It was a pretty dry summer. And the first few weeks of September have seen barely a drop of rain. As such, the gardens aren’t looking quite as vibrant and lush as they could be. The coneflowers – one of the main stars of the late season, are usually still going strong. But their colour is fading fast and many are turning into seed heads. Last weekend I did a bunch of deadheading, hoping to get a bit of a second flush, but we’ll see.

The Sunflowers are all doing pretty well still. And the Vanilla Icecream Sunflowers have been a HUGE hit with the goldfinches. I will definitely plant them again.

The birds even paid us back by planting a few of their own. These ones are along the back fence where I lost all my sunflower seedlings to the squirrels.

The Japanese Beetles are still kicking around, but there are definitely fewer of them. Good As Gold has taken the opportunity to shine again.

The lack of rain was hard on the daylilies. They can survive without lots of water, but they certainly don’t thrive. But I’ve got a couple blooming here and there again. Sadly, I can’t remember the name of this one but it’s a lovely pale buttery shade.

The driveway walk garden doesn’t get a tonne of sun, but that also means it hold the moisture better. And as you can see – these multi-coloured Susans are thriving there.

And the native Sneezeweed is in full bloom. It’s a little floppy this year – despite a Chelsea chop – but covered in flowers.

They say rain is coming (possibly today). I hope they are right.