Last of the Season?

I like to think I'm a good gardener, but really I'm just lucky. And I pick plants that don't need a ton of TLC because, round about mid-July I'm a little bored with the whole thing. I've been known to forget to water plants for a week at a time. (shhhh, don't tell my mom)

Prime example: last summer, bebe and I potted a grouping of flowers - petunias, some tall grasses maybe a begonia. It was beautiful for about the first week. And then, Kristina happened. Okay, technically the zero shade near the wall where we placed the pot didn't help. I did water it, daily...that sun was just unforgiving. The pot lasted about two weeks and there was no bringing it back.

So bebe and I headed off to buy something a little more hardy and what we wound up with was a hibiscus bush-thing because, in bebe-speak, 'look at that ginormipous flower!'

So far, we've managed to keep it alive. It loves our front porch in the summer months and once the frost comes, we'll move it inside...where hopefully it will make it through its second winter.

This may be the last hibiscus bloom of the season, at least in our area. The nights are getting cooler and the sun is taking a little longer to rise. But I (and bebe) was so excited to see one more bloom from our little plant.

How about you? Are you catching a few last blooms before the long winter?