I Can't Leave them Alone for More than a Day

Thank you all for your comments over the past five days.  I have been out of town  without computer access so have not been able to answer as I usually try to do (had all my posts set to go before I left). I did read and appreciate every single comment. It was one of the first things I did after I got home. You know how I miss all you when I am away!
When I got home yesterday  afternoon my poor deck plants were pathetic. They have had no water or attention since last Sunday.  I think it did rain on Wednesday, but that was not enough for my pampered babies. They are used to getting a mega load of water every day. Most of the plants on the sunny side of the deck were near death.  I gave them all a good drink of water and they perked up nicely after a few hours, but a lot of the foliage was still yellow and  sickly looking.

How sad is this?

I went out this morning and cut off the yellowed leaves. It is looking pretty sparse, but I  think it will bounce back.

I also  cut off most of the drooping flowers from this big dahlia container, but the bottom foliage is beyond repair.

so I cut it off and then moved a big peach canna to cover its na*ked bottom.

 There. That's so much better.

I did have a few new blooms while I was gone.

This is my most interesting canna. I bought it as Picasso, but I don't think it is Picasso.  Whatever it is, it's so unusual with it's orange/yellow combination petals.  Most of the yellow section have orange dots all over.

My Peruvian Daffodil also put out it's second bloom:

 At least this year the flower was not half eaten by insects.  I am disappointed though as I had hoped for at least half a dozen flower stalks shooting out this watering can.

 I have another dahlia blooming. I can't remember the name of this peachy/yellow flower. It is probably on my blog somewhere, but I don't feel like looking for it.  :)

So after a few hours of work, the deck is looking OK, not good anymore, just OK. I knew all the plants would suffer if we did not get enough rain while I was gone, but I can't live to take care of the plants. So now I will just have to do the best I can with what I have left.

I am looking forward to catching up on all your blogs.