Texas Gardening: More RU Gifts, 2 by tx_flower_child

tx_flower_child wrote:
Every time I was snapping pictures of the flowers, the wind started to blow. Grrr. Does anyone know what either of these plants might be? The one that's flowering is getting huge. If you know what it is, then do you know if it's ok to cut it back?

The picture with just leaves might be Flame Acanthus. I know I received several and it seemed like they were among the first of the perennials to get any leaves. Teeny tiny leaves at first. Then we got rain. And more rain. So now the labels are faded and the plants look different. Maybe tomorrow I can take another picture or 2 if the wind isn't blowing.

Any help will be appreciated.