Mother nature is quite an artist! Actually the rodents absolutely love the taste of this plant, so it's usually pretty badly ravaged by late summer. Somehow that year they must have found something more tasty.
Mother nature is also quite a designer... the parts work. Photo here of hybrid offspring (left plant) from a cross between the powder blue one (dad) and the black one on the right of the picture (mom). The flowers of the hybrid are red like mom but have a nice arching form like dad.
