I love hearing that with time a garden can be filled with DLs that not only bloom nicely but also fade nicely!
I'm okay with blooms not dropping off quickly by themselves (self-cleaning?) as long as they stay tidy and aesthetically pleasing while they linger. So, I'm trying to include more spent flower photos in those that get uploaded to the database, too. Here are some of my picks for best spent blooms, though they are golden-oldies:
Dixie Land Band - it does "bleed" a couple of drops as it winds down, but the spent blooms always seem to curl neatly, never tangle, and darken into a purple-red that is still pleasing to my eye.
Fanciful Finery - has an interesting habit of drying with a "puff" of tissue where the petals doubled. the first time I saw it I thought it pretty well mirrored the pod it was attached to:
Ladybug's Two Moons - though not the most vigorous of plants in my garden, LTM does close up blooms quickly and doesn't hang on to them long:
Little Liza Jane - does a great job of making me think that 2nd and even 3rd day spent blooms are newly opening buds, until, on further inspection, I see they are spent:
Lullaby Baby and Rose Emily both wind down very prettily! Here they are side by side with spent blooms (Rose on the left, Emily on the right):
Seductor - does a pretty good job of staying tidy:
Uninhibited - a favorite; I enjoy the spent blooms almost as much as the fresh blooms, and they go through their stages over the span of days, as is shown here:
2nd and 3rd day after bloom:
4th day and beyond:
Would love to see other's best DLs for spent blooms doing their "closing acts"!
