cover yours with in winter? That's a good idea! We get most of our rain in winter and it can be downright icy (or sleet or snow) so I keep everyone on my patio so I don't get any cold rot and it can get crowded. Poor things only get non-stop full sun in winter and spring here! Is it clear plastic you leave on or just a tarp type thing you take off every day?

Pretty semps in the pictures, Tarev. I find that where I am, many semps can handle more sunlight than my jovibarbas on the occasions I have left them unprotected for too long. I've had a few jovibarbas scorch to death before but no sempervivums, which is interesting I think when compared to yours. Light green ones seemed to burn the easiest, so as an experiment I once left some different light green semps and jovis in hot sun for a day but only had one burn fatally (heuffelli Green Stone). Fickle plants. The hardest part is watering younger plants in summer, older plants do fine but with little ones, too little water and they can begin to shrivel, but too much and the heat and damp soil can turn them to gray mush. Jovibarbas also seem to be more sensitive to excess summer moisture here. I've heard of some people not watering theirs during summer at all, but I think if I tried that our heat and dry winds would finish them off pretty quickly.

Sorry for the ramble, I don't know anyone else near me who grows them so I like comparing with other people living in hot climates

That's okay Paul, I also learn from the way you grow it. So far average time of life for semps, in my garden seems to be 2.5 years, and then they go kaput. But my remaining ones are doing fine, so far. Maybe I got it right this time, Who knows?

I realize before, I might be underwatering mine, when I saw how generously it was being watered at a nursery in Berkeley. I was thinking, was that my mistake? Their area is much cooler than ours and yet they water generously in summer. So I changed my tactic, Maybe my timing in watering was off on that container I lost. The other remaining ones are more to the north/ northeast side of my garden so maybe it is cooler there, but gets good morning sun and some dappled afternoon sun.

Yep, we just have to keep trying desert gardening is no fun! My one dream is a lush green garden and every year almost everything looks half-dead

At the nursery by my aunt's house they water more often too. The temperature there goes into the 90s quite often and it is always humid, yuck. Our humidity is usually only 5-10% during the day so anything higher than that and I feel like I am in a tropical place the semps and echeverias I have bought there often have black, rotting leaves on the plant or in the pot that I have to remove, so I always have to check each one carefully before taking it home.

One thing that works really well here is planting succulents in terra cotta pots. I avoided using them for years because they dry out so quickly, but the day after you water them the pot is moist and cool on the outside from the water being able to move through it. When the wind blows, the pot feels like it has been in front of an air conditioner. I think it helps the root zone to stay cooler and helps them to survive. You can also just spray the outside of the pot with a hose and the wind blowing and evaporating the water does the same thing I have found!

Paul yes the escaping mints!! Lemon balm!!
Tarev, it is too bad that you are losing them before you get to see the last part before they bloom, it is amazing how huge and colorful!!! This is usually in the 3rd year!

Greg, LOL "the peppermint has escaped! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is NOT a drill!" I wish my lemon balm WAS invasive! One of my favorite plants but it one that survives here but never thrives. Mine always has leaves with black or brown edges and needs to be protected from full sun and wind PLUS regular shots of seaweed and fish emulsion just to keep it from completely dying back. Gr!

Greg, that's okay, to be honest, I do not want them to bloom, I know they will go bye bye too once they bloom. I have seen some bloom before on my first few attempts before ..blooming too fast when we got way too hot. They just hated our heat here then, I guess coming from the cool nurseries in the Bay area makes it feel they are being dumped to an oven.

Tarev yes that happens, changing from one environment to another, anything stressing the plant can bring on blooming. But I didn't mean about the bloom (it isn't anything that special) but the mature plant right before blooming is truly amazing! This is my first year with so many 3 year old plants (many of them blooming) the size and colors though have been so cool!!
Paul - that is funny! Good idea about terra cotta pots! Odd that Lemon balm which is a total weed here doesn't do to much there~ it is just like mint here, or bamboo!! People warn you about not planting certain things and lemon balm is always one on the list!

my sister tried bamboo, she got a nice thicket of it growing along her fence then got lazy with the water and soon they were all matchsticks!

It is nasty triple digit time again, got 103F today, tomorrow much higher expected at 108F..and 6 more days of hot and hotter temps...

Have repositioned the semps a week ago to shadier side, nearer the fountain and giving them morning watering. Fingers crossed, so far no bolting or dry up seen.

Good luck Tarev!

Come on semps. Show us you can be tough in tarev's summer growing conditions.

Same here. Today was 105 and it's supposed to be up to 109 by Wednesday, then 100+ afterwards. Back to the shade with everyone! I've noticed something is taking bites out of some of my different succulents, most likely the birds snipping leaves or maybe one of the lizards the birds can be as troublesome as gophers half the time.