Picture This Competition - Sage Buddha

Gardening Gone Wild is starting up their Picture This competition again. Above is my entry for September's competition, whose theme is The Late Summer Garden.

It's been a while since I joined in - but coincidentally the other evening my Californian Central Coast garden was having a Good Blossom day, which is like a good hair day only more colorful.

I've been particularly enjoying how my peaceful garden Buddha figure has been gradually becoming engulfed by two different types of native California sages. The gray one on the left, I'm not sure of - it's a mother plant from the CNPS propagation group and lost its label a while back as it spread and spread. The greener one on the right is Salvia Clevelandii 'Winifred Gilman' and I adore this sage. I planted three last autumn and they have been delighting me ever since with color and billows of gorgeous scent.

I also love how a small rose bud appears in the photo - from The Rose That Would Not Die, which was here before us, rototilled several times before we learned that rototilling is not a good idea (in general), eaten by deer, and finally given a safe home in the fenced-in pool garden.

Here's another shot from that magical evening.

This one also features Ms Gilman. In this one I like how the weedy Madia sativa that just grows here has contributed a spiky something behind the chair on the right.

BTW on a different monitor from the one I'm looking on right now, these photos are more rich in color. I hope on your monitor the colors look good - so much depends on the monitor, doesn't it? Too bad you don't have smellivision, I know you'd love the scent.