can't grow this in Cleveland

At least not in December and not as perennials. We spent a couple of days hanging out with Sean's mom Annie. She is quite the gardener. She has an orange bush and a lime bush in her front yard. She lets the neighborhood kids pick the fruit. Imagine getting your morning orange by walking out your front door. It's that whole mystique thing. She also has a bunch of rose bushes. Pat and I don't have any rose bushes in our yard. I think it's because of the fear factor regarding all the things that can go wrong with the plant in wet climes. Roses are another surprise every time we visit southern California. I know, I know, the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl are in southern California, but the Rose Bowl has always been someplace where Big Ten teams go to die. Roses seem to grow like weeds. The purple fountain grass is close to 6 feet tall and it is a perennial. Ours live in pots, grow about 18 inches tall and die off in the fall. While I was taking pictures, Pat and Annie were discussing the finer points about the plant, like their names and such. I really need to pay attention.

Look, mountains in the background. Is that not cool or what.

I haven't a clue. It looks like something that you would see in a Sergio Leone western.

You can almost feel the fuzz on this flower.

I had to put a pic of a mountain in at least one of my posts. Plus if you look real hard, you can see the moon -- or maybe it's just a spot on my screen.