We reached 91 yesterday and the weather pros' guess of a 40% chance of rain overnight vanished without a trace. Forecast for today no longer shows a chance but there's an 80% chance tonight. With my luck any rain we get will be a frog choker that will beat down some of my smaller plants. But as per usual, it's feast or famine.
All but 2 of my plants looked good last evening. I gave everything a good soaking to prep them for today's high of 90. I'll be lucky to come through unscathed. Wish I could have planted a little earlier so the plants could have become better established before the heat arrived. Weekend highs are forecast to be in the mid/upper 60s, though the experts have given me little reason to believe that.
I send the tubers to family and friends in the spring after I'm sure they have eyes/sprouts. No need to pay extra to ship duds. Some of the family are up in years and are finding it harder to dig tubers in the fall. So I tell them not to bother and send them new ones every year. They couldn't care less about variety or color as long as it's a nice bloom. But I do occasionally get comments like, "I'd like to have a couple of those big yellow ones" (Kelvin Floodlight).
As to cats in your garden, I have had the same problem. I trust you wear gloves to guard against the "gifts" they leave behind. Yum, Yum! Last spring they dug up and broke stems on half a dozen plants I had growing in planters. Some were the only one I had of that variety. That doesn't make me happy! Haven't had any problems so far this year. Knock on wood!
