Coleus, Cleome, and Friends

I got out and did some weeding and deadheading today, thankful that the horrible heatwave is taking a hiatus. I think the heat has simply moved over to Ontario though. Poor them! We need some good soaking rains to perk up the poor plants. This raised bed is full of lilies, coneflowers, potentilla, and (the beginnings of) liatris blooms. These perennials completely disguise the tulips' unsightly remains.

Here is Cleome spinosa "Violet Queen". It looks amazing next to the deep blue delphiniums and provides some bright color among the deadheaded perennials. Now that I see it in bloom, the flower reminds me a bit of the wild fireweed.

Finally, my Coleus "Kong Rose" is looking full and lush. It got some frost in early June that stunted it, but it grew back beautifully. This is one of the new large coleus grown from seed (started in my basement).

This is a new delphinium in my garden, started from seed last year. It is a rich purple from the Pacific giant series, called "King Arthur". I absolutely love this color!

Pictured here is daylily "Double River Wye", which has been blooming for weeks now. I am quite happy with it. I like the contrast between it and Delphinium grandiflorum "Blue Elf", which is probably the only reason I don't rip that floppy, self-seeding delphinium out!

My daylily "Little Business" started blooming last week, but I really don't like the color, which is orangy-red. It must go. Besides, it got cooked in its location along the house, which may be more suited to dry and hot-loving plants.

Why my "weed" has thorns...

I don't know much about Cleome spinosa, other than I like a photo my Dad took last year of some plants growing in BC. I decided to grow it from seed this year. It took a while germinating, finally doing so after I put the pot out in the cool garage. A google image search shows these tall annuals with leaves that look like...I squint at the tiny photos...marijuana! Hmmm. And I am growing these in my basement under grow lights...but of course, the blooms give these plants away pretty quickly. Or, if you're a slow learner, the painful thorns, as this story illustrates -- I found this on the "garden banter" page:

...Cleome SPINOSA, [I] told the local cops who came up our driveway one night after a speeder who wound up in our driveway (dead end road) when he was eyeballing the four foot plants to go ahead and grab one and yank it up. As he wrapped his beefy hands around the central stalk, he let go of it and hollered good. Those little spines bite pretty well.....he then remarked that "marijuana ain't got spines!" I just smiled and said, yer right officer, those are my flowers............they just LOOK like pot!

Further googling found a webpage by underemployed goofs who can't spell or properly use English punctuation. They advised cleome as well as some other plants as good "smokescreen" plantings to disguise your less-than-legal garden activities. One even suggested stinging nettle as an especially good companion plant. So to all you concerned parents out there: when your beloved child comes home with red eyes, itchy rash, and the munchies...ask him about his new interest in recreational horticultural pharmaceuticals.