My New Favorite Plants

I love BIG plants.  I love NEW plants--ones I've never seen before. I also love plants that don't mind neglect.  So here is my new favorite plant!

I can't find the plant tag (the plant was about 2 feet tall when I planted it last fall) since it's somewhere under all that blooming and I don't remember the exact name, but it is some kind of Montanoa.  I googled, and true to my form, found that one variety of "daisy tree" is a noxious weed in some other state.  Big and surviving neglect can be synonymous with noxious weed, I guess!

My new second favorite plant is also a late bloomer.  Not quite as late as the Montanoa, it's finishing up now. 

This is a Tree Dahlia.  Dahlia Imperialis.  I also got this one last fall.  It was kind of a straggly specimen left behind at the master garden tour plant sale.  It's not as hearty as the other one, but next year it may reach its full glory!