Unexpected Tradgi-Versity 31 1/2

There was a frost a few nights ago and it killed the basil... you know what that means! Happy Non-Anniversary to Bob and me! Okay, so the fact that our non-anniversary typically lands towards the end of September or beginning of October means nothing when you get a bizarre and unexpected frost that obliterates your only-just-planted basil but every other tender annual you tenderly started from seed... Oh the horror! The horror!
I lost two full flats of zinnia linearis (from my own saved seed!) which are impossible to buy at nurseries nowadays. A full flat of heliotrope (that I started from seed) and a number of individual "premium" annuals that I'd secured for filling containers succumbed, too. I was pretty much devastated but then Bob and I decided to celebrate 31 1/2 years...
So I had to re-purchase the plants that I could (tomatoes, peppers, basil etc) and simply mourn the ones I couldn't (whole flats of odd ball annuals). I lucked onto a slew of calendulas (in the same color range as the zinnias I'd planted) and bought enough to fill the bed that empty. It will look fine by mid-summer but I really LIKE those zinnias I lost!
Here's the replacement calendulas... all things considered, they'll look pretty good quite soon.

There's Maggie in the background. Hello Maggie! (She likes to watch Robin and I plant.)
So other things going on...

Be still my heart! We all know I am crazy for Delphinium; oooooh! This is a long running love affair. And wouldn't you know, I go to Stop and Shop for something and I see- across the parking lot, despite my face mask fogging my sunglasses- a truck unloading flowers at the other door. I make a bee line, but am told they have to unload the truck before they can sell the flowers. (Yeah, it's eight feet up on a huge rack.) So I procure whatever food was I needed, put it in our car (shout out to Trusty!) and immediately reapproach the plant people who have now offloaded. Sold!! I have to go all the way back in to the store, but this Delphinium is coming home with me, baby!

In a heavy mist today, I got a lot done in all parts of the garden, including the Shade Border which looks quite okay despite my sort of ignoring it while I plant many other things. Here's a close up of the Kerria Japonica:

Nice! Single orange blooms, impeccable variegation... this is a winner. Lots of nice things erupting here, suitable for my next post.
And I know you can't smell it from there, but the Abelia is amazing! Loaded with blooms- top to bottomus- and just great:

Also, the lilac that Mommy gave me a million years ago is blooming. I'm so happy about this. This particular offspring is from a white lilac that Mommy had- in Durham!- like fifty years ago is now residing and flowering in my Lilac Border. that made me happy (and a bit sad). But it smells so nice...