July Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

It has been insanely hot here for the last week (just like the rest of the country, I think). In our case, this meant it's been at or above 105 deg F since Monday (7/9), with the humidity hovering around 10-15%. We've now "cooled down" to the mid to upper 90's, with about 20% humidity. We didn't really get any rain - a few drops here and there - and you could see the water evaporate before it hit the ground, but then we don't usually get any rain from about April through October. Oddly enough, all this weather hasn't been considered an official "drought" here yet - I guess expectations for rain (we're at about 1.65 inches for the year, total) are pretty low out here.

Despite that, there are still some plants blooming in the garden! Thankfully I got a picture of the toad lily bloom in the front, before the hot weather dried out the blossoms:

Tricyrtis formosana 'Amethystina' with its beautiful spotted flowers.

Hopefully now that the weather has cooled down some, the other buds will blossom. The Buddleja is still going strong, pretty much unbothered by the heat:

Buddleja davidii 'Black Knight' in the front garden

 It will keep blooming as long as I remember to dead-head it! And the new one in the back garden bloomed! It turned out to be white:

Unknown cultivar of Buddleja davidii with huge inflorescences

 It is growing next to the tomato and melon plants, and seems to be happy for now. I need to dig through my landscape paperwork to find out which one this is. Also in the back garden, various Lantanas are putting on a show, including "Miss Huff":

Lantana 'Miss Huff'

Close up of the flowers with all the different colors

 I love all the different colors on the same plant... and especially since this one was tiny when it was planted (back in may). Another lantana is more red, and a bit bushier:

Lantana camara 'Bandito' - there are two, but they haven't grown much bigger since being planted

 If these survive the winter, I hope they grow in as ground covers to fill in the area. There seems to be conflicting information about their winter hardiness in sunset zone 11. 'Miss Huff' should definitely be hardy, since that's one of its characteristics, so it will go into the ground in the fall.

The red and yellow theme continues with the Coreopsis, which are still blooming:

Coreopsis 'Creme Brulee' is buzzing with insects most of the day.

Coreopsis 'Route 66' foliage feels wonderful to touch, especially on hot days.

 And also the yellow blooms on the various melons (cantaloupe in this case):

Cantaloupe blossoms in different shades of yellow.

 The main big blooms on the sunflowers are done (post coming soon!) but some of the smaller side blossoms are still opening:

Heliantus anuus - this is the seedling that "popped up" in of the pipes - it doesn't look like any of the seed packs I have.

Helianthus annus 'Mammoth' with some lazy, early morning pollinators

There are seeds everywhere around these flowers, and the birds sit on their stems. They're such a presences in the garden, especially since everything else is still growing in. The red Yarrow (Achillea millefolium 'Paprika') is also blooming:

The three 'Paprika' plants have started to grow together. Now if the yellow ones would catch up!

And so is the Russian Sage (Perosvskia atriplicifolia) which isn't red or yellow, but adds some cooling blue:

This one made a different-looking spray of flowers

And finally there are two blooms I'm really excited about - the Echeveria subrigida:

It has 2 bloom stalks about 10 inches tall... I was hoping they were going to fully open for July GBBD...

It looks like it will be pink!
And the Hot Lips sage (Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips'), turned full red from the heat, is reblooming after its pruning earlier in the summer:

These smell so good when you get close.

Which is exciting, because the hummingbirds love it!

It looks like it's flying into the wall, but there's actually a blossom there!

And they will try to chase you away if you get too close!

I should work on taking better pictures of these guys next time!

To see more beautiful blooms, and hear what the weather is like elsewhere, go to Carol's May Dreams Gardens and look at all the links. And thanks for visiting mine!