Bloom Day Leftovers, Foliage Follow-Up, and a Question

On Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, I skipped showing a couple of blooms out in the front garden that have been making me smile all summer.

The first is Salvia 'Amistad.' While the plant itself has not been extremely vigorous this year, the fact that it made it through the winter and returned this spring is what makes me happy about it.  The color is lovely and reminds me of when I first saw the plant at Sunset Magazine's former test garden in Menlo Park, CA.

Next up is Alstroemeria isabellana, a plant with which I'd had less than stellar success in the past.  A couple of years ago, I decided to try again.  Last year there were a couple of bloom spikes but this year the plant has really taken off, spread out quite a bit, and has produced these interesting blooms for at least a month now.

From the Far Reaches Farm description: "A hybrid by noted California breeder Fred Meyer between the vining Bomarea and the non-vining Alstroemeria. We have sold it in the past as Alstroemeria x Bomarea 'Fred Meyer' and more recently as Bomarea 'Fred Meyer."   And all this time I thought it had something to do with the plant being discovered as some sort of mutant at a  Fred Meyer store.

Equally interesting is the fun seed pods the plant makes. 

The monster brugmansia in the greenhouse has overcome a two year battle with spider mites and for a short time is filling the space with fragrance. This was in the GBBD post but since the blooms are so short-lived, I couldn't resist sharing a couple more shots.

Although Pam at Digging ceased hosting Foliage Follow-Up on the day after bloom day, I'm still featuring some foliage that's bringing me joy at the moment.   Last summer, the weedy sod in this bed at the intersection of the sidewalks out front was covered with cardboard and manure and a few plants put in.  There is a fire hydrant to the right of the picture so plantings had to be low and be able to withstand some foot traffic should the hydrant need to be used or tested.  Because the main plants are Carex testacea and Acaena inermis ‘Purpurea,'  I call this the New Zealand bed. (Both plants are native to that country.)  It's filling in nicely and the orange and purple evergreen combination is a delight.  Please ignore the weeds.  The Romneya coulteri has sent roots under the sidewalk and wants to take conquer New Zealand.

One last look at this year's Danger Gardette before the annual autumn migration begins. 

This cloud-pruned topiary, looking very shaggy at the moment, (definitely ready for it's autumn haircut!)  has been a structural focal point of the back garden for many years.  It's grown very large for the space, some of the "clouds" are getting a bit scraggly, helped by squirrel traffic and the foliage from the surrounding beds leans in to take advantage of the little sunlight in the space making the paths around the sides a bit tight.  There are several options:  1) Remove the topiary completely and replace it with a non-organic structural element or with a huge pot containing a structural plant (both of these already exist in other parts of the garden where they're not fully visible) 2) Cut back a lot of the surrounding foliage and let the topiary have more space. 3) Severely cut back the topiary which would sulk and look really ugly for a year or two but would eventually recover.  What would you do?