Annuals

 The annual beds at the Arboretum were quite far behind for this time of year.  I guess all the rain delayed planting.  They had quite a few orange flowers so that was different.

  The geranium was a really eye-popping red.  They also had some very bright orange ones.I like the nice markings on the red geranium leaves.

I believe the small trees are lantana which surprised me . They would certainly not be hardy and  it would take quite a while to produce a plant of this size.  Were they perhaps grafted on to something else? Interesting. As I said, the plantings are very new but it is possible to imagine what it would look like if the plants were fuller: purple salvia, purple millet, pink and orange geraniums, silver artemisia and silvery blue African daisies, and the orange lantana trees.

This is actually mostly small perennials in a shady sunken garden. It was restful and peaceful.

The red leaved celosia in this bed brighten it up. In the centre are castor bean plants which have a great form but they are poisonous.

I like the dotty effect of this planting broken up by the fan-shaped plants (some kind of grass?)
On the home front, my annuals have suffered a lot of slug damage . The nasturtiums and nicotiana are surviving better than the zinnias and cosmos. Maybe next year will be better.