Alabama’s summers are…different. So different that plants that seem to grow fine in summers in Michigan and Indiana and New England struggle in the middle of our summers. And it’s just about now, in the middle of June, that the mild-mannered “American summer” conditions of May give way to the streamroller of Alabama’s high summer.

It all boils down to the three H’s – heat, humidity and hurricanes. And it’s worth noting that each of those H’s mean something very different here than they do in most states.

Let’s start with heat. Alabama’s high temperatures in midsummer really aren’t that high compared to temperatures in many states. Really.

It’s not just places like Arizona that beat us for high temperatures — by 10 or 15 degrees most summer days. In July and August, it’s not at all unusual for places like Nebraska or Illinois (for Pete’s sake!) to have peak summer temperatures higher than those in Alabama. Only once in the history of record keeping did one Alabama city (that was Centerville) have a high above 110 degrees. But Lincoln, Nebraska, has had more than a dozen days at 110 degrees or higher, and sometimes flirts with temperatures near 120 degrees. Dozens of cities in Illinois have recorded temperatures of 110 degrees or higher.

Now I’m not saying you’re not hot. I’m saying in Alabama, you and your garden are hot in an altogether different way. And that’s something you better understand if you and your garden want to thrive here.

For one, the duration of days and hours at 85 degrees or higher is much longer lasting in Alabama than in much of the rest of the country. And most significantly, there’s no break at night. It’s not unusual for many communities in coastal Alabama to go weeks with temperatures above 80 degrees, 24/7. Even in the Alabama polar regions of Huntsville, the night temperatures can be stifling.