Green Thumb fall update

We had a challenging summer growing flowers on Main Street, between lots of rain this spring and the hot top drying the planters quickly. We tried using new and different flowers in the barrel plants this year. One of which was Lime Light 4 o'clocks which worked well until the hot sun didn't get them time enough to bloom during the day. We also put in Bicoppa, Purple Stuff (my own named plant), the daisy looking plants (Darlene is better with remembering the names than me), needlepoint ivy (that got lost in the barrels) and the Tobacco plant. There were various other ones, but those were the main ones. In the Bench Planters, we planted with all herbs: Anise Hyssop, Basil Red Rubin and green Basil, Chives and thyme all of which smelled Divine and wanted me to go home and make pasta or pizza when I smelled them.

My Dad, Dana Wilbur, (age 84) and his life partner Marilyn Scribner, diligently went to town with 20+ gallons of water in their trunk to water the barrels, the herbs, the cannon out on Dam Street many times a week. Mark Bellaire also watered in the mornings, plus some of the store owners and town office ladies poured even more water on... And still the flowers got wilted at times.
If anyone knows of plants that are extreme heat and drought resistant, please let me know.
The Highway Dept. guys picked all the barrels and benches up from Main Street last week and they are now wintering at my house so that hopefully we can get a better jump on them in the spring.
I wish we had a little greenhouse here on Number 10 to winter some of these plants, but maybe when I win the megabucks...??!!!!!