The August Agapanthus

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Here we can time our calendar page, if not our watch, by the common big-box-store Agapanthus, A. africanus it might be:  right around the end of May or the first few days of June they bloom, no matter what the weather.  Cool spring or hot spring, rains late or early, or non-existent, the Agapanthus bloom.  

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Then there is a different cultivar that I see locally in only a few gardens, one which blooms at the start of August.  

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The leaves are more narrow, upright, and stiff, the blooming stems more vertical, the color four or five shades darker, a much deeper shade of purple-blue. 
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This may be 'Midnight Blue', as it seems too short to be 'Dark Shadows'.  It's a wow plant with yellow Rudbeckias.  
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Rudbeckias are easy perennials in most other parts of the country, but here are most often annuals.  They find the lack of winter somewhat confusing, perhaps, while the Agapanthus insist upon a frost-free climate. 


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No matter:  with yellow or by itself, Agapanthus wow. I'm almost tempted, snail-condo or not.  The eye wearily looking over a heat-stressed August landscape fixes on these, as if they were cool water in the desert. 
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