Perennial gardening

I didn't get into perennial gardening until I was in my mid 50's. At one of the rental houses we lived in there were coral bells. I was instantly in love with them. I love the daintiness of the flowers waving in the breeze. I have several varieties of them; some do very well, some never seen to grow. I like all of the different leaf colors and shapes. I don't love the thistles growing in my flower bed. The one below has a mound of leaves almost 18" high before it shoots out the flower stems. Then it kind of settles down a little for the rest of the season. It is the most purple color of all of the plants I have.
This one tends to be more of a rusty/burgundy color leaf. I like the contrast with the green plants in the bed so I really don't care if it doesn't flower much.
No quilting content today. I was wiped out after my mother's appointment yesterday. Since my mother is hard of hearing but refuses to do anything about it, I have to listen extra hard to be able to repeat to her what the dr. or nurse is saying (until they start to talk slower and louder). This visit was typical of a first visit to any dr. office; lots of papers to fill out with medical history, and then reviewing it all again as each item is entered in the computer. Then the real stuff begins. She is going to go ahead with angiograms to both legs and hopefully a correction to some narrowed arteries/veins. I think the dr. felt at 89 she should really think hard about this. She had made up her mind in 3 minutes. I have mixed feelings about all of it, the dangers of the procedure versus what she is putting up with currently with her legs weeping.

I'm off to teach the first class of Colorwash Trip Around the World this morning. I can just think fabric and seam lines for a couple hours.