Crocosmia 'Lucifer', Echinacea 'Magnus', Rudbeckia maxima and whatever this large hydrangea is that is blooming outside my window. I can't survive summer without zinnias and sunflowers but you asked for perennials.

Hi Lorabell,

Your purslane has pink flowers, is beautiful!!! Is it edible?

Mine has small yellow, almost invisible, flowers. I grow purslane as a salad green. Love the tart taste! grows like a weed. Love it.

I would love to get a few cuttings of this pink purslane.

Love love seeing the pictures Lorabell!! Hugs!

Nice pics! Agastache has been a favorite for me a couple times (last winter it died during the though supposedly perennial.) Bees love it. It's pretty. I also have Cosmos, bright lights, are functioning almost like a perennial because of the self seeding they did, even through mulch. Bees like them too.

Salvia greggii, Russian sage, Balloon flowers, Gaillardias. The latter 2 must be deadheaded to continue bloom. Also Angelonias, which may overwinter in the ground for you, and don't need deadheading. They all start blooming in spring and keep going through the heat. Agastache always dies over the winter for me, probably from being too wet. My new lantana disappeared too, but the neighbors' bloom like crazy all summer.

I snapped a few photos while out checking how dry things are today. I'm surprised to see my Showy Mendinilla (Mendinilla magnifica) still in flower. I bought it in February or March, in bloom for the greenhouse. It now lives hanging on a branch under a tree in the garden. It seems happy. The sunflower is a new hybrid that just keeps blooming over and over all summer long. The Echinacea is 'Magnus' that I got as seed at a plant swap years ago from Brenda.

very nice Mendinilla !! I have never seen that

John, if you get seed set on that Medenilla, I'd love to get some.

Some of my favorite summer bloomers are agastaches, various salvias, verbascum, echinacea, and this year I've got huge Nicotinana sylvestris that were supposed to have died over the winter. They're generating some equally huge tobacco hornworms.

I love the jasmine smell of them (the tobacco, not the worms!). If seeds don't happen on the Mendivilla I think they can be divided. They like to be kept dry but with high humidity and it didn't mind my cool greenhouse in the winter.

Sounds great. Let me know if you want any N.sylvestris seed. They're making a ton and a half.

Another of my summer favorites is Tinantia pringlei, also a spring and fall favorite. It only stops blooming when the deer eat it but comes right back, so perfect for my garden. Likes a little protection from the hottest afternoon sun.

Hello Karen, Was it you, or Brenda, Looking for Thai / cinnamon basil In Spring swap. I recall the plants were small then. They are good size now. If any one is coming to Raleigh, I am happy to share them. They have come back with gusto ( they reseed every year). I give out seeds to a lot of folks too in both the swaps. Tasty!!

Thanks, I got Thai basil from you at the last swap but will let you know if I do anything dumb and need more.

OK ! I can bring the seeds in the fall swap if anyone wants them.

John - Those are wonderful plants and great photos!!

While actually blooming at some other time, their foliage stands on its own.

Strobilanthes dyerianus (from the 2017 Ralph W Spring Collection):

Jasminum officinalis 'Frojas' on a 6 ft trellis to hide and shade AC condenser units:

Eye candy!!

WOW!!

Should have seeds later if you'd like some.

I would love some. What are they! ?

Passiflora 'Temptation'. Should have fruits with seeds by the end of the season.

Moonflowers