Wrong, Right?

 

 Wrong plant (noxious weed), wrong place (my garden)_

Not that it isn't striking, but Onopordum acanthium, aka scotch thistle aka cotton thistle, or maybe Cirsium vulgare, also aka scotch thistle, spear thistle, bull thistle, is/are classified as noxious weed(s) in my area.  It popped up early this spring as a seedling.  Curious, I let it grow to ID it for certain.  As soon as it flowered...

Bye bye! 

Right plant, wrong place?  For several years, a species orchid has languished on my patio.  It was a gift from a gardener I met on a tour of his Cycad collection.  The orchid didn't like my patio.  It did nothing.  Didn't grow, didn't die.  Sat.  For.  Years.  A couple of months ago I relocated it to nestle among Bromeliads, Clivias, and the variegated Farfugium in the moist shade under the Acer 'Oshio Bene'.  Boom!  In a month the long-languishing orchid shot out two healthy new stems.   Okay, guess it likes it there.  

Now in the right place--old stem (lowest arrow) and two new stems (two upper arrows):

Sorry, orchid.  I have the name somewhere.  It's languished so long I've forgotten.  Put in the right place, it's become the right plant, instead of something to be embarrassed about.

Right plants, right place????  I attended an interesting talk last fall about Monarchs, some of the info I already know, some I didn't.  The speaker passed out some packets of free milkweed seeds of various species, including our native A. fascicularis, but also a couple others native to the eastern US.  The packet said to cold stratify (stick the seeds in the fridge) for six weeks.  After six months sitting next to the nonfat milk (not the same carton of nonfat milk for six months, no), I finally planted them in a pot of soil a month ago--it was then or never--and of the eight seeds in the packet, five seedlings have appeared.   I'm nursing them along, will pot them individually when they're a bit bigger.  

Right plants for...???...where?  

Still obsessively taking great joy in the Cosmos.  The weather has been moderately hot, far too hot for this gardener.  Chili thrips have decimated the roses.  Much of the garden looks tired.

But not the Cosmos! 

I started wondering if I can get the same effect the Cosmos create in summer--the icing on the garden "cake", the gilding of the lily--with a different plant for winter.  I was thinking Larkspur, another tallish, airy plant that would fit in empty places, though I did read Larkspur like to be by themselves.  Worth a try?

Even the thready leaves of the Cosmos add something: 

Maybe I'll get around to trying that.  Or not.  I've been very distracted by other things lately.  

Just happy I got that thistle dug out. 

 Hope you all are enjoying summer.  Me?  Counting the days until autumn.  In the meantime, Cosmos.