Never trust a rudbeckia

After dreaming and scheming about it ever since we moved into this house, I finally chose and planted perennial flowers to grow alongside the path to our gazebo.  Brian was critical to the success of this project, which occurred about three weeks before Solomon was born.

To mark the ends of the flower bed, I decided to plant some rudbeckia (the plant family from which black-eyed susans come).  I bought four identical plants... or so I thought.

 Plant #1: This is how I expected them to look.  So far so good.

 Plant #2: ...what the... half the plant is producing double flowers?

 Plant #3: Oh come on.

(OK, this turned out to be my fault, I grabbed a dwarf variety by mistake.) 

That's what I get for trying to plant according to a plan.  And now I present the purple potatoes I grew for my oldest boy, who loves the color purple.  Their sheen is almost metallic.