Fire! Fire! Fire!

The devil garden is generally in finest form in July, the month that most red flowers bloom, but today it wowed me early. Fiery red flowers!

Crocosmia 'Lucifer' looks especially stunning with the lime green 'Tiger Eyes' sumac surrounding it. (Crocosmia 'Hellfire' is not yet blooming)

 Verbena 'Pops Dark Red' at lower left, bloody sorrel at  lower right.

Begonia boliviensis 'Santa Cruz Sunset'

 Lobelia tupa, aka devil's tobacco (first year it's blooming)

 Dianthus barbatus 'Heart Attack'

 

Hypericum 'Midnight Glow' (Red Berry St. John's Wort)

My poor little devil's club, intended to be the anchor of this garden, planted first, but not really thrilled to be here.

 Not red, but deserving of devil garden placement nonetheless: Rudbeckia 'Green Wizard'

Monstrosity

Pelorism. For me, a new word, a new concept. According to Wikipedia, pelorism accounts for these foxgloves in my garden that look to be imitating zinnias or some such flower. I have never noticed this before. And then to have two different plants do this right next to each other??? Creepy. The etymology is well-suited for the devil garden. Wikipedia tells me that Linnaeus called this type of mutant a 'Peloria' (Greek for monster or monstrous). He purportedly wrote that "This is certainly no less remarkable than if a cow were to give birth to a calf with a wolf's head."

Spurting blood

My favorite plant in the devil garden today: Rumex sanguineus, aka bloody dock, aka blood sorrel. Planted both for its deep red veins and its name. As hoped, it has grown like a weed from the initial single plant, spurting blood all around the devil garden. When I mentioned needing to pull some up to clear a path, a friend reminded me that it's edible. So, voila, bloody greens for dinner!