Fun with flowers

Sometimes it's just nice to go into the garden and get close to the flowers. The top photo is agastache, one of my favorites because it attracts pollinators. I see more cabbage lopper butterflies on this plant than any other insect. Can you see the eyes?

Below that and to the left are impatiens growing under tomato plants, a new double cosmos called 'Rose Bon Bon.' I'm a sucker for doubles and this one has won me over.

The red flower is a dahlia, but I don't know which one. It was a gift from a gardener and she wasn't sure of its name. Dahlias just come into their prime now and will flower until a good frost. The tubers can be dug and stored all winter in vermiculite or peat moss and then planted again in spring. It's a fun garden activity, but if you love dahlias and don't want to bother just let them succumb to the cold and buy some more tubers in the spring. Don't be robbed of the beauty of dahlias just because you feel guilty about not digging them up.

There's beauty everywhere in the garden, take time to soak it in, before you know it we'll be shoveling snow.