Michael, your haiku in yesterday's comments is great! And RJH, beautifully expressed. Actually, there's a fantasy plan afoot... But I think it's fantasy. I'll keep you guys posted.

It's a weird weekend here. I'm doing my usual pruning and weeding, but it's very odd to think that not only won't I see the results next week, I probably won't see them ever. But if cutting the seed heads off the lantana is the right thing to do, it's the right thing to do, no matter who's going to be looking at them next.

The ageratum, which is supposedly not a perennial in these parts, has come back for the fourth year, tall and leggy. When people put them in as annuals in the spring, which is how this one got in my garden, they're compact, with light green leaves and fluffy-looking purple flowers. I guess they come out of greenhouses because they're flowering in early May when you put them in. This one starts with leaves in early June, gets tall -- for ageratum; that is, sixteen inches -- and has now set buds. It'll bloom in October, racing the first frost.

Also, the butterfly weed has buds all over it, about to burst. I'll miss them too. But they'll give the butterflies energy for flying to Mexico.

And for some reason I have the only sedum on the North Fork that hasn't blossomed yet. It's had buds for over a month, but they're just cracking open now. This weekend, though, we've had nothing but rain -- I mean, howling storms, washing waves over the causeway and bringing down branches -- so I get the feeling I'm not going to see the sedum flower, either.