YAY! 118 F / 47.8C!

[Bulbopedilum]

Woow that's HOT, even hotter than over here, and over here it's already hot! I've never seen temperatures above 33°C (91°F) here. Your orchids must really not like that (Well most I guess)! But I bet some paphs could still survive in that heat.

[estación seca]

My orchids are in a room cooled with an evaporative cooler, or inside the house. They don't experience this kind of heat.

I might add Eulophia petersii does not mind this kind of heat at all.

[Dollythehun]

Idk, but the Midwest is starting to sound better and better. It's been hot, low 90s and dry. Yesterday was beautiful with showers and a spectacular sunset. This week in the high 70s.

[Paphluvr]

I think you're to be commended for being able to grow orchids with temperatures that high and humidity that low to deal with.

[Arizona Jeanie]

OK ES, do you have a/c in the house? Outdoors can be really nice when it's hot and dry, especially in the evenings and early mornings. Or if you work in a refrigerator and need to warm up when you're home. A lot of the older homes here (like mine!) have a sleeping porch on the northeast side--it's lovely.
Stay hydrated, and don't forget the salty snacks!

[Arizona Jeanie]

Hello ES, just curious but would like to know--what do you grow outdoors? Do you have anything that's in full sun? Even my prickly pear is looking a little wilted right now, and we're about 15 degrees cooler here!

[estación seca]

I have a lot outside in full sun.

I have a lot of desert-adapted shrubs that don't mind this at all: Creosote bush, Texas ranger (Leucophyllum), Caesalpinia mexicana, Callistemon, our native palo verde and mesquite trees.

Also citrus and guava. The guavas are frozen to the ground occasionally, but they have always come back. They flower and fruit on 2nd year wood.

North American prickly pears and chollas do fine if they get watered once a month. If yours is wilting, consider watering it once. It should be raining in the next 3 weeks or so. The tiny prickly pear and cholla species from South America mostly need to grow under other things. A few like Opuntia picardoi (which has had its name changed a lot) and Maihueniopsis darwinii are fine in full sun.

A lot of Baja California columnar cacti take our heat and sun all day. They need regular watering to tolerate our heat. They may go over a year without rain in Baja, but it's not as hot there as it is here due to the marine influence. Baja plants may be damaged by our occasional frost. I have Stenocereus gatesii out in full sun, but the tips freeze when it's really cold. Stenocereus thruberii (the organ pipe) and Pachycereus schottii (senita) adults are fully hardy here, but seedlings would be killed by our occasional freezes. Both are native to Arizona just along the border in Organ Pipe National Park.

All the barrel cacti (Ferocactus) and Echinocactus will grow in full sun. They prefer it. They are flowering now.

South American columnars often can take the frost but can't take the heat. Exceptions are Trichocereus / Echinopsis terscheckii and Neocardenasia herzogiana, which are fine in the heat if well watered. The biggest columnar I have in my garden now is one of those Neos. When young they can grow more than 3 feet / 1 meter per year if watered a lot. I planted mine out in about 2000 when it was about 4 feet tall. I watered it once a week during the summer by leaving the hose trickle overnight. It is over 20 feet tall with about a dozen arms. Much faster growing than a saguaro, which would grow about 18 inches / 46cm per year with that amount of water.

A few Agaves tolerate full sun. Most of these are native to the US, where deserts are usually much hotter in summer than in México. Mexican Agave territory is usually much higher elevation than here. We have to grow a lot of Agaves in shade, or the east side of things.

Almost no Aloe species, nor hybrids, tolerate our sun and heat. People grow them under shrubs or under native trees, which have a very loose canopy casting dappled shade. A plant sold here as Aloe litoralis (but it is not that) grows well in full sun with water. And, surprisingly, the dwarf hybrid Aloe Blue Elf also tolerates full sun. None of its ancestors will do so. Aloe vaombe from Madagascar is fine with plentiful water and late afternoon shade.

Almost all Yucca species require full sun. This is why they can be problematic in higher latitudes with cold winters. There are species from North America from exceptionally cold climates, but they often experience cloudless weeks in winter and they are dry all winter.

[isurus79]

Ugh, that's the main reason I won't move back to Tucson!

[Arizona Jeanie]

Oh, I'm jealous! We get the summer heat but also have some severe freezes in the winter, that really limits what will grow here. I do water the Opuntia at times, believe me when I say the neighbors think I'm crazy. (They could be right.) It's nice to hear that someone appreciates the growing conditions where you are! Your outdoor collection sounds fabulous.

[Dollythehun]

I cannot even fathom all this. I know you hated Minnesota winter's but our winter's aren't bad lately mostly dreary. Today it is 77f with a breeze. I finished weeding the cactus and the garden area where I am planting flowers. But is so dry! Yesterday I could hear the rain beating on the office roof but here nary a drop.