Thanks - that's very good information!

northerner_on, thanks so much for the helpful comments. I'll let it go and see what it does (what we think is ech) but I don't want any of them in back. Yes, I'm certain #2 is some type of aster. I was just excited to see the new color, then got my BS catalog and they have actually 3 similar there, was a color breakthrough. So it's a spinoff from one of those getting a seed mixed into the Purple Dome no doubt. From the brightness of the pink, it could be Alma Potschke but also September Ruby or Pink Dome. Pink D would be most likely since I bought the P Dome but I'll never know for sure. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that I learn what to look for when they emerge and try to work them into nicer shapes. They're supposed to be vaselike which is more pleasing to me plus you can pinch them back for more blooms. These two have ugly shapes which I think is due to damage I don't think I did, chemical damage possible from prior years but not last or this year. My neighbor offered to do something with the stump for me; his idea was to make a sitting bench out of it. I generally don't like stumps but couldn't afford the price to have it chipped out. If I let him do his thing then get a chance to get it ground out cheap, you know that wouldn't play well. Those flowers with the rose are hosta, not to worry. I've let those 3 hosta plants get way too big but it's a nice payoff in the fall with all those blooms. What you don't see in there are lamium I'm going to start pulling because it takes over. I had volunteer I thought it was campanula or Ladybells come up in several places. That bent and when horizontal it shoots up lots more bloom stalks. Someone here remarked about it and it happened with me. I thought they were "good" plants, had unsuccessfully tried to grow some variety of them from seeds. So maybe I do have the wild one and should get rid of it but I can assure you I have wild stuff that's much worse :-( Yes, my neighbor's Sweet Autumn is wonderful and the scent now competes with the Honeybell blooms on my hosta. It's been there for years but I can tell you really need a strong support for it. Rozanne flowers until our first hard frost (close to the ground they can go a little longer sometimes). Yes, I know you divide hosta in the spring, was just wondered if my physical strength was up to it other than slice off pieces. The ones with the purple blooms need to be dug up and cut apart; I doubt I can do that; they're packed. My poor raspberries; I've done the best I can do with them for now. They've given me the most satisfaction from we'ing yet. And it looks pathetic there. Maybe if they take off and the pile can be kept neater and under control, it will look better. That whole area needs mulched for raspberries. The leaf mold under all that recent junk from former years should make them happy I would think. I had a terrible time getting the chicken wire cage pried out; when they took down the tree, it mashed the wire all around. That pink rose is vicious; maybe I've let it go too long badly sited for a vigorous climber that the jury is out whether canes survive in our zone. The only ones that survive for me are ones that hug the ground. It's a pretty one and blooms all summer; actually there are a pair of them in there, grew them from bands I ordered on the web which was all I could get of that one. One lady in Kentucky and DH built the most gorgeous deck with pergola, and then have this rose climbing two stories. They were so beautiful at the top of that pergola. Somewhere else in the south, they let one climb a tree, it went up 30' high or more. Weird.

I don't know but it looks to have some kind of defect that is limiting and/or deforming the petals. Might it be in the rudbeckia/coneflower/sunflower/coreopsis family? The cone probably will help id the plant since it is more symetrical in design than the above mentioned. I've had weird problems with deformities to rudbeckia blossoms(newer variety) and dieback funguses on common blackeyed susans this year.

It's called fasciation, and it's a physical abnormality that occurs in many different plants - I had a fasciated Bleeding Heart a couple of years ago. It was normal the next year, and yours probably will be too. Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia on fasciation