it is normal- in fact, I am used to seeing it dry up earlier in August in Atlanta. I've found that I can only fight it so much.

Yep. I'm loving the cool, dry evenings, but not looking forward to finally planting my fescue at the end of the month. If this keeps up, my water bill is not gonna be pretty.

Denna

Had 2.5" of rain on 8/29, courtesy of K, but it has long since evaporated because of the low dewpoints and my Rain-birds are working overtime. Glad I have an irrigation meter that cuts my water bill by two-thirds(no sewer charges). Saves me about $1K each year. Would like a well, but am sitting on a thick slab of granite.
Cardinal flower, several species of Toad lily, Tibouchina 'Athens Blue', Brazilian Jasmine(Mandevilla sanderei), Lantana, Budleja and Anemone hupehensis 'September Charm' are in bloom. Had Solidago for years, but it gave up a couple of years ago, without even leaving a seedling? Waiting patiently for Lycoris, Colchicum, Fall Crocus and Cyclamen(only one blooming, so far).
Most natives fare well without supplemental water and the Georgia Aster(Symphyotrichum georgianum, formerly Aster georgianus)looks poised to put on a show in a few weeks.
Tomato's have been a great disappointment this year. Very few Big Boy's to enjoy! Vines still look great, but alas, few blooms! Too many cloudy days, too much or not enough fertilizer, water? Mystery to me!
Rb

Yes, yuck! As I just told another Georgia Forum fellow traveller, my construction site has turned into a dried-up sea of mud. I also connected all my hoses to nuke the brambles below with glyphosate, neglecting some shrubs in pots in the shade for two days, and looked out this morning to find a couple of them in extremis and others in need of resuscitation. Then there's the stuff in the ground... I'm definitely clustering all future perennials in one garden where I can turn on the sprinklers and just walk away.

Blooming happily away right now are the short and tall versions of Boltonia. I love white flowers against all the green in the heat. With it are the fragrant Ginger Lilies I look forward to all summer. A passalong white "real" lily from Athens just finished blooming but opened with the Boltonia.

I'm starting to think it might never rain again.

I can't remember when the last time I even saw a cloud was.
I'm blaming the drop in humidity for my immune system's inability to ward off this case of the sniffles that I've been dealing with.

I checked my records for the first three weeks of September going back to 1997, and this year is the deepest into the month without ANY rain. In the first three weeks last September I had 8.78" of rain! Since August 20, I have had only .88" of rain.

I had 39 rain days(meaning a day in which it rained even just a trace amount) in July and August! It seems at some point every summer we have a dome of high pressure settle over us like it has the last several weeks, making things hot and dry. Keep your fingers crossed that maybe we'll get a bit of rain tomorrow.

Well, looks like there won't be any relief today. I was so hoping, but after checking the radar map for that elusive "30% chance of rain" predicted today, it doesn't look like it's going to make it down this far. And still, not a sign of clouds in the next week's forcast.
*sigh* time to drag out the hose and give my root-damaged, stressed-out oaks a drink.

Denna

It's 7 pm on Friday. Still no rain.
There were some red blobs on the radar coming this way but they fizzled out.

Sigh. Same here.

I spent the day dragging hoses around to drooping shrubs. Yesterday had some very high winds that would blow up big clouds of dry "mud" one direction, then turn and blow them the other. This reminder that I need a tough framework that can handle dry periods is very timely. I'm off to McCorkle's next week to purchase as many background shrubs as I can pack into the van.

Well I had a trace of rain Friday, then .10" yesterday. I never expected such a bounty! I don't think there is any significant rain coming our way for at least another week coupled with warmer than normal temps. Overall the summer hasn't been really hot, but it sure seems like its trying to make up for lost time now.

I heard that it rained the other night south of Altanta. However, that doesn't help me one bit. I also have to replant some grass seed and not looking forward to that at all. I will be sure to wait for it to rain first. My poor flowers are looking sad. I water and they still wilt down. I'm in the Commerce area and the days are still too hot.

My azaleas are looking wilted. Will they make it without watering, or do I need to suck it up and drag the hose around? (Too cheap to put in a real irrigation system... Guess I deserve what I get...)

I would water anything that is wilted in the cool of the morning. That shows it does not have enough to even perk up overnight.

I would also water anything that is special, expensive or hard to find! Just a few pennies of water can save a cherished plant.