The Best Fall Flower.

"Call me Caty!", a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

With a bonus doll photo. XD

I'm very impressed by Japanese anemone "Honorine Jobert" this year. Compared the asters and cosmos, it can really bounce back from heavy autumn rain. Strangely enough, the bugs that skeletonize "Robustissima"'s leaves won't touch "Honorine Jobert." It blooms a few weeks later, which means that it's still around in mid-October after the pink ones are finished.

Speaking of late, that Japanese chrysanthemum I planted in May is finally about to bloom! The partially unfurled petals are the loveliest shade of pink. I just can't believe that a flower could bloom so late in the season! I've cut back the necrotic foliage of "Coral Supreme" from the background, so when the chrysanthemum blooms I should be able to take a nice picture.

As far as the roses go, "Julia Child" and "Moondance" still have blackspot. Damn floribundas! "Julia" is actually showing more of it than "Moondance." "Simon Estes" is pulling itself together, "Aptos" looks fresh, "Quietness" looks ready to conquer the world. "Prairie Sunrise" looks samey. "Crested Moss" is kind of beat-up, probably because it's a once-bloomer and getting ready to go dormant. "James Mason" seems like it has no intention of going dormant, though. I'm surprised that the wretched specimen of butterfly bush "Miss Molly" we received from Park Seed is doing very well. I've never heard of planting butterfly bush in the fall, but that was the only time they were shipping. Considering that most of the stress our new butterfly bushes undergo is due to excessive summer heat, I wonder if they were on to something?