Gaillardia aristata blooms

Unfortunately they aren't in my garden (here's what my gaillardia look like now). I'm glad I live in a neighbourhood with so many talented gardeners!

Viola x wittrockiana: flowers

Viola x wittrockiana, known in English as "pansy" and in French as pensée des jardins, is a short-lived tender perennial grown as an annual in Toronto gardens. Pansies come in a huge variety of colours, though unfortunately no "true" red, only a dark rusty red like in this cultivar, 'Matrix Red and Yellow'. The five-petalled flowers often have a central blotch and/or are bicoloured.

This is not the best picture, but it does show what a pretty blue 'Matrix Ocean' is. I am regretting not starting some pansy seeds myself. 'Matrix Morpheus' has pretty blue and yellow flowers with whiskers rather than a blotch. There are many other colourways in the 'Matrix' series; you can see many more 'Matrix' varieties at Stokes.

This pansy is 'Delta Premium White Blotch'. I think this is the cultivar Nicky chose last year. (Since Nicky generally hates anything to do with plants and gardening, when he actually likes a plant I usually get it.)

Here's another so-called "red" pansy, 'Delta Premium Red Blotch'. I love truly red flowers like Monarda didyma and Aquilegia canadensis, so I'm always a bit annoyed when nurseries call merely reddish flowers "red". To me this is more of an oxblood colour.

This beauty, 'Delta Premium Neon Violet' is really tempting me. I love the neon glow around the blotch, which you can really see on the flower in the back.

I love the way that the purple blotch on 'Delta Premium Beaconsfield' softly blurs into the white, as though painted in watercolours. There are many other colourways in the 'Delta' series; I especially love this unusual pink and purple pansy from the 'Delta Pink Shades' mix.

All the flowers in this post were photographed at Mimi's Convenience, 1686 Danforth.

Helianthus annuus 'Velvet Queen': flower

Helianthus annuus, known in English as sunflower and in French as tournesol or grand soleil, is an annual native to the United States. As well as the famous very tall, very large, single yellow variety, there are dwarf varieties, and cultivars in cream, light yellow, orange, and rust. Pollen-less cultivars have been created for use as cutflowers, but for wildlife the pollen-bearing varieties are more appealing, as a source not only of pollon but seeds. The cultivar shown, 'Velvet Queen', is widely advertised with misleadingly red (Photoshopped?) images. It looks more rust-coloured to me.