Today is Memorial Day in the United States. The first holiday weekend that kicks off the summer season and honors those who serve and served our country.

Fireworks are a relatively common occurrence on holiday weekends during the summer; the Fourth of July being the primary holiday associated with fireworks. One can generally find some fireworks on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends as well. My gardens have been providing some fireworks of a different sort as the heat of summer starts ramping up.

In keeping with my fireworks theme, I began looking around my garden. I have several Firebush, some volunteers and some I paid for. The Firebush flowers look like firecrackers and further searching located some seed heads of culinary Fennel and Dill, the umbels exploding with seed really look like fireworks to me. Here is the Firebush, the native one. I have learned it is called Hamelia patens var patens as plain H. patens is different. Sometimes I think botanists really need to get over it and just call it something else. Of course, I was not consulted on this matter.

Here is an overhead view, I have to say I like this as it really looks like fireworks:

Included in the vase are the two types of Firebush, the red on the right Hamelia patens var patens, the middle orange one is H. patens and on the left side is Mexican Honeysuckle, the Justicia from last week. The fennel and dill seed heads are in yellow green.

The vase is not a vase at all. It is one half of a set of Dansk candlesticks my husband has carried around since the seventies. Looks pretty good holding all that firepower. It has never held a candle during my tenure, but I may use it as a vase again.