Patience in the Garden

Blue is my favourite colour and its hard to come by in my area. But I found this guy at an Arboretum sale one year.

Okay not really blue but in these last days of summer it never fails. This is Aconite, otherwise known as Monkshood. Unfortunately for most gardens it is VERY poisonous. (All those Agatha Christie novels!)

The flowers look like the medieval cowls and hoods worn by the monks of the Inquisition. As the rose and the mums are finishing this beuaty will bloom for almost another month, or until a first early frost.

It is a substantial plant but sits in the background till everything else begins to die. Rather ironic I'd say. I have two on either side of the garden and love watching them come into their own as the cool weather begins to close in.
I DO wait all year for them. They need no coddling as the stems are quite stout. I've only ever seen it once before and it was in a historical herbal garden.