Lots of pretties in this post, but my favorites are Shuffle the Deck and Garden Butterfly. I really am liking those uf nowadays.

Nancy

Nancy, I am not a fan of those plants that have blooms that look like they got the scare of their life. I like the graceful curls on ones like Garden Butterfly.

My preferred form remains round, but I am learning to appreciate some other types of forms in others gardens. Which is why I can say I do like Carbernet Carberet. The color is so dark and the number of blooms really makes it stand out....... My Favorite though is Ashwood Inferno. Like the temperature today, I like a little sizzle with my heat.....The only good JBs are like your JBs...........Dead............Maryl

Garden Butterfly is my favorite today, hard to pick a favorite. Good catch with those beetles. Please Refresh my memory about catching those darn bugs. I havent seen any……yet.

Sherry

I see you have Evidence Of Aliens which is one I just loved in NYS garden. Does it curve back like it is wind blown in your garden? I think I will try to find it for here. Always made me smile even if it didn't get lots of buds. I have Boundless Beauty here (thanks to Debra) but I moved it in the spring and not sure it liked the move to its new location. Buds are very small and already saw a couple of buds turn yellow and drop.

Garden Butterfly loves your garden. Beautiful pic. Love the throat on it.

I love beetle traps and invested in another brand besides the Rescue one. It is called Spectracide Bag A Bug which I've used in the past and less expensive than Rescue. I've noticed less beetles in the bags when I check so perhaps they are winding down here.

Julia

Maryl, I am surprised you are beginning to appreciate some UF forms!! lol

I know the feeling about preferring the round bagel forms. However, as you have noticed, I have stepped over the UF line the past few years and embraced many of them. I still don’t like the wild kind. Ashwood Inferno might be one you consider-it holds its color fairly well in the heat. I will get out in the 107 heat index this afternoon and get a shot of it after the sun and heat have battered it!

Sherry, I never had the Japanese beetles until a few years ago. I think I remember Celeste talking about getting rid of many of her roses due to the havoc they caused. They are really bad on roses and I try to keep the buds and blooms cut but they are now on my hisbiscus. The traps catch them in bags where they die never to chew on my plants again!

Julia, yes, Evidence of Aliens looks just as you describe! And you are correct that it does not have a ton of buds but it blooms late and I like that. I got the Rescue traps after you mentioned them and I like them because of the ziploc bottom making it easy to empty.

Garden Butterfly is just perfection in that photo! Shuffle the Deck and Cabernet Caberet are impressive. I'm surprised your Boundless Beauty is just starting. Mine has been blooming for about two weeks. What a haul of Japanese Beetles you've made! I haven't seen any this year, despite all the grubs I've seen while digging plants for other people. Either the beetles are emerging really late this year, or most of them are flying into my neighbor's garden this year. I usually start seeing the first ones at the end of May or the first week of June.

Debra

Garden Butterfly is gorgeous! And I who used to dilike yellows (yes it has really changed) love the blooms of Christmas Mimosas. Ashwood Inferno is a beauty and thanks to you it bloomed for me this year and I like it just as much as you knew I would. I like Evidence of Aliens. Cabernet Caberet is lovely did you have trouble getting above its tall self to take a photo of that clump? Shuffle the Deck looks really good. Another lovely post in a hard year. And you are getting what looks like a really good rain and I am so jealous!

kay

Debra, Boundless Beauty is being eaten by a shrub rose so while it gets shade it has fewer blooms. I think the Japanese beetles are worse this year than I have seen the past couple of years.

Kay, it looks like you are right in the middle of the thunderstorms-as in the dry middle! Finally I have gotten a good rain after almost 4 weeks of nothing.CC is very tall and the blooms all bunch together in the top as you know! Thanks for sharing!

Kate, we tend to stay in the dry. that is why I have to water.

kay

Knock on wood, but I too have seen fewer J beetles this year. There have been some on the cannas, and I squished one this morning on a daylily. I like all those clump shots. Clearly, these are thriving cultivars. I wonder what you think of Explosion in PF.

Don’t worry, Mantis, I am collecting all your Japanese beetles. I have 3 traps up and empty them every day.

I am ambivalent about Explosion. It has multiplied well and I have dug into it multiple times. I am really not into spots, stripes, dots, splotches, etc. I find the concept of Explosion interesting and every bloom is indeed different. I don’t know if that is what you were asking. I just know if someone offered me a 100 dollar plant that blooms like Explosion or a 5 dollar plant that blooms and looks like Shores of Time, Shores would be selected every time!

Oh my, so many nice ones. My favorites are: Tahiti Sweetie [as usual], Garden Butterfly -love the colors, Cabernet Cabaret is indeed a great and beautiful group of dark flowers, Hakuna Matata and Ashwood Inferno.

Brad