Senescent with dignity!

[Hoy]

Here lots of plants have done their flowering for this year but the ageing flowerhead can be of interest.

[Lori S.]

Ahhh, senescence with dignity...  something we can all hope for! 

[Lori S.]

I always have kind of a soft spot for tragopogon for some reason.  Does T. porrifolium - the purple one - occur where you are, Trond?

[Hoy]

I always have kind of a soft spot for tragopogon for some reason.  Does T. porrifolium - the purple one - occur where you are, Trond?

Not wild but in gardens. It is not commonly grown though.

[McDonough]

Trond, I like this topic very much, an excellent subject that is an intrinsic interest of mine, about how plants "go over" after flowering, some plants do this with eloquence, others do it miserably.  I have much to say on this topic, so I'm flagging it as something I need to respond to.  I will be back

[Lori S.]

I always leave these standing for a very long time... Allium giganteum.

[McDonough]

I always leave these standing for a very long time... Allium giganteum.

Good one Lori, many Allium, particularly of Allium section melanocrommyum (the "big ball" onions) have particularly aesthetic dried seed heads.  I like how if they are picked early enough, they still retain some of the floral color; note the purplish color of the pedicels in your dried seed heads.  I like leaving these skeletal remains in the garden, until they start breaking down, as a reminder of their past splendor.

[Hoy]

I picked some allium seedheads years ago and they still have some charm in a vase.

This one is not to grow in the rockery but still handsome of this time of the year, Clematis tangutica.
it is climbing in a rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) and a Himalayan cedar, Cedrus deodara.

[Lori S.]

Clematis tangutica is indeed an attractive thing... I still see the odd flower on the escapes along the bike path.  Its hardiness is quite amazing too (which gives it great potential for invasiveness, unfortunately) - I see it in the lower mountains in Kananaskis, say to about 1700m elevation roughly, in some areas.  
Wow, I envy your Himalayan cedar!

I like the way the flowers age on Persicaria polymorpha - the colour reminds me a bit of dock (Rumex):

[Hoy]

I have not dared to plant any Persicaria in my garden. I am afraid they will take over completely!

[Lori S.]

I've never seen any evidence of, or read of any indication, that Persicaria polymorpha is invasive.  It certainly does get huge though!

[Hoy]

 
Wow, I envy your Himalayan cedar!

I like the way the flowers age on Persicaria polymorpha - the colour reminds me a bit of dock (Rumex):

Are you sure you envy my cedar? It gets even bigger than the Persicaria!
If it is not invasive, maybe I should try some day. Then it can compete with the other giants here.

[RickR]

I also grew Persicaria polymorpha, and liked it very much.  It was not invasive, but just grew to large for where it was growing.

[McDonough]

I really like plants that "go over" in style.  I already have a topic on Scutellaria incana, I'm but posting a couple updated photos here. This year the plant had a dozen or more multibranched stems which were fantastic in flower,
(see http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=88.0)
but in the seed stage, it is equally as attractive, love those pinkish-red seed "boxes".

[Hoy]

I have some scutellarias but they never stay with such a pride!

This Aralia species from Himalaya (Chadwell seeds)  displays the berries and the thrushes find them as soon as the berries get ripe.