Helenium autumnale (Sneezeweed): 
I’ve struggled with Sneezeweed for a long time now but may have finally found the right location. The ugly “legs” are disguised by other plants in front of them and they have each other for support (three are planted closely to each other).
Because of that, I skipped on cutting them back in June to control their height this year. The true test will be in the next week or so as all of the blooms emerge: 
Chelone lyonii: 
Boltonia ‘Pink Beauty’ is another perennial I typically cut back in June to hopefully prevent it from toppling over when blooming in late summer but completely forgot to do so this year. So far so good. Maybe that proactive pruning wasn’t necessary after all: 
Not necessarily newly blooming, but some new visitors I couldn’t be more psyched to see on Asclepias curassavica (Silky Gold Milkweed): 
Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ rounding into form: 
Miscanthus purpurascens (Flame Grass): 
Pennisetum ‘Hameln’: 
And my very young Andropogon gerardii ‘Red October’ has thrown up some blooms in its first year (bless her heart): 
This grass will rule over all of the other grasses within the next two years. I am so stoked in anticipation.
Great pshots of the plants blooming in your garden. Funny coincidence, i just bought a sneezeweed and am thinking of hiding the legs behind a shorter grass…great photos, love the blog and videos
Thanks jlmantha! The legs on my sneezeweed look especially bad this morning but also well hidden so they will stick around a while longer.
It does take a few seasons to learn a plant and see how to make the best of it.
Congratulations on your milkweed visitor! 🙂
I had Chelone ‘Hot Lips’ for several years. Although it never developed the dark foliage it had when I first purchased it, it was otherwise quite reliable and I loved the deep pink flowers in late summer or early fall when so few other plants were blooming. Then one year the entire clump simply wilted and died, almost literally overnight. I still don’t know for sure what happened.