What a year for late summer blooms!

Most of my gardening consists of wandering along my perennial beds and dead-heading spent blooms and trimming dead or diseased stems. I pull out the finished alstroemeria stems, which make room for new growth (they are a lot of work as this needs to be done frequently). Deadheading extends the bloom time for many plants, such as gaillardia, echinachea, and balloonflower.

The tropic-looking plants are looking fabulous now.

Here is a photo of my chicago fig tree, which is about 3 years old. I'm hoping the fruit will ripen this month.

 Here is the red banana and a variegated brugmansia, in pots next to the fig.

 Here is the "tropical" bed:

 This is one of two Hibiscus 'Lord Baltimore':