Summer Killers and Red Cloud

Chuck B. at whoreticulture calls certain plants summer killers. When we see these, we know it's about over for the garden. Chuck is in California. In my Colorado garden Blue Mist spirea bursting into bloom is the first hint the lush days of summer are numbered.
But what strikes terror in my heart is Sweet Autumn clematis. Don't they look like little snowflakes?

Innocent looking, arent' they? I've actually been waiting three years for this plant to re-bloom. It used to cover the roof of a shed on the patio below, until a snowstorm flattened the shed. It broke my heart (and my back) to dig out and haul this 20-foot vine to its new home on the railing, hack it back to 12 inches tall and patiently wait through "first year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap". It's leaping.

Chuck's summer killer is fall-blooming anemone.
Look at that yellow eye, mocking the sunshiny days its very presence will bring to a close.
I'm not even picking the flowers in my garden for bouquets. I let them bloom while they can. Instead I found this rosy pink baby's breath at the grocery store for $4. Have you ever seen this? They're not the washed-out pink ones that grow in my garden - these colors range from light pink to a deep carmine. I looked it up on the Internet and it looks like a variety called Red Cloud. I really like it. That purple and green thing is a super shooter water gun that I bought to harrass the squirrels but it won't shoot. Darn. I have to take it back.
Even though it was 55 degrees when I left for work this morning, there were a bunch of garage sales. I was late to work. I found this gardenia for $1. I'm pretty sure the gardenia will be dead within a couple of weeks but I guess the pot is worth a dollar. You can't grow a gardenia in Colorado and I'm darned lucky this one had an open bloom. A couple of the buds are already brown, but there are two green ones that might (possibly) open. That's if I don't mist the leaves or touch the blossoms, keep it evenly moist, give it plenty of humidity (ha ha) and indirect sunlight, don't keep it too warm, and make sure there are no drafts. This gardenia is history.

But, oh, the scent! I've about sniffed all the goodness out of it. And look at those creamy white petals. Don't they look like little peaked snowdrifts?