Tiny expectations, continued

Here are the things I’m thankful for as the summer winds to an end:

•if I can sit outside and listen to the birds and cicadas for half an hour before the light fades and it gets chilly.

•if the few remaining perennials and (more numerous) annuals stick it out through September and maybe part of October. Especially the climbing petunia, which now provides the bulk of the fragrance.

•if I get 3-4 more flowers out of the gardenia before I have to move it inside.

•if I can get a couple more perennials planted, maybe a shrub.

•if one or two more beautiful little surprises like this African foxglove (ceratotheca triloba, above) come up when I’d almost forgotten about them. It struggled up through a welter of geraniums, lantana, and diascia.