Bev, the apple cake was great

This is off-topic, but I forgot to tell my aunt that the apple cake she brought to the family reunion was AMAZING.
Peripherally, this is garden-ish as we talked about the apple trees we each recently planted.

Jupiter's Beard/centranthus? Yeah, not quite dead yet.

I got busy, it started blooming, it looked pretty, the bees loved it, the passers-by asked about it and the next thing I knew I hadn't ripped out the Jupiter's beard. Anyone know of a centranthus birth control? Contraceptive bees, perhaps?
A nice substitute in a part-shade area of the garden is a carmine-colored spirea and it is more dignified and well-behaved. However, it doesn't carry the same stately garden drama as centranthus.
Yesterday I planted a nice buckwheat, and today I'm putting in mirabilis multiflora and a taller perennial linaria. These are all experiments.
I've got the summer to sit back and let things figure themselves out.

GARDEN BLOGGERS BLOOM DAY - May 2010

TOP TO BOTTOM: (1) Photo taken from the vantage point of one of the curbstrip beds with two of the dry borders visible in the background; (2) "Red Rocks" penstemon & upright rosemary; (3) "Midnight" penstemon & more rosemary; (4) "Sally Holmes" rose; (5) "Sally Holmes" and "Betty Pryor" roses; (6) "Foothills" penstemon blooms nearly year-round in my Napa garden; (7) "Fama Blue" scabiosa; (8) "Tequila" rose, nearly thornless on new growth; (9) See number 5; (10) Mediterranean foxgloves, cultivar unknown because I lost the plant tag; (11) Section of a dry border with festuca, dianthus, nepeta, and yellow groundcover helianthemum; (12) "Lyda," which is my favorite musk rose. It has a beautiful open habit, excellent disease resistance, bright berry-like hips in the fall and it blooms in shade.