Weather Report for November:
Seasons: End of Spring / Dry Season
Maximum Temps: 30°C - 37°C
Minimum Temps: 19°C - 27°C
Humidity Levels: 50 - 80%
Hours of daylight: 12 hrs 49 mins - 13 hrs 12 mins
Rainfall: 60 mm (ins)
Conditions
While November was officially our last month of spring, the garden and the weather had clearly decided that summer was already here. Most days hovered around 33–34°C, with nights staying warm at around 24–26°C. The skies were mostly clear and bright blue, but in north Queensland the colour is an intense, vibrant azure. These skies were punctuated by soft, white cumulus clouds under a strong tropical sun.
Humidity, though, was the real game-changer. By 9.00 am the thermometer might read 30°C, but with the humidity sitting around 67%, it felt more like 35–37°C. By midday, when the temperature climbed to 33°C, the humidity could push the “feels like” temperature up to a sweltering 39–40°C. It’s the kind of weather that makes both gardener and garden wilt.
The dry season lingered into the first week of November. We’d had no rain in August or September, and only 5 mm in October, so the soil had taken on that familiar concrete-like, parched crust. Then the pattern shifted slightly and we occasionally slipped into proper “build-up” conditions.
There were days when the overcast skies lifted my hopes that lots of rain was on its way. Thunderstorms began to roll through intermittently, mostly overnight or in the early mornings, bringing very light showers. These were just enough to give the potted plants a refreshing rinse, but not enough to soak into the hard, thirsty ground.
Then, during the second week and again in the last week, we finally had a couple of daytime thunderstorms with decent downpours. At last, there was some genuine penetration through that tough top layer of soil. You could almost hear the garden exhale.
Gardening Jobs
With the heat and humidity ramping up so early in the day, gardening jobs were few and far between. After about 9.30 am it was simply too hot, too humid, and too uncomfortable to do much outside.
Regular deep watering became the main priority. At this stage of the dry season, the garden would not survive without it. I spent a fair bit of time each week setting up and shifting sprinklers around the outdoor garden beds, trying to give each corner a decent drink.
Some of the well-established plants—Ixoras, one of the Gardenias, the Murrayas and the Crotons—put on brief flushes of flowers, as if to remind me they were still hanging in there. But, overall, the outdoor beds were fairly quiet bloom-wise.
Mother Nature’s Early Christmas Decorations
Despite the heat and the slog of watering, Mother Nature gifted the garden some early Christmas decorations.
One of my greatest joys this past month was coming home and walking past—sometimes right under—the exquisite blooms of Hibiscus schizopetalus, commonly known as the Japanese Lantern Hibiscus or Coral Hibiscus. This shrub is one of the original hibiscus forms and it has a character all its own.
It’s a tall, arching evergreen shrub with long, slender stalks and a beautiful, drooping habit. The flowers are delicate, pendulous lanterns, finely cut and lacy, reddish with coral-pink streaks. They hang and sway in the slightest breeze, like little festive ornaments. In a month dominated by heat, those intricate blooms felt like a quiet celebration.
Colour in the Garden
My garden walks were brief—usually just quick wanderings in the early mornings before retreating back into the air conditioning—but even in those short strolls, there was plenty to notice:
Signs of the coming summer: Flowering Delonix regia (Poinciana) trees and Cassia fistula (Golden Shower) trees were clear heralds that our true summer season is just around the corner.
Caladiums waking up: Caladiums planted in the ground have popped up from their hibernation, adding splashes of colour and interesting foliage to shaded corners.
Fireball Lilies in bloom: My Scadoxus multiflorus (Fireball Lilies) have also emerged from dormancy and are blooming, their bold, spherical flower heads adding a dramatic note to the garden.
Gardenia in her glory: One of my Gardenia shrubs has been covered in blooms, and the perfume has been magnificent—soft, sweet clouds of scent drifting through the warm air.
Perfume from the honeysuckle: Flowers have appeared on the Lonicera japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle), adding yet another layer of perfume and making early morning walks especially fragrant.
Desert Roses with promise: A number of my Adenium obesum (Desert Roses) are carrying seed pods, hanging from their branches like little green ornaments full of potential.
Queen’s Crepe Myrtle waking up: One of the Lagerstroemia speciosa (Queen’s Crepe Myrtle) has flower sprays forming, promising more colour as we move deeper into the hot months.
Closing Thoughts
November was a month of contrasts: parched soil and heavy skies, oppressive humidity and delicate blossoms, discomfort in the heat and small, fragrant rewards in the early mornings.
Even when the weather makes serious gardening difficult, there is still so much to notice and appreciate. A lantern-like hibiscus bloom, a fireball lily emerging from nowhere, or the familiar scent of gardenia on a hot breeze—these are the small, steady joys that make keeping a garden worthwhile, even in the toughest of seasons.
Until next time,
🌸 Happy gardening from the dry tropics!
