The winners, so far

There are a couple ways I can assess which are the high-impact plants-of-the-season. Distance is one. After seven days away, some cultivars really start to show their stuff. So when I get back into town, ascertain that the house hasn't burned down and no one has broken in, the first thing I check is the garden. Many things remain pretty much the same: ferns, hosta, and groundcovers are basically required to stay green and uneaten. Lilies should show progress, but should not all bloom at once: I will need at least 7-10 multi-budded stalks for Garden Walk. Hydrangeas should be showing color. But this is the same progress I monitor every year; as always, for me, it is the annuals that provide the most excitement.

I mentioned the 3-foot-high red nicos in the last post, so won't go on about those. I was also gratified by a strong showing from the elephant ear and coleus. These are either El Brighto or Two-Tone. (They all have two tones!) I love coleus; they're so easy.

But I love many of the common annuals, especially petunias; these were grown by my neighbor and are happily interweaving themselves from container to container. Many of these have a lovely fragrance as well, which is something people often don't recognize as a benefit of petunias.

Far too late for Stuart's contest is this funky milkbox container, but what I'm really happy about are the colocasia obligingly growing out of it. They got a really late start.