Oh yes, Julia, these plants do indeed like the rain, but so do the weeds and grass!! I cannot get in there to work! Nancy, I have no idea how much rain has come in but it has been a lot!! Many of our counties are on Code Red alert which means flash flooding and dangerous flooding over roads. I am liking Forest God very much also-it came from Laura last year. Kay, the blooms have shown great color although as I told you if you get close to them, they are very much rain damaged!! I think the plant you are talking about in that bed is Lady Dragon showing the last of its blooms. Debra, Tall Dark Stranger may be more reddish if it ever sees sun! Truly, since it has been blooming, it has been cloudy and rainy!!

Kate - I was so grateful for some good, soaking rain. I didn't go outside and dance in it, but I did do a little dance while I was inside watching it rain. I'm glad you liked Hoopla. I really like that one a lot, and the other purple lovers here never mention it. Maryl - I used to grow Buzz Saw, and my seedling is much bigger - 7+ inch blooms on 34-inch scapes. It has a few teeth and tendrils but not as many teeth as Buzz Saw. Also Buzz Saw had a yellow cast here. Julia - I'm glad you remembered the name of your good near white. Debra

Sorry it took so long for me to add to the post. Longwood Gardens is an over the top breathtakingly memorable place. My husband and I spent more than 4 hours marveling at the skill and beauty on display. Visiting Longwood Gardens is my husband's birthday gift to me. Jojo was the icing on the cake of a wonderful day. She is every bit as lovely and gracious in person, and such a good sport about my interrupting her at work. I admit that I was on the lookout for Jojo and had mentioned to my husband that I might see an IFF who works at the Gardens. If I read his mind correctly, he thought "yeah sure, not likely; IFF?" I found Jojo in the Pierce du Pont house and we met again in the Conservatory near the "Tiffany" tree, apt and serendipitous locations given how we all have known each. My husband was unusually quiet while Jojo and I talked. Not at all like him since he strikes up conversations with everyone everywhere. I promise he will be more talkative next time. He has a better understanding now about the dearness of the forum. He enjoyed all your comments and says hello. Maybe our husbands should form their own conversation group, the DHIFF. Wishing I could join you all next week. Have a good time and good weather.

It's a workhorse in my garden, too, though the Japanese beetles do a number on it. I delay the second flush by pruning it (and most of my Austins, HT, hybrid perpetuals, chinas, etc) fairly heavily just before the second flush starts to set buds. It doesn't seem to set it back, and it saves me the agony of watching the beetles destroy the blooms, lol. I still get three good flushes, to the point you could almost call it constantly blooming. I'd prune every one of my remontant roses the same way, but I'm leery of summer pruning my teas.