Monkey Flowers

I bought these Mimulus as bedding plants to put in the hanging baskets outside my kitchen window. Suddenly they're a mass of flora. I just looked up their name to see if there was a common name, and it seems to be Monkey Flowers. Although I'd seen the flowers before, I never knew their name, Latin or common. But they are beautifully bright and prolific. I have to keep dead-heading them, apparently, and feed the soil to keep them going all summer. (I've added the baskets as an extra photo.)

It's our Firstborn's birthday today, which he's celebrating with his wife over a long weekend break in Denmark. It's funny when your children are grown up and gone. No birthday cake. No balloons or candles to blow up or out. That said - I should be used to that by now. He is 36 today! :-)