Superlative gardening

Please forgive me if I get a little over-the-top with excitement sometimes. It's just that I wait all year for the kind of weather and plant intensity that summer brings, and I tend to get carried away with some of the daily developments.

Like my Yucca rostrata: Yesterday, after having looked at the light green topknot it's been sporting for over a month, it suddenly occurred to me that there might be something else going on! Could my young plant actually be getting ready to bloom? There was a hard core at the center of the unfurling leaves. Might that be a potential FLOWER STALK?  I was suddenly dizzy with the thought!

A quick check-in with the Oregon Gardeners group on Facebook seemed to indicate that my plant is pretty young to be blooming, and that other species are doing similar things not related to blooming behavior, as well. But what potential! What excitement!

I bought a fabulously bargain-priced Callistemon 'Woodlander's Hardy Red' earlier this year at Fry Road Nursery. It was big, but in a very small pot and very pot-bound when I got it out and into the ground. I worried that it might not do well, even with amended drainage and plenty of TLC. Just this week I detected the first of its characteristic red bottlebrush flowers beginning to show color. SUCCESS! I have wanted this plant in my garden for years and it's finally mine - and blooming!

The summer oranges that I adore in my garden are beginning to come on strong.

Here's Kniphofia 'Timothy', adding THE BEST salmony-orange note under the 'Natchez' crape myrtle.

And one of my very favorite summer bloomers, an Agastache that I never see elsewhere, but a color that is PEFECTION in my garden,  A. 'Acapulco Orange'. The florets are a fascinating combination of orange and a dusky pink. It's just beginning to open now, but later in summer, the local bees validate my belief that if you only have one agastache, this is THE ONE.

I'm LOVING my spiky Eryngium forest this time of year. Backing up Zantedeschia 'Flame', starting from the left are,  E. variifolium, E. giganteum, with E. planum 'Jade Frost' just leaning in from the right. As an additional testimonial to their spiny wonderfulness, I haven't seen any neighbor cat activity sullying this part of the garden, either: Win-Win!

This week I have an GORGEOUS PROFUSION of Acanthus blooms, with A. mollis and A. spinosa blooming their little hearts out in the Tropical Fusion area of my back garden. And I love their foliage just as much as I do their stately flower bracts.

All in all, this time of year in the garden is made for superlatives. And, yes, you are completely forgiven if you also find yourself using them to describe thrilling new developments in your garden. Because given our perfect climate, amazing plant options, fascinating nurseries, and superb gardening conditions, I can't understand how you could do ANYTHING else.