These lovely echinacea blossoms are from a pale yellow variety – sorry, the name escapes me at the moment.  So pale they look white in the picture, but trust me, they are a very pale yellow.

Such a simple, old-fashioned flower the zennia is.  And our front yard is full of the State Fair variety right now in a profusion of colors.

OK, bad picture, I know.  And I tried my best to get a good shot of these.  They are from my heliotrope plant, which fills the front yard with the scent of vanilla for as long as they are blooming!

Another showy and gorgeous rudbeckia.

I have been waiting for weeks to show you all this picture!  They are of a somewhat new rudbeckia, Cherokee Sunset.  They made me smile inside every time I looked at them.

This salmon-pink lilly with is another showy favorite.  Gee, I seem to love all these “wow!” flowers – maybe that does begin to say something about my personality, eh?

These are very old-fashioned double day lillies in a fabulous shade of orange.  They were left by the prior owner and we haven’t touched them.  And they have such long stems, maybe 3-4′ or more!

Happy 888 day!  Oh, this one is another whore for color and smell, isn’t she?  But stunning, oh so stunning in the garden.  We’ve never grown Stargazer lillies before, though we have often enjoyed them purchased.  The heady perfume and riot of color, it’s something of a mardi gras in bloom, isn’t it?

This is a wine red lily (it’s darker in person) with the neck that changes abruptly to bright yellow, then fades into chartreuse at the bottom.  Isn’t it just gorgeous?!

For my birthday (yes, I turn 43 today!), I have been saving up one of my favorite pictures.  It is of an absolutely stunning peony that was growing in H’s cousin’s garden at her house in Lutsen.  The color is just knock-your-socks-off, dontchathink?