Still here, still whole.

Floribunda Rose Moondance, Day Two., a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

In spite of the thrips I saw running around inside the petals yesterday, this flower still looks pretty nice.

When it's open like this, it reminds me of David Austin's Crocus Rose. I love that rose but I'll never be able to grow it, because I live in Zone 6.

Still thinking about next year...

Oh, what am I going to talk about when the garden is finished for the year? Probably cooking, or movies.

I've been eyeing roses that I might want to plant next spring. Two in particular that have caught my eye are floribunda rose "Julia Child" and Griffith Buck rose "Simon Estes." I've been thinking about "Julia Child" for awhile because 1). I like yellow roses 2). It supposedly smells like licorice candy and 3). I saw it in person at my local nursery in June and thought that it was absolutely gorgeous. I'm usually a little creeped out about buying a rose that's named after a celebrity, but as long as it's not somebody who annoys me...

"Simon Estes" is named after a famous African-American opera singer, but I'm not familiar with him. The rose looks like a deep pink version of "Quietness."

I'm on the fence about doing the Snowpuff cosmos next year. The flowers are exceptionally pretty, but they've grown way too tall for my tastes. They've gone from looking delightfully informal to kind of silly. I wish someone would develop a dwarf variety of these flowers. I think that the fun of annuals is seeing flowers bloom that you've never experienced before. Maybe I'll do the pink ones next year. I don't know. I never thought I'd find an annual flower that grew taller than the Japanese anemones...

I spiked my hand good this morning cutting a cucumber from the side garden. I chopped it off the vine and it fell into my palm. Ouch! Those things are dangerous!

The two remaining black swallowtail caterpillars have grown big and fat. They finished eating their parsley plant, so I transported them to the second plant. I am such a sucker. The parsley was tough this year, anyway.