Awakened by a noise, the sleeping dog jolted. He sat erect and stiff with a low growl in his throat. His head jerked to the right. Something in the shadows had moved. The dog lunged across the grasses and ran into the jungle like the wolfdog in his dreams.
He followed an unfamiliar scent and treaded around the bottlebrush, rustling the foliage. Delicate red spikes dropped, sticking to his fur. A hummingbird dived in for nectar. The dog growled at the intrusion and tuned away.
He sniffed along a path between Santa Barbara Daisies
and whimsical Love-in-a-Mist.
The dog, still a wolfdog in his mind, confidently moved alongside the butterfly bushes, purple clusters dangling over hydrangea blooms.
Bored, he settled among the shadows and guarded the jungle entrance, satisfied his courage and colossal statue had banished the unseen intruder.
Butterfly Bush (Buddleia spp.): full sun; zones 5-10, spring bloomer, attracts butterflies
Dwarf Callistemon (bottlebrush): full sun, zones 8-9, 12-24, spring bloomer, draught tolerate
Santa Barbara Daisy (Erigeron karvinskianus): full sun/light shade, zone vary by species, annual, blooms spring – fall
Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damascene): sun-partial shade, all zones, annual, blooms late spring/early summer, reseeds
Hydrangea: full sun on coast, partial shade inland, zone vary by species, late spring/late summer/early fall
In and Around the Garden 