Is that Malvaviscus drummondii?

yes... :)

Here is a link that might be useful: From Southern Living:

This is honestly the very first time I've seen Steve Bender been totally inaccurate. I grow this plant, it HATES DROUGHT. Maybe Mr. Bender has not been in the situation to have had no rain for a month (and nothing in the forseeable future) and unable to irrigate.
Within a week of no rain, this plant is totally horrible looking. I do not recommend it for dry weather. It thrives the best in hot, humid weather and morning sun (PM shade) with some rains in well drained soils for me.

aawww, GGG! Guess that's not for me. I have no time to water... my sprinkler system keeps breaking & those sprinkler cmps keep charging me. so i had it off most of the summer... it was leaking too much... i see some gorgeous cacti lately that are flowering beautifully in front of a Mexican restaurant. That might be my plant! :)

Now you can all understand my desire to plant so much Autumn Joy in that one spot in my yard that holds no water. It sure looks good right now and I have never watered it.

Vroomp, you know that russian sedum I have? It's dried up. That's how bad it is here. For some reason my yard tends to be hotter than most. It's been at least 95 in the front yard every day for more than three months, usually closer to 100 or more. Our water bill is going to be really not pleasant this month....

Girlgroupgirl, I feel your pain. Throughout the summer the pop up showers seemed to always miss our house. I'd go to the grocery store less than a mile away and the parking lot is full of puddles while our house was dry as a bone. And the few times it did rain it was more like a mist and didn't even register in my rain gauge. It's been a tough summer. I'm so grateful for the rain we had this weekend.

franny, i think you are talking about the area close to the Chattahoogee River. It rains & has lots of LOUD thunder over there. I drive my kids for tennis 4 times a week over & I noticed more rain that way.