Fall Flowers

When I look at this picture and compare it to the one I took in the spring, all I can think is, "my how you have grown."
I love to look at before and after pictures. My neighbors probably wonder why I am always taking pictures of my yard, but I like to see what it looked like in the past and what I liked or didn't like and then decide what I want to change. It's never finished. I used to dig up my plants every year and move them around. No one ever said my yard is neat, but to me it's never boring.
I'm still looking for a red Penstemon. So far I only found them online. The plants are so small when you get them in the mail, but I may have to resort to that.
Yesterday I was surprised to find a couple of the more unusual Coreopsis at Lowe's in Merced. Usually you only find the yellow flower, either single or double, but look at the picture below.
The flowers on the left are Sienna Sunset Coreopsis; the two flowers on the right are from Route 66 Coreopsis. No, I didn't plant them that close together. They're just posing for the picture. I was so excited to find the red flower, the picture on the tag had a flower like the yellow with the red center and I thought, lucky me, I found a red one.
So, the next morning a new flower opened up and it looked like the picture. I really like the red better. I read online that the flowers turn red in the fall. The plants are "mounding perennials."
I've been able to find some Perennial Asters recently. The darker purple on the left is from the nursery at the end of Applegate Road in Atwater, the one on the right is "Weed's Purple Aster" from Lowe's. Neither one will get very tall, about 15 inches. I was looking for the 4 foot tall blue flowers, but no luck so far.
The hunt goes on. I keep looking for something a little out of the ordinary.