Plants are Cool

I had this moment yesterday when I was tired and digging dahlias and planting bulbs and feeling the weariness of the long, long season, when I looked up and my heart did a little extra skip beat. And this view caught me by surprise, I never look at this garden from this angle, and the morning light was glaring through the feathertop flowers of the Pennisetum villosum, catching the bronzy colors of the cannas against the glossy green box and then the mighty out-of-place amazing castor bean, towering above me was just so epic and weird. And I thought even with my best (or random) intentions to what I am planting, why and how, the plants will always surprise me and often surpass my wildest dreams.

And I am driving off the road for mums right now. Like this one Chrysanthemum 'Gethesamane Moonlight,' originally from Plant Delights. This has been extremely hardy and has spread to be an enormous clump- this plant doesn't get going until October, which is just fine by me. She's glowing in daylight.

Salvia 'Big Blue' is one of the best annuals, chunky and deep violet blue and tall! Thank you Emily for introducing me to this gem.

I was not a fan of the the Dahlia 'Coltness Hybrids' that I grew from seed this year (too short, too pastel, too compact), but as I was digging them up I decided to keep particular one, yellow with peachy pink blush. This one specimen bloomed well and has a nice shape to the petals. It spurred some discussion about what makes a plant good anyway...one of the best discussions to have, especially when tired!