I love ordinary plants

As I write this, I’m more intoxicated than usual, having imbibed some wonderful crisp whites and spicy reds (a picpoul de pinet--correction--I said I was tipsy!--from Languedoc, and an Argentinian blend) at a friend’s house. So I shouldn’t be typing anything.

Yet, I feel impelled to post. As I was leaving Cheryl’s garden, a huge white potted geranium caught my eye and I had to rub and smell the leaves of it. She keeps it in her classroom throughout the winter and brings it out in her garden when school is over. It is just the type of lush, abundant annual that gives me the most pleasure throughout the summer. Tulips, columbines, peonies, roses, lilies—they all come and go. But what I depend on for continual color and scent are the common annuals. Yes, I’m talking about the petunias, the nicotianias, the heliotrope, even the geraniums. I try to get rarer, old-fashioned varieties whenever I can, but even the garden center ones can provide equal satisfaction. Just now, I am waiting for Select Seed’s Appleblosson Rosebud to really show its stuff, but it’s taking a while. That’s the fun of it too—our weather will be balmy through October and I’ll need the color then.

In the fall months yet to come, I appreciate the last gasp of summer annuals far more than perennials meant for this season. Way more.