The dark foliage planter Finally has two Flowers

Tropicana 'Black' is only about 3 ft. tall this year (usually gets over 6 ft) and right now it has one bloom.  I like it short and I like the reddish orange color of the flower:

About two feet higher, Canna 'Wyoming' has its first bloom in a lighter orange:

'Tropicana' still has no buds:

If it ever blooms, it will have a medium orange flower. But even without a flower its striped leaves are stunning.  The purple plant is Persian Shield.

Two weeks ago I bought my first hedge trimmer. 

It's electric with a 100-ft cord.  I'm in love!  I have been trimming all my shrubs with just a small Felco hand pruner for over twenty years.  I had no idea how easy this would be to use and how fast I could trim all the shrubs.  Today I used it to cut down gazillions of daylily foliage.  In less than an hour I cut down more than I used to do in a full day's work.  Love, love, love this tool!! I am sure you all have something like this already. Nobody but me would do all that hand trimming for so many years without one.

I am going to use this cut down all my perennial foliage this fall!