Battered & Beautiful

After I (by accident) whacked the newly planted purple smoke bush [cotanus?]with the strimmer I felt terrible for being so careless. I used a bit of tree wrap to "bind its wound" and left it to do something on its own... or not.
The plant was still dormant when it went into the ground. And now, as you can see, it has sent out leaves low on the woody stem below the bandage. And, just to add to the beauty, a nasturtium seed from last year has sprouted and blooms with the new and tender purple leaves to cause a wee spot of beauty in among the ground covering weeds.

There is a second dormant smoke bush "twig" that was not injured and blooms nicely at the top. I planted it near a pink rose Louise Odier because I wanted to see the bright pink of the rose against the purple leaves. I hadn't thought of using orange with the purple leaves, but Nature gives such gifts unexpectedly.

Summer has returned for this week. Rising temps with probably not much rain. The garden thrives and blooms... and now casts off seeds.