The contenders...

 I've been trying to compile a group of plants for my front lawn , which will be lawn-less very soon...I think . I like the burgundy, orange, pink and yellow combination I've had going this summer. But , that could change, I what to use the things I've already got planted out front. Just add  more of the same.  Small groupings of three and fives with gravel in-between. mostly low lazy loose planting.

 This could be one of the grasses. Scott, at Rhone Street Gardens pointed out this little Prairie Dropseed to me at the resent Fall plant fest.

And here is another one from the Fest,.Agastache 'Blue boa'  with another grass I am probably going to use Panicum Cheyenne Sky  

Maybe a few airy Gaura's 

Salvia greggi I've enjoyed all summer , if you survive this winter ... you're in .

Leptospermum rupestre 'Squiggly' ...a maybe 

This tiny Sedum ... a yes

 Aster lateriflorus 'prince' will be moving from the back garden to the new front area . I love these tiny blooms and purple leaves

This will be the yellow ...and pink

Plenty of Ergeron 'profusion' 

another contender ...Pennisetum orientale ...soft , fluffy , pinky 

These Crimson Nicotiana will be welcome to self seed at will. Now I need orange, I could use  Calendula or more Agastaches . Crocosmias , of course.... ummm plenty to think about 

beaten and bedraggled...

 with rain and wind and more and rain this week.The garden giants like this Amaranth Chinese giant orange have been toppling over.  But not  the little Kangaroo apple below. It's  still standing , I don't think this one will reach 6ft like the last one did a few years ago.

Castor oil plant just being held up by the Arctostaphylos 

                             There goes another Giant orange,  I say this every year...more staking .

Oh 'Percy' you were looking so handsome last week.

 The  Miscaanthus  has sprung back up and the pool has filled up . So many blooms this year and they match  our brick house.

I really enjoy the bold color combinations , can never decide if I should just edit out some of the dead eryngiums . Come the rains, they just turn to mush anyway. 

Foliage follow up...

I wish I could remember what this sweet tender Euphorbia is called, but I just can't. I bought it a last year at the Rare plant research sale. It survived in my sun room all winter and looks about to bloom.

I bought this Sophora microphylla 'sun king' recently, I couldn't resist , it was sitting all on it's lonesome  looking tall and lanky!

Eucalyptus Morrisbyi , apparently rare and endangered in Tasmania... no pressure .

Phormium 'apricot queen'

Stachy looking like wet lambs ears or tongue

Amsonia Hubrichtii 

Tetrapanax leaf about to drop

Phormium 'Alison blackman and a variegated Sedum ...a whatsit 

Leucosceptrum stellpitium 'October moon'

One of my supermarket Echreveria 

This invasive variegated grass I enjoy snipping. Held captive in  small pot.

Mr Ripple

And for more beautiful foliage visit Pam at Digging.

A Drizzly Bloom day...

Abutilon 'Furious yellow' with a fine misting 

A favorite, Saxifraga rubrifolia just now beginning to bloom.

Rosa 'Perle d'or' , Thank you Jane!

Knifhofia typhoides , the brown poker, sometimes gets lost in the fray .

Justicia brandegeana with many,many shrimps this year

Miscanthus sinensis 'little zebra' not looking so little

Helenium mariachi fuego 

Those Nicotianas again

My Persicaria starts from last springs plant swap, all grown up and blooming away 

Last year I watched a Dahlia collector on ' Gardeners World' . I was surprised  how aggressively he dead headed the blooms .  so I have been snipping away every  morning, snipping blooms with the slightest signs of fading. Yes, it does makes a big difference in the blooming. 

The Japanese Anemones have taken a beating this year,   they're  no longer floating  tall ,  but  hanging horizontal   over most of the area. 

Penstemon 'Purple giant' ...I think

Zauschneria 'Silver select'

And lastly the Sedums ,Happy Bloom day.Garden Blogger's Bloom Day is hosted by Carol, of May Dreams Gardens

A walk around the back garden this glorious afternoon...

After two days of brutal heat...today perfect for a stroll around the garden.

There was  a midseason lull , but now the late blooms are at it . Nicotiana sylvestris leading the way, filling every available gap.

Anemone I don't know what taking over all the space around Acasia dealbata 

Miscanthus sinensis 'little zebra' ...can't be...it's huge