Before It All Dries Up and Blows Away ...

The annual wailing and gnashing of teeth has commenced here on my corner of Katy. There's been no appreciable rain for way too long and even the drought tolerant plants are drooping in the summer heat, as am I. This would be understandable were it July but to have already reached this point before the end of May is a very scary thing indeed. Although we were under a severe thunderstorm warning early this evening, the rain stayed north of us and I suspect I'll spend some quality time with my hoses tomorrow.

Happily, there are still some blooms to be found throughout the garden. Here's a few shots from earlier this evening ... first up, the Rudbeckia (Cherokee, maybe) that reseeded itself and is flourishing in the rose bed, the length of the yard from where it was originally planted. While most of the daylilies in the dedicated daylily bed are looking like pale imitations of themselves due to the heat, those in the sidewalk bed out front (which receives dappled sun) are much happier. Lost tags are more of the rule than the exception here on MCOK, but I think this one is Enon:This beauty, however, remains unidentified. This is one of the few that's held its color in the daylily bed :
I wish this last shot had been taken in my garden but no such luck. A friend and her family were in town this past weekend and we met out at Mercer Arboretum to see what delights it had to offer. It's just far enough north that Japanese maples need not struggle to survive.