Miller Madness

Good morning!

I love Dusty Millers, those ordinary little old gray plants that you see at the nursery and do or do not buy, depending on what you want at the time. Today I decided to go out and trim them back. They turn into huge monsters at some point in their humble lives and more than reward you for putting them in.  Ours have done their spring and summer duty, rewarding us with a huge area of bright yellow flowers for some months now.  After the flowers die, their ghosts remain as dark brown versions of their former selves, and are quite striking on their own.

You can see them up there at the top, brown and sturdy, happy doing what they're doing. But today was the day.  The old stalks had to go, so I was out right after breakfast with my snippers. taking those long stalks right down. It took a long time, to my 82 year old bones, to get all those many stems.  At the end, I did leave three lone stalks that were just coming into bloom, the last roses of summer, left blooming alone, their lovely companions all faded and brown.

Dusty Miller plants are really a lovely color, the palest tint of green dusted with gray-white frosting.  As the stalks age and the blooms begin to turn brown,the leaves themselves turn a lovely color of wood-ash white.  I like all plants of "off" colors now, as much as I hated them when I was a child. They do yeoman service in a garden as they bring out contrasts that our lazy eyes might not otherwise see.

I'll go out again in a week or so to take off those last blooms.  The plant itself is in shock.  "What happened?", all those stems and blossoms are saying as they stand in the trash bin in the yard.  "Where did we go?"  But in a little while, I'll fertilize those tidy plants of pale gray-green, and give them some water, and they'll sulkily take it in, then they'll nap  a bit before showing us what they really can do, bursting forth into a riot of joy that will last for months. YAZZYBEL