Late Summer Garden, In Central Florida

Life has been a little busy, as of late.  It's been over two weeks since I posted anything, but I haven't been doing much gardening.  September, so far, feels exactly like August, hot and humid.  We had two wind storms over the last few days, which blew a lot of small branches out of our oaks.  Some of the taller coleus were uprooted, and other plants in the shade gardens got broken down, by the fallen branches.  Thankfully, nothing that couldn't be fixed, just a lot of clean up.  A few roses are blooming...

 Belinda's Dream

Angel Face

Gold Glow

A double, pink Knockout

On the way back to the vegetable garden, the Mexican Bush Sage is just beginning to show off.  This has to be one of my favorite fall bloomers, it  also blooms in spring, but not so abundantly.  

My Desert Rose, which I find does best when I ignore it, is blooming now.

The 'wild' hibiscus and shrub hibiscus have been constant bloomers all summer.

Clerodendrum 'Ugandense', never quits blooming either.

Still, my favorite bloom of all is my Blue Ginger flower.

Just beginning to erupt...

Other purple blooms...

Tibouchina

Clematis

In the shade gardens,the shorter coleus were able to withstand the winds,and are still going strong.  Curcumas are still happily blooming.

The Christia abcordata, "Swallowtail Plant", was undamaged also.

The last thing I have to share is the 'start' of my fall veggie garden,  a flat of tomatoes that I planted several weeks ago.  They should be ready for the garden by late September.  I don't usually start tomatoes from seed, but the plants are getting so expensive.

Thank you for visiting my garden.  I hope you and your gardens are doing well.

Garden Chat ~Central Florida

It's rained off and on, all day today, but I'm not complaining, I'm bragging!  We've had several good rains this week, and the plants are already responding to the extra moisture.  I did some weeding in between showers, the roots come out so much easier when everything's sopping wet.  Rainy days are the best for taking pictures too.  I'm always talking about the shade out back, and my little deck, just out the back door, here it is...

This is where we have coffee each morning, unless it's raining, then you'll find us on the front porch.

On the days we're working outside, we have lunch here, and it's where we always relax with a glass of iced tea.

Part of our live oak canopy.

We recently had branches trimmed that were heading over top of the house, but we still have plenty of shade.  There's two more live oaks to the left of these.

On to the front...the rain hasn't helped the roses too much, it's going to take some cooler weather for them.

On a whole, most things are looking refreshed.

Butterflies and hummingbirds were zooming about everywhere today, they're a big part of what makes gardening worthwhile.  The Zebra Longwing, that so nicely sat for a portrait, is Florida's State Butterfly...you may have known that, but I just learned that today.  Lately, we've had an abundance of them, as well as the Swallowtails.

Looking all cheerful.

I don't even know what it is, some kind of houseplant.  Anyway, I stuck it in this rock several years ago(hardly any soil in it), and it just keeps growing.  I wish everything was that easy.  I'll leave you for now, happy gardening.