Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day August 2015: These Are The Times That Try Gardeners' Souls!

Pink Skullcap, Scuttellaria suffrutescens, considered one of the most heat
& drought tolerant natives for Texas gardens.  That's how bad it is.

I promised Carol aka Indygardener aka Indy of May Dreams Gardens, the GBBD instigator, that I would post SOMETHING for this month's Bloom Day.  There's precious little out there to choose from, at least in the back gardens which is as far as I can venture this evening.  The Head Gardener and I had a little nipping and tucking done at the end of July and have been on orders to restrict our activity ever since.  Unfortunately for us, our inability to get outside comes during a worse spell of heat and drought than we saw in 2011. Hand watering was all that saved the back garden that year since there's no irrigation system set up for those beds. This year, we can only watch in horror as plant after plant - most of them heat and drought tolerant - wilt, wither and die.  By the time we get our doctor's clearance to get back out there and work, we're expecting much of that work will involve pulling up dead plants amidst much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The white plumbago has probably been the best performer in the back garden throughout July and this first half of August. It's had no supplemental water that entire time. 

Fireworks gomphrena has absolutely blown me away with its ability to survive without moisture in 100+ degree temperatures.  Once or twice it's gotten a bit droopy in the afternoon but by the next morning, it returns to its usual perky self.  That's ONE plant. 

This is one of a few Serenity mix hybrid verbenas that has managed to keep going.  

And this is, of all things, a rain lily.  We did get a brief intense storm on Wednesday evening and this brave little plant responded as nature intended! 

While we're stuck inside, the HG and I are doing a lot of thinking about what kind of changes we'll make to the gardens when cooler weather is here and we've seen the extent of the summer damage.  The only thing we're sure of is that we've got to simplify ... and we are unanimous in that!