My Gardens Survived the Scorching Summer...

Most of my flower gardens somehow survived the 100 degree heat.  Here are a just a few pictures I took towards the end of the summer as the heat was finally starting to let up.

We had an overcast day and the blooms on my Hibiscus actually
stayed lush long enough for me to take a picture before wilting!

This is the third year for my Hibiscus to come back.
Each year it gets bigger and bigger.
The blooms are approximately 9-10 inches in size.

This flowerbed is on the west side of the house and to my surprise,
I managed to keep it alive in the scorching sun.
It is a hodge-podge of plants

Celosia was tolerant and seemed to thrive in the heat!
This is the third or fourth year for it to come back from seed.

The Roses and Lirope were both stressed, but survived.

This area is at the end of my driveway and gets neglected quite often,
but thankfully I have plants that are heat tolerant.

The tall purple plant on the back right was new this year.  A friend gave me a small start and it thrived in the full sun.  It is supposed to come back, so I hope we have a good winter and that I see it again next spring!  The Redbud tree on the left has been through a lot and lost limbs during a winter ice storm and it was very stressed from the heat this summer.  For the most part my gardens are perennial.  I just try to plant things that bloom at different times of the year or plants that add color with their leaves or foliage.  One day I hope to put in a sprinkler system, but for now... I water the old fashioned way-- the garden hose!

As fall sets in I see things getting bitten by the frost, losing blooms and leaves, shriveling into a start of their dormant stage and producing seeds.  Pictures below are after the frost.

It was another beautiful summer even with the heat and for now... I will enjoy the fall and winter and await spring for new blooms.