The caryopteris I bought did not have that name. I should have written it down; mine is more white and green variagation. Since you were crawling on your hands and knees, did you find out what the pinkish shrub in the first picture is. What I like about that place is it looks good, but parts of it look like some parts of my yard. There was a discussion earlier on butterfly bush. I think it is OK for it to have dried flowers on it. Their hostas look like mine do this time of year and that is OK because it is a garden. Did you smell the corkscrew vine?

helen, we didn't cover the whole gardens. DH was tired and we were both starved, so just did the borders I showed.

BTW, Mobot lists the caryopteris as 'Jason' Sunshine Blue. It is still under patent so the price is pretty high, starting at $8.95 up.

Yes, that corkscrew flower was the most wonderful smelling plant I have ever smelled! I looked it up and found that it is a tropical so now I am wondering how they get that much growth and bloom in just one season. I will be looking for seeds for it.

That pink plant is the one I crawled under (on the back side of the bed) looking for the name. I found it! it is polygonum cuspidatum, Mexican Bamboo, variety 'Crimson Beauty'. I thought it was simply spectacular. I found it online at a couple of nurseries.

There was a shorter white flower that I really liked but I couldn't find a nameplate.

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When you said bamboo, I thought of a grass. Put the white one on Name That Plant; they are very good. Corkscrew is the fragant one of two similar vines; there is confusion on the names. Snail vine is not fragrant. Park's has the seeds about $5 for 5 seeds. Someone suggested soaking the seeds and not even attempting to grow them unless you can keep them warm. If you search you will find lots of info on it.

Here is a link that might be useful: see Dave's comment on the end

Great photos! I've never heard of the Mexican Bamboo. Where was that one planted? It sounds pretty. Plant Delights' description says it turns white to red and back to white.

christie, it is in the first border almost directly at the end of the walk from the parking lot. I forgot to check the number of the bed, but you can't miss it.

BTW, their asters had the ugly bare legs and were planted behind the small shrubs....made me feel better about mine. I will be moving it next spring! The top is gorgeous, but it is flopping and looks pretty sorry.

I stopped by the park yesterday. I wanted to check out the corkscrew vine before it quit blooming. What a wonderfully sweet smell. I'm wondering how it could grow that much in one season too. I found the Mexican Bamboo, I think the same one you saw, in the Master Gardener Display Garden east of the entrance. Are the pink flowers actually seeds or maybe bracts? They didn't look like flowers up close. Very pretty though.

I saw some leggy asters too. They had one clump that looked like it was four feet tall at least and very bare on the bottom. They had some really pretty ones over in the other part though in the butterfly garden. I think these may be the same ones Helen posted a photo of. They're gorgeous. Wish mine looked this good.

christie, I wonder if that is Purple Dome? I had that for one or two seasons and then it didn't come back. It was a nice, short bushy plant with no legginess at all.

Was there lots to see in the other gardens? I may have to go back this week or maybe tomorrow.

The color looks the same as my Purple Dome but I'm going to move mine to more sun because it sure isn't blooming like that.
If you are driving down Scenic, you can see the bridge at the end of the lake if you keep driving south of the entrance that goes into the park, but the rest of the park is impossible to see unless you drive down to it. It's no wonder that you missed it. You still need to turn in at the same spot from Scenic, but then you need to turn right almost immediately after going over the RR tracks to get to that other lot by the Rose Garden.

Next time let your husband get his exercise walking around the lake; there is a nice path.

helen, it wasn't the walking; it was the sun. I think next week is supposed to be cooler.

christie, thanks for the directions.

This time I will be looking for the "working" people to ask some questions.

I noticed today that someone has corkscrew vine cuttings for trade or postage in the Plant Exchange forum. It doesn't say whether it's the fragrant one. I don't have a place for the vines I already have but I thought someone else might be interested if you're good at rooting cuttings.