Backyard Photos Taken This Morning (Clicking the photos will enlarge them.)

This is the view out our back door. Larry's dad put lots of cement around to try to keep water out of the basement. I actually have fewer pots this year, but like to put herbs close by. I didn't get my moonflowers in this year, and it looks like the small plants on the far right lattice are morning glories. The closer vines are clematis. There are 2 basil plants in the closest pot.

Here are some more herbs. I trimmed back the pineapple sage in the pot on the right, and made tea with the trimmings and a couple tea bags.

Behind the fence is my herb garden, which I also have a tomato plant and some cucumbers planted in.

The deck Larry's dad built is on to the east of what has been shown so far.

This is back near the front door, facing east. There isn't enough room to hide the air conditioner or grill.

This is facing west. The air conditioner is not as visible from this direction. We put gravel in the back yard when we couldn't get grass to grow. We've been OK with it, but I don't like the black plastic under it. It prevents me from going wider with my plantings.

Walking east, this is the north side of the house. I had the small hostas planted when Heidi's kennel was in the area. I was pleased to get the larger ones at a spring plant sale for good prices. I moved the smaller ones around to make room for the larger ones. I hope the ones by the dryer vent do alright, and grow larger to hide it some.

I have pots and an assortment of objects to keep Heidi from my plants so she can't dig them or try to climb on the fence to get out of the yard, not that she's out there any length of time. She has, however dug up plants and will get out and leave the whole property if given a chance.

Continuing to face east, there is the false sunflower on the other side of the fence. I have lavender in most of the pots, hoping the smell of it will keep us from smelling other things out there.

I don't see the wrens much, but hope they are still using the house. The plant on right that isn't blooming yet is some kind of goldenrod.

This is facing north. The shed was repaired last year, so most of the plants on the back there were planted this spring. I moved the asters and coneflowers from other parts of the yard. Heidi dug a huge trench shortly after I planted them. I had to dig in the gravel for the plants, and one of the coneflowers didn't make it, so I bought a small one to replace it, because I didn't have another one from the yard I wanted to move.

Continuing to the north, the deck is on the left, and the driveway is on the other side of the fence.

Larry's water garden is in the corner here. In a few weeks, it won't be visible from here, as the morning glories will cover the trellises and wire watering can, and go up the light Larry's dad installed that is up the post on the right.

This is from the fence, facing back south.

Walking closer, the clematis I love to take photos of are on the right.

I've had a busy couple of days gardening, harvesting, picking flowers to dry, and looking for bushes to plant in the garden across the street. I am farther behind in my blog reading than I've been for awhile, and now, I stayed up too late again, taking longer than I thought I would getting this post up. I hope you all are well and not getting too hot. We are in the middle of a heat spell.

I'm planning on posting some close ups of plants in the back yard in my next post.

Moonflower Vine

Edna, from the Cottage Garden Forum, asked about Giant White Moonflowers. I don't know if mine from last year are the Giant Whites, but they grew quite a lot, and seemed giant to us. I have forgotten how to post photos there, and am taking a quick break from my house cleaning, so I'm posting here so she can see a photo, as she asked if anyone had one.

This is from August 13, 2008. The moonflower vine is on the left, and tie dyed morning glories or their babies are on the right. This is the west side of the deck, so it gets full sun. There is just a small amount of soil exposed where it's planted between the deck and the sidewalk, so it doesn't dry out as much as it would if more of the ground was exposed to the sun.

The next 2 photos were taken August 30th. Closer to the house is Sweet Autumn Clematis. The moonflower vine is as exuberant as the clematis, and even has come up between the wood slats on the deck. It's easy to cut back where you don't want it, though.

The morning glory (left) and moonflower intertwined.

I didn't get any moonflowers planted this year, but hopefully, some of the little plants coming up are moonflowers. I'll know soon. It doesn't reseed as much as the morning glories, which are sending up seedlings to replace the ones I'm pulling out. I love growing them so much, though, that I'm willing to pull out the extras.

Daylilies and Friends

Meet Wally, the daylily I saw a photo of on the ivillage GardenWeb Cottage Garden Forum last summer. I decided I had to have one, and found a mail order company who I also purchased some other daylilies from. They are all doing well, and when I saw Wally was open this morning, I went out in the rain and took photos of the blooms that were newly opened the last day or two.

I took another photo later in the day. I think it gathered itself up well, after the rain dried off, and displayed a lovely pose for the camera.

This is the first of the row by the street in front of the veggie garden to bloom. There were 2 blooms open today.

This is a Shopko red that was originally planted about 6 years ago, but was moved to this curb area last summer and looks to be continuing to be a good bloomer.

I moved this last year, too. I don't remember where I got it, but it's a nice plant, too.

I think this is Monarda Pink Delight. I am delighted with it!

I was thinking this was a salvia of some kind, but it's looking like a veronica to me. Do you know what it is?

I finally got a glare free photo of these pansies, but couldn't get one of them with the dark blue ones in the pot with them.

This Helenium has been in the bed for a number of years, and is blooming earlier than usual this year. Usually, I give it a trim early in the season, and it gets bushy and the blooms are later. I didn't get that done this year. I hope it blooms until fall. I'll plan on keeping it deadheaded.

My husband, Larry, has a water garden. One of his water hyacinths is blooming. Kanak, from Terra Farmer posted an interesting article on this plant. I just happened to read it yesterday, when the first bloom had opened, and found out each bloom only lasts a day, so I went out as it was getting dark out and got a photo. Then, today, several opened at once, so I took this photo:

I have summers off because I work at a school. I am amazed at how quickly the days fill up with things to do, and I end up longing to be in the garden more. We've had a busy couple of days, so I am excited for tomorrow, Monday, to get here because I will be able, if it's not raining, to have some uninterrupted garden time during the day. I hope you are finding a good balance with your time.