Beginning Summer Flowers

Red poppies look like they come from another planet. The plants get taller and taller, then bend over and keep growing upwards until they're covered with flowers that will last a month or two. Then, they reseed for next year.

Alstroalmerias are the Bay Area miracle plant. They grow in half sun, they're perennial so they return every year, and every year the clump is bigger. They come in tall varieties, like these purple ones, and short ones, and in every color. Why more people don't grow them is a mystery.

Everybody loves roses. Red roses are the queens of the rose patch, but yellows are even more regal. Sweet smelling yellow roses are rare, but these 'Radiant Perfume' hybrid tea roses not only smell like heaven but the leaves stay green and seem almost impervious to the scale that tries to smite every other rose in the foggy Great Plotnik World Headquarters Rosarium and Snail Incubatory.

But it's hard to beat a good old-fashioned Mary Washington geranium. You can't kill them, their shape is variable and if you cut them back they bush out even wider and produce more flowers several times a year. A perfect, low maintenance gal is that Mary Washington.

Don't mean to demean the coral day lilies, no Sir, not for a minute.