Late Summer Survivors

July and August have been so hot and dry that I'm grateful for any plant that has simply shrugged and carried on. You would expect that of a thistle relative.  Globe Thistle, Echinops ritro, climbed to its usual 150 cm (5 ft)  before producing its metallic blue globes, although I think they were paler and faded faster than in previous years.

Another thistle, Eryngium giganteum, better known by the evocative name of Miss Willmott's Ghost, also thrived.

Its silver bracts dry well and make a distinctive indoor arrangement as long as you can place them where they are out of stabbing range.

Clematis 'Huldine', with its roots in the cool, damp soil it loves, was a mass of white satin flowers.

I grow it below our back steps to give this view from the top. The buds have an entirely different appearance and their purple stripes remain on the underside of the petals. From the bottom of the steps, they look like this:

There are echoes of the same colours in low-growing Oregano 'Kent Beauty',

... and the pale grey spires of Lysimachia ephemerum.

This elegant perennial with sage-green foliage is much loved by the bees. Unlike some of its relatives, it is not invasive.

Out in front of the house, Hydrangea aspera ssp. sargentiana enjoys the all-day shade.  Every year it rises higher on its sturdy trunks and has almost reached the level of the porch, allowing us to look across its dinner-plate sized flower heads whenever we enjoy an evening drink there.

Close beneath it, Hydrangea 'Beni-gaku' has been attracting the attention of a swallowtail butterfly that was earlier focusing its attention on the daphne that flanks our front path.

 Just coming into bloom for the first time in the three years I've had it is a pineapple lily, Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy'. I think it must have listened last year when I told it "One more chance and then you're outta here."

On the more colourful front, Monarda 'Donnervolke', which means "thundercloud" is harmonizing well with late-blooming aconites.

And all the blooms except one on Hydrangea 'Beni' have completed their miraculous transformation  from pristine white to blood red.