What's Growing This Year

Well most every year I've done a flower post just to keep track of the evolution of my yard from dog sacrifice zone to stop on the Better Home & Garden Tour, which transformation will be complete any day now. 

In the meantime, here are some scenes from the work in progress. 












In the front yard are some things that I put in years ago and have somehow survived and thrived. 

The Knockout Rose I put in when Fozzie was just a kid and still on Petfinder, 

and formed the backdrop to his profile pictures that failed to get him adopted
















This rose I also put in years ago, 
















and a few years after that I put a St. John's Wort--which is now huge!--in the large bare area next to it. 

Notwithstanding these showy and obviously cultivated specimens, I'm going for a wild meadow kind of a look in the front garden. 



Echinacea, 















daylilies, 

and things for the pollinators to enjoy 



like a nice butterfly bush, 














some salvia and my favorites, agastache with their little tubular flowers and licorice-scented leaves. 

There are a few kinds of mint, which took over but I don't care because it's a nice weed to have.  

My aunt gave me some Gooseneck loosestrife which has also taken off, 


















and the spirea and the hydrangea are thriving despite relative neglect.  




















The front meadow garden makes me very happy, and it is for the most part even standing up to the dogs! 

The back yard is what's really been keeping me busy. 

Landscaping and gardening are truly an art form. My mom and my sister, both very gifted with the visual arts, have a knack for it.












I do not! But I know things look prettier when there are less weeds, more flowers so that is a place to start. 

Wood chips are another great ally that you can put down in places where there was once dense weedy vegetation, 


and they'll help keep down the weeds.














I also think they look really nice and help the mind relax and space out. 



Which is what gardening is all about, isn't it?

That, and squash. I intended to have a vegetable garden with a few things, but it turned into pretty much just a squash garden. 

I planted way too many and because they are squash, they all succeeded. 













Yellow squash and zucchini so far but there may be some large gourds and winter squash to come as well. 




Good thing Dahlia and I love squash, especially since Fozzie and Florian are picky eaters. 












Morons.