Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - July

Well, there seem to be more blooms in July than I managed to scrounge up in June, but I've come to the realization that it's still all about the foliage and texture in my garden, anyway. Now I need to embrace that instead of just living with it... maybe I'll get there by the August version of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day?

In the meantime, here is one of the lovelier incidents in my garden right now. Remember the 'Hopi Red Dye' amaranth that captivated me last summer? This year, I edited out all of its green progeny as well as any burgundy-hued plantlings that appeared in rather inconvenient spaces. I was hoping for some good contrast between the rough-textured amaranth leaves and the fine-textured Russian sage...

...but I completely underestimated the synergy that the two would have if they were in flower at the same time. Wow. This picture was taken on an overcast day, when these two plants really pick up on the blue tones in each other. I will have to take another picture to show you on a sunny day, when weird things happen--the burgundy reads red and the blues turn a warm silver in this bed when the sun shines on it!

A list of other plants in bloom:

Canna 'Wyoming'
orange annual cosmos
various peppers and tomatoes
'Ichiban' eggplant
'Caradonna' salvia (for the third time)
'Voodoo' sedum
teucrium aroanium
'Paprika' yarrow
'Margarita Banana' portulaca
'Yubi Red' portulaca
origanum vulgare 'aureum'
salvia lyrata 'Purple Knockout'
'Sykes' Dwarf' oakleaf hydrangea
red snapdragons
'Rotstrahlbusch' panicum virgatum
'Shuttle' lilies
'Samobor' geranium (must be confused?)
unknown variety of dianthus
'White Swan' echinacea
annual fuschia
curry plant
'The Watchman' black hollyhocks
asclepias tuberosa
drumstick alliums (almost done)
silene maritima
purple verbena
'Whiskey' wax begonias
'Lady' lavender


In bud, and highly anticipated:
atriplex hortensis var. 'rubra' (flowers are not showy, but I like the candelabra look of the flowerstalks)
'Red King Humbert' canna