"Petite Plum," Open for Business!

Butterfly Bush "Petite Plum," First Flower., a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

I'm telling ya, it's nice to have some plants that are relatively pest-free.

This butterfly bush was the only one we had last year. Now it's one of many! Regardless of its name, it isn't "petite" at all. This summer it's grown to over six feet tall! We finally cut it down a bit. I think that as long as none of these bushes are taller than I am (at 5'1'') they can still fit nicely into our garden.

"Petite Plum" has many other names, like "Nanho Purple" and "Monum." I have no idea why. It's actually a bit darker in person than shows in photos, like those dark purple lilacs with the big flowers that don't have a fragrance. It's as dark as "Royal Red" but more royal purple than red-violet.

All the other butterfly bushes are still contemplating their flower spikes. I think our next flowers to bloom will be "Rose Bonbon." Who knows when "Lauren's Grape" is going to pop open that flower pod?

Flower Confusion...

So...this morning I noticed that some of the flowerbuds on the cosmos in the front border are starting to open. The plants are very obviously not the same cultivar as the one I recently posted. I had assumed that because the first plant was "Cosimo Sparkling Wine" the other plants were "Rose Bonbon." Now, the flowers haven't opened all the way yet, but I'm surprised and confused to note that rather than being light pink double flowers they're wine red single flowers. A deep, dark, beautiful color, like concord grape juice. And very obviously not the same color as the first cosmos I posted. Which I assumed was "Cosimo Sparkling Wine."

I'm getting the impression that it was "Rose Bonbon" that bit the dust in the flower pots. I'm also getting the impression that these soon-to-open flowers are the real "Cosimo Sparkling Wine" and that the first plant was a "Sensation Mix" cosmos that reseeded itself from last year. Ha ha ha...I'm disappointed, because I had really been looking forward to "Rose Bonbon." At the same time, the new cosmos are such an extraordinary color. I thought it was kind of fishy that a flower that was the same exact color as the fuchsia "Sensation" cosmos would be called "Sparkling Wine." I suppose I'll figure it out tomorrow.

The flower spikes on "Ellen's Blue" are starting to fill out with color. I should have known that they wouldn't really be blue! The color is more like Parma Violet. It's still very pretty.

My floribunda rose "Moondance" is shaping up to be a real pain in the ass. I have to blast bugs off it every day! It has two flower buds this year, one of which I had to pinch off because it was all bug-eaten. The second bud is nice, though. I hear that you're supposed to pinch the buds off first-year rose bushes to help them grow, but I figure, I should allow myself to see one bud open. I hope it does!

On the brighter side, this is the first year I've tried growing cilantro, and it's doing really well.