I'm so jealous! Thank you for sharing the picture. All I have blooming now is chives, so I'm happy to see a cabbage white, or even thrilled to see a bumble bee. I have seen a huge bumble zooming around. I'm hoping it's a queen scouting around for a nesting spot. I hope you continue to see lots of huge butterflies. Martha

Thanks everyone! Keswick- Thanks for the suggestions. I do have sedum Autumn Joy. Anemones would be great and fall blooming irises too. I will have to look for some of those. Donna, Daylilies have come along way in just a few years. There are some fantastic ones out there and they are soooo expensive! I will be waiting a few years for the price to come down and I am sure by then there will be even more beautiful ones. Popmama- my hydrangea is only about a foot tall but at least it is blooming! There is a large pot in the garden that has some easy wave petunias and a dragon wing begonia in it. I grew the petunias from seed and they are doing very well. I like to put pots in the garden to create some height. Dragonwings are my favorite plant to put in pots because just one plant fills up a large pots and looks great until frost. Here is my red dragonwing Here is my pink one Dragonwing with petunias Another bowl of petunias in the garden. This bowl sits on pedestal. Hanging basket of petunias I grew from seed. Thanks for looking!

The H spicata is native to my land. I not sure about its ID. It is not the "normal more common H spicata. It is either H spicata var arizonic or the H . nitida , which I doubt because of it extreme rareness. There are only 30 known populations . The H. spicata var arizonica is also rare. It has come up 3 times on my land in three different places. then it disappears. None of the ones that came up have made a re appearance. IT takes 20 years from seed to bloom. I don't know how it grows or what it does during their long periods of dormancy. The Monarda punctata is native to Texas somewhere. I think it likes any soil. I found the seed pods on a plant in the sandy wash of Tent Rocks canyon in New Mexico. It is a relative of our Monarda citriodora, horse mint, bee plant. It is an easy annual to grow . I only found the first one three years ago. So I am on the look out for it now. I have found it on the northeast facing bank of my arroyo, on the lower shady oak/cedar moist leaf littered areas

First Blush seems to be holding her own quite well! :-). I can't get over how much it has grown! On Stage, Delona's Smile and Amalia really add a bright sparkle to an already beautiful bed! Love the photos, thanks, DD!