Recalling the early exuberance of summer, the garden has deigned to throw us a throwback in the form of these pretty blooms. One is a shasta daisy (if they still go by that moniker) and the other is a new Coreopsis that I thought died but came back to enchant. They are a reminder that there are still surprises left in the garden if you take the time to look. Usually by mid-September I pause in my daily walkabouts – either because of weather or general disappointment with the way the garden falls to shambles as it prepares for the winter slumber.
I need to get out there again, so I don’t miss these late-season blooms. For the shasta daisy, this is an unexpected second act, a smaller (in this case just a single blossom) cycle of blooming that comes with cooler nights and a better supply of rain. Not only is the amount of blooming less, the flowers themselves are smaller, and somehow more precious because of it.
They also imbue the spent garden with a freshness and vibrancy that is hard to come by at such a late date. While the grasses have gone to seed and flopped over, and the cup plants have turned their stalks into curly walking sticks, and the ostrich ferns have long since browned and withered, these blooms appear and suddenly the garden is new again. A brief and welcome respite before the first hard frost comes to take it all away.
