Late Summer Flower Color

I did some work in the garden today, only to run inside when the rain started to soak my clothes. While the plants enjoyed the rain, the ever-rising local lake probably didn't need the extra water. All the beaches and low-lying land around here is covered in water and the flooding is likely to last another few weeks!
"Lime Bicolour" petunia I grew from seed this year -- I recall that this was an over-priced annual seed, but it claimed to be an exciting new hybrid, so...

Scabiosa caucasica are blooming now - nice to have the color, though the foliage on these can look a little weedy and messy:

Highbush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) compact variety shrub now has pretty red berries developing on it. It took about 5 years for this shrub to finally produce the berries:

Aconitum napellus (Monkshood) produces impressive strong stems of blue flowers for August. I really must divide this one next year to spread the color around:

I made my annual tulip order yesterday, only to have the kind people from Botanus email me and ask if I intended to duplicate one of the items I made on an order a few months ago. I pretended not to be going senile and replied that I do need plenty of a particular daffodil. Therefore, yes, there should be a duplicate. It should be a big bulb-planting fall once my boxes of bulbs arrive! I aim for planting as soon as they arrive, by the end of September.
Sweet peas in my hanging basket -- such a sweet scent!

Gaudy Gladioli and Some Poison Blues

I tried growing some Gladioli this year, at least so I could say I have grown them at least once. I bought a new type, from the "Glamini" series. They are supposed to be a shorter variety that theoretically does not need to be staked (mine are leaning after a rain). This one was supposed to be a red and pink type called "Emily". I can't find my order summary, but the plant I have growing certainly doesn' t look like Emily, as it is a horrible peach color (it probably is the one called "Zoe"). This color might look good in some tropical display along with some complementary cannas, but looks terrible next to my Rudbeckia. Truly horrible. I think the mail order company made a mistake on their labeling.

I've got some nice blooms on my Aconitum napellus (monkshood) this year. I dug this plant out of my sister-in-law's yard, so that I could admire it and keep it away from children that might try eating it. This is a nice plant for late-summer blooms, though the dark blue doesn't stand out from a distance like bright whites and yellows do.

Aconitum contains toxic alkaloids that are cardiotoxins and neurotoxins. These are found in all parts of the plant. It is interesting that it is used in homeopathy and traditional Chinese medicine. Canadian actor Andre Noble apparently died in 2004 after accidentally ingesting the plant while camping in Newfoundland. Plant toxins will cause symptoms in the cardiovascular, neuromuscular, and gastrointestinal systems, though death is almost always because of cardiac ventricular arrythmias or asystole ("flatline", a ceasing of electrical activity in the heart).