Such a pansy

 (Author's note: This piece was written with hopes that conditions would change and that it would seem like an outdated piece of prose.)

Something has weighed heavy on me lately. It is my absolute hatred and loathing of hot and humid weather. It makes time outdoors almost unbearable. Our daily walks are more of a sweat-fest than a time for relaxation in nature.

I searched the internet for some good news about high humidity to see if I could balance my opinion. It might have been my bias, but it seemed I couldn't find too many advantages for hot and humid weather.

A post titled "Benefits of high humidity" on www.skymetweather.com claimed that high temperatures and humidity ... "usually bring good news during late afternoons or evenings in the form of rain."
I supposed this could be an advantage. However, my experience is after a slight cooling after the rain, the sun comes out and ignites a sauna-like environment.

The post also stated, "humidity is one of your skin's best friends. It's an essential for healthy, beautiful skin." This was compared to cold and dry winter weather that can crack and irritate skin.
I tried to find more good points of high humidity, but in my prejudice I could not locate any. I wasn't too interested in uncovering any.

However, pansies, the plants, have trouble with the heat.
According to a post titled "How long to pansies last" on jackfrostgardens.com, pansies "absolutely do not like excessive heat and humidity. Heat causes pansies to become leggy and stop blooming."

"However with the right conditions, you can try to get your pansies to survive the heat of summer. If you want to try to 'over-summer' your pansies, plant them in a somewhat shady area," the post stated.

While pansies can thrive cooler weather, they can sometimes survive the winter to bloom in the early spring. I had several pansy plants that managed to make it through two or three winters.

Meanwhile, the heat and humidity have helped fuel growth for other plants.

The sunflowers have bloomed and seem to now be past their prime. I had let some morning glories climb the sunflowers.

This extra weight could have helped some of sunflowers to an early demise.

The humidity helped the peach tree bear fruit. However, photos can be deceiving. What looked like decent sized peaches were actually not much bigger than golf balls.

Outside of the garden, the goldenrod is blooming.

Various butterflies and bees have been seen feeding on it.

Kennedy and Kyle have also been feeding on the yellow blossomed plant.

The orange flowers of jewel weed provided some additional color the landscape. Some of my relatives reminded me that my grandfather taught us as kids to call them "poppies." We used to gleefully run through the woods finding and "activating" the springy seed pods of jewel weed.

Also popping up was some purple milkwort.

Wildflower.org identifies milkwort as  "tiny, pink to rose or greenish flowers in a dense, cylindrical, head-like cluster, with floral bracts beneath the flowers that persist on stem when flowers fall.

​Underground root gives off wintergreen odor when crushed."

A few nodding ladies tresses had started to bloom in the same area as the milkwort.

Mushrooms and other fungus seemed to have thrived amid the hot and humid weather.
Most notably, I have observed a lot of coral fungi. There are several places where the fungi seemed to be everywhere.

"Coral fungi are recognized by their curious branching and their clustered appearance, as shown at the right. Usually they grow in the woods and frequently are found on decaying logs. Some are brightly colored," said a post on www.backyardnature.net.

There are many types of coral fungus. I found it difficult to nail down identities.

However a post on  wpamushroomclub.org titled "Coral fungi of Western PA" which was posted by Richard Jacob  did provide some insightful information in the form of a presentation.

I have spotted numerous mushrooms during the recent run of wet weather.
While the fungi and some plants seem to enjoy the heat and humidity, I can't say that I will really ever look forward to it.
​
That's just the nature of things 'round here.