Our yard and garden are glorious in summer display here at the end of July. Come tour with me and see the details of flowers and veggies. Beloved Spouse does the planning, planting and tending of the vegetable garden. Honored Mother is responsible for the flowers. Between the two of them, they have nearly 100 years gardening experience between them. When I walk in the garden I notice lots of small things. Won’t you come with me?

Let’s start with the pathway past the flowers to get to the veggies.

The pots at the base of the stairs are filled with a riot of red geraniums surrounded with a cloud of white and blue lobelia. To your right is a small garden with a climbing clematis. In spring the frothy pink peonies nod like debutantes swishing down the spiral stairs to the ball.

Dear Sister and her husband came to visit just before Mother’s Day and so they gave the “tie-dye” colors hanging basket to Honored Mother. The humming birds are terribly conflicted… the feeder or the flowers?!

If you could smell this rose you would nearly swoon. It is called “Double Delight.” Isn’t it a feast for the eyes? And if you were here, it would “swak” you in the nose with the dense spicy aroma of ‘rose’.

The pink rose is called “Belinda’s Delight” and I love to see it because it reminds me of a friend named Belinda who just happens to be a serious gardener (and amazing quilter). Both are beautiful.

I’m not sure of the name of this rose, but its color makes me dizzy with its intensity. It looks nearly ready to burst into flame.

You will only see the remnants of the blue delphinium this late in July, but if you’d walked this path about 3 weeks ago you would have seen the stately blue stalks swaying in the breeze.

And now for the vegetable garden. Begin with a peek-a-boo with the cucumber blossoms. They are flanked by pots of marigolds and red verbenas that guard the garden shed.

The yellow squash are beginning to ripen. They love to stay in the center of cool below the broad leaves.

Our tomato plants are loaded with blossoms this year and there are lots of tomatoes growing bigger every day. They will probably begin to seriously ripen toward the end of August.

The chard is such a trooper. It grows and grows no matter how many times it get trimmed for the kitchen steamer kettle. The colors of the stems amaze me.

I stop to gaze at the fascinating rhythm and symmetry of the parsnip leaves. We are eager for the harvest. I love the nutty flavor. I know many folks find it a bit strong-flavored, but you really should give it a try, just cooked to tender (not to mush), lightly buttered and dashed with salt and pepper. Ahhh! Tongue’s joy.

Last stop in our tour is to look up to the (volunteer!!) sunflower plants. They are so commanding. I think they are 12 to 14 feet tall.

As we start back to the house, you can gaze across our coneflowers, petunias, daisies and sweet peas (climbing the black windmill).

Now our tour is done, stop and have a sit in the flamingo pink chair. There are actually two of them and our standing joke is telling of the day they arrived from the big box home store. Beloved Spouse took one look at them and asked “where are the flamingos?!” (Nothing would do but for Beloved Mother and me to snatch up several yard ornament flamingos… among other garden what-nots)

Thanks for coming along on my tour!

QUESTION: What is your favorite kind of garden?