The garden at its best

What an unusual winter we're having. We've not seen anything like this yet this year (Praise the Lord!)

Today, though, has its own beauty...

 We went for a walk and saw hundreds of geese down at the lake.

 Sedum in my garden

 Hen and chicks looking good. I covered then up with a little mulch after taking this photo.

 Nigella and/or larkspur that self-seeded. I wasn't expecting it to grow YET...no worries, I saved seed. These plants surely will not survive the winter.

 The robins have eaten quite a few beauty berries, but some remain.

Daffodils peeking through the soil


However, there's nothing like July in my Iowa garden.

 Along the garden path

 One of my favorite garden photos, this one is my wallpaper on my laptop. The dark hemerocallis in the foreground is 'Bold Stripe.'  'Stella d'oro' is also blooming, as is achillea (whitish in bud, pink in bloom), catmint 'Walker's Low,' Asiatic lilies, yellow coneflowers, purple coneflowers, and a red rose. Foreground left is a weigela and top left yellow bloomers in the raised bed is squash.

 Here I am, standing in front of my tomato plants to demonstrate their height. I had great production last summer. I froze some, ate lots, and gave away hundreds. I'm grateful I was able to do that.

 I'm not sure of the cultivar of this lily in my side garden. It's labeled in the garden, but not in my photo file!

 Hemerocallis 'Frans Hals,' visited by a black swallowtail

 Looking down on the cottage garden. Top left, you can see part of our triangular garden (we've made it larger this fall); top middle is the enclosed raspberry/blackberry bed (just left of our blue spruce).

The bloomers include hemerocallis, echinacea, achillea (pink), roses, vinca (white), monarda, Rose of Sharon, coreopsis, clematis (on the fence), yellow coneflowers, and balloon flowers (blue, in front of the fence). Also, that's Supertunia Vista Bubblegum petunias on the garden shed window box.

 Looking down from the deck, to the right (the colorful part) is the "rocky garden," to the left you see blueberry bushes and callicarpa - that's the edge of the cottage garden. Up top (north) you can see our garden shed, a couple of the raised beds, and a small spruce. We have since extended the garden to the north, and edged the bed. I just love all the color in the rocky garden. I have a fear, though; it's a fear of that little oak tree...you see, as it gets larger it will make this area way too shady...so far, I cannot talk Ron into cutting it down.

 One of my favorite hemerocallis, 'Custard Candy'

A glorious, elegant, lacy, highly detailed flower: Nigella, aka Love-in-a-mist

I'm linking up to Fertilizer Friday at Tootsie Time. It's a place where gardeners from all over the world go to flaunt their flowers. Be sure to pay Tootsie a visit!

I'm also linking to Home and Garden Thursday at A Delightsome Life. Be sure to pay sweet Kathy a visit!

Thanks for stopping by!
Beth