I often see this sold as Fragrant Mist Flower. This white variety has a very strong smell, but it's kind of a not very good smell in my opinion. However the insects love it. I have this growing in shade and in full sun. It performs better in full sun, but it will bloom in shade. This variety throws off seed, but it is not nearly as aggressive as the blue mist flower.
Same area, different angles. White salvia, blue salvia, purple gomphrena, Country Girl mums, Heliopsis, butterfly weed, celosia, Giant Rudbeckia, Mexican Mint Marigold, perennial ageratum, zinnias.
Drove up Saturday morning for the day. Bert was hunting. Watched the Astros in the World Series with Mom, Dad and Nancy and Lisa on Saturday night.
I planted 3 Russian Sage in the center area of the Star Garden. It stays pretty dry in that area which suits sages very well. Russian Sage has white foliage which I thought would look very pretty with the low-growing Artemesia that I planted near there a couple of weeks ago. Russian Sage is a sub-shrub. If it takes off it should be very attractive with its lavender flower spikes. I have bad luck getting plants to grow there, my hope is because it is so dry, these plants will be perfect there.
I planted a Summer Chocolate Silk tree which I will dedicate to my granddaughter Zelda. They will be here next weekend, and I have a plaque ready with her name and the date.
I planted 2 Ballerina roses in the rose boxes attached to the arbor in the Rose Garden. I filled them with mushroom compost last week in preparation for planting and I added some more compost today. I also planted an Enchantress rose in one of my feed buckets. I had some pentas in that pot, so I pulled them up. I saw armadillo activity in there and walked around the garden until I found 2 entrance holes. I hammered down some stakes on the wire fencing to close the holes.
I cleared out the front flower bed of ageratum before it went to seed. And I pulled away all the luffa vine from the fence. I brought 13 huge luffa gourds into the house to dry out. Did some general clean up in the bed once that mess was gone. And I sowed seed: Cornclockle, yellow yarrow, Larkspur, and California poppies.
I think this is Benny's Gold Flame Acanthus, a selection from Benny Simpson. It has been really showy this fall. I bought two tiny little plants in the early part of the summer. This one is doing better than the other one, but they have gotten pretty big. Acanthus will get large and spread if you let it. You have to keep an eye on it, or you will look up one day and the only thing you have in your garden is Flame Acanthus.
Blue Mist Flower is a perennial. It grows into a huge plant. I have let it get away from me this year, and I will have to pull some up (it is an aggressive re-seeder) but certainly not in the fall! The fall is its time to shine. If you're looking for a butterfly magnet, mist flower of any kind is the choice to make. They are all wonderful. It dies back in the winter, and it can be cut to the ground. Cutting it back before it sets seed is the wise thing to do. I find it everywhere, and I am constantly pulling up seedlings. They aren't hard to pull up if you do it when they are small. The butterfly activity on this perennial every year is unforgettable.
