Cooler Temps, Rain, and Flowers...in August!

In July, we had a string of 100º+ temps. I think the hottest of those days was 107º. Yikes! Not a drop of rain in over 2 months, so everything has been toasted. We had to turn on our sprinkler system to keep the yard from buring up and water the plants twice a day. Things weren't looking so good for the flowers, but thankfully, we've received a reprieve from the ultra hot temps. We've gotten up close to 100º a couple of days lately, but not exceeded that. The plants are soooooo thankful! A couple of days ago, we got about 1.5" of rain. What a wonderful thing this time of the year. We're expecting rain for the next several days as well. I'll take all we can get!

Here are some things currently blooming in the garden:

Mexican Hydrangea (aka Cashmere Plant)~This thing just keeps blooming and blooming! I'd love to actually plant it in the ground, but it's too invasive.



Texas (or Hummingbird) Sage~I started these from seed earlier this spring. I've waited and waited and waited for them to do something! Finally, they started blooming this week!! I absolutely LOVE the bright pink color. Will definitely have to get more seeds and plant them elsewhere in my beds. I also have one that's a very, very pale pink. Don't have pics of it, though.



The Mexican Petunias are taking over the daylily bed. That's okay since the daylilies are finished blooming for the year. I really like these, but they're also very invasive. They do well in this spot, though, since they can't go too far.



My French Hollyhocks are doing well. I moved this one from a different spot in the flower bed and it's really taken off. Started blooming in the heat of July, too! Love it when this thing is covered in clusters of flowers.



Finally, I've been waiting since last summer for this Blackberry Lily to start blooming. I was beginning to think it never would, but noticed flower stalks on it a couple of weeks ago. Here's one of the first flowers to bloom. They are much tinier than I had expected, but pretty nonetheless.



The Esperanza has really been putting on a show all summer. I so love this plant and am excited each spring when it comes back.



Can't wait until the cooler temps of fall set in and we get a second flush of blooms on most the plants that stop producing during the heat of the summer.