After weeks of warm, dry weather it's hard to remember the chilly, drippy spring, and night-time temperatures that plunged into the 30s clear into June. So I don't think it is asking too much to expect annuals planted late to still be looking good. But despite plentiful doses of fish fertilizer, some were looking scraggly by mid-August. The Calibrachoa hybrid called Million Bells was still going strong, though, its round little flowers in the coppery shade of terra cotta draping over the edge of most of my pots. I'm impressed with its coloration that is bright enough for impact but sufficiently neutral to go well with nearly everything else. I have a dense, flowery curtain of it combined in a pot with my current favorite annual, Salpiglossis sinuata 'Royale Chocolate.' A tall flower (up to a foot high), it has yellow anthers set into dark maroon trumpet flowers with a texture like deep velvet. You can't help but stroke the petals.

Another impressive new annual is the golden-leafed form of Jewels of Opar called Talinum paniculatum 'Aureum.' Its broad, bright chartreuse leaves form a fluffy bed for tall, skinny flower stalks coated with a haze of tiny magenta flowers. For contrast, a close-by pot holds the wide, blood-red leaves of Begonia rex 'Count Dracula.'

Now In Bloom Now is the time to harvest tomatoes, and the weeks of unusually warm, dry weather ensure a good crop this year. 'Sungold,' left, are sweet-tasting golden cherry tomatoes that grow on lanky, productive vines; 'Mamma Mia' are small, red, oblong-shaped fruits full of quintessential tomato flavor and juiciness. Both kinds ripen fairly quickly and produce over many weeks.

I'm once again taken with several old favorites, none of which face a chance of ending up on the compost heap. For months of colorful foliage, flowers and berries, what could beat the various shrubby hypericums? Their leaves and fruit form the long-lasting base of all my flower arrangements during the summer and autumn. The more-than-plentiful spring rain that drove us all so crazy led to particularly lush hydrangeas. The pink stems and creamy flower cones of Hydrangea paniculata and the variously tinted water-color shades of H. 'Preziosa' are especially lovely and long-lasting.

A new perennial whose robust growth has quickly outgrown its border-trimming role is Artemisia 'Oriental Limelight.' You'd never guess this was a relative of the usual gray-leafed, drought-loving artemisia, for although it, too, likes sun, it prefers plenty of moisture, and its leaves are a lively combo of gold and green.

The more salvias I plant, the more I love them, as do the hummingbirds. S. 'Patens' has bloomed all summer, with large (for a salvia) flowers of bold gentian blue. Many of the salvias prove to be hardy if you find them a spot with very good drainage.

These are a few of the other new (to me, anyway) plants that have clearly earned every inch of garden space they occupy:

Oxalis spiralis 'Aureus.' A groundcover for sun and rich, moist soil, this little oxalis spreads, but not too vigorously, and has red stems and glowingly yellow leaves.

Stipa capillata 'Bridal Veil' has the usual tawny stipa coloring, growing narrowly to 4 feet high with strikingly large and spiky blooms.

Geranium palmatum is a hardy geranium on steroids, with glossy leaves nearly a foot across and lavender flowers.

Heuchera 'Burnished Bronze' is yet another dark-leafed coral bells, but a miniature version with scalloped leaves perfect for trimming out a pot or border.

Celsia roripifolia is a verbascum relative (if this really isn't a separate genus, will some knowledgeable person please let me know?). It grows to 3 feet tall, with white trumpet flowers flushed in pink followed by ornamental seed pods.

Valerie Easton is manager at the Miller Horticultural Library. Her book, "Plant Life: Growing a Garden in the Pacific Northwest" (Sasquatch Books, 2002) is an updated selection of her magazine columns. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com.