Well that was fun

Of course the hot weather might not be over for good, but there has definitely been a change. Today is the first time in a while that we've seen a low temperature below 20ºC. Yesterday, and overnight, we got some thunder and some rain, and yesterday's high temperature didn't even hit 30ºC. It was fun while it lasted.

We are used to seeing a lot of blue wild chicory flowers all around the vineyard at this time of year. They're also called cornflowers in some places and by some people. Wild chicory is a European plant that has become naturalized in large parts of the U.S.

It's hard to resist taking photos of the bright blue chicory flowers. There have been more of them than usual this year, probably because of the hot dry weather we've had for a few weeks.

 

There are fewer flowers now, since the village sent out a man on a tractor hauling a mower to cut down all the tall plants along the gravel road through the vineyard a couple of days ago. Last weekend, Walt came back from his walk with the dog and reported he had seen white cornflowers growing out at the very end of the gravel road.

The next day, I walked out there and looked for them. I'd only ever seen blue flowers before, but I just read in the Wikipedia article about chicory that the plant can have not only blue or white but also pink blooms.The plants with white chicory blossoms are gone now — mowed down.