My largest and favorite garden is my mixed border in the backyard, which we enjoy daily from our deck. The left side is annuals and the right is mostly perennials.
Here is a slideshow of some of the highlights that are delighting me this week:
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- Annettes Garten / Annette's Garden
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Eliza Waters 
Gorgeous, Eliza!! I want to see the soil..betting its gorgeous, too. Loving the Zinnias, Cleome, Dahlias, and everything else. Happy Summer.
Thank you, Amy. I’ve been amending the soil with leaf mulch and kitchen compost for over 30 years, as it was rather gravelly when I first started. I am quite happy in this garden!
You should be.. it’s fabulous.
🙂 Thanks!
How lovely, that must be so serene to sit in your own back yard and enjoy such beauty.
Thank you, Laura. We take our meals on the deck in the warm months and the view pleases us greatly. To stand in the garden is equally pleasant, surrounded by buzzing bees, zooming hummingbirds and flitting butterflies. A serene and happy place indeed. 🙂
Beautiful gardens, Eliza! ❤️
Thank you, John!
Wow. Wowww. And did I say wow?! Fantabulous Eliza. You’re a great gardener/tender of flowers/nurturer of nature!!
🙂 Thanks, Dee. It is my soul purpose. ❤
Wonderful flowers, Eiliza, singly and in combinations. Zinnia “Green Envy” and the combination of gloriosa daisy and cleome are my favourites.
Thank you, Audrey! 🙂
It looks healthy, happy and utterly glorious, Eliza! The trees and shrubs behind border provide a perfect backdrop for all those colorful flowers. I meant to plant Cleome this year but once again dropped the ball.
Thank you, Kris, much appreciated.
It is tough to do it all. There’s always next year. 🙂
Oh my gosh it looks amazing. I thought you were having a rough year, but wow was I wrong and it’s obvious you’ve been very busy out there! Besides the perfect plantings I don’t see a single weed and even the lawn looks great. Not a bad view at all for dinner 🙂
Thanks, Frank. Believe me, there are a few weeds out there, but this bed gets the most attention. The rest suffer benign neglect until I can’t stand another minute of it. I used to have nine gardens in my younger days, half have gone wild and only the ones around the house and this big one get tended. I’m a messy gardener at heart, ha! Luckily, the pollinators don’t care. 😉
Your garden is beautiful, Eliza. 😊
Thank you, Irene!
Oh so lovely! Hard to pick a favorite, but the salvia and verbena are at the top.
Thank you, Laurie! That combo is new this year and will be repeated. The hummers can’t leave them alone. 🙂
Hummingbird bonus!
Wow…..I would sit on your deck and take this in for hours…Just gorgeous, Eliza.
Thank you, Sandy. I am always content to take it all in. We practically live out there in summer. You can see why I get a bit down at the end of the season, saying goodbye to all this. 🙂
Yes, so sad to return to the drab of winter and lose all that color.
Wow. Beautiful. 🌸🌸🌸
Thank you, Deborah!
It must be so blissful to sit in this beautiful garden. Thanks for sharing! 😊🙏
Thank you, my pleasure!
Leaf mulch is what keeps my clay soil from hardening like a brick during these very dry months. It is a treat to see your lovely garden in full – what a joy. I love your description too of it being a serene place “surrounded by buzzing bees, zooming hummingbirds and flitting butterflies”. All very good for one’s peace of mind!
It always soothes me to stand in this garden– no matter what is happening in the world, this is a peaceful place. Thanks, Anne. 🙂
Realy a lovely garden, thanks for sharing.
Thank you for your visit!
What a fabulous garden!
Thank you, Sheree!
Thank you for showing us your garden. What a lovely view and I like the way in which you have mixed flowers and pumpkins … any other veg among them?
I have a few potatoes that self sow every year. 30 years ago, this was mostly veggies, but we belong to a coop farm who now grows most of our produce, so this bed gradually became mostly flowers. Thanks, Diana.
As the years go by gardens change dont they? Mine used to have an area of cottage garden plants but it became too much work so on the two tiers is blue shale. an olive tree . which was in a pot, a water feature in the form of a round ball with a few heuchera. Will take a photo
That looks fantastic. Reminded me of all your lovely vases last year.
MJ
Thank you, MJ. I still have many vases around the house per usual, but have been remiss in posting any, alas.
What a lovely picture it makes. So many August gardens are looking tired but yours looks as fresh as a daisy.
Thank you, Liz. While there are things blossoming here all season, the grand peak is the first week of August when everything sings at once.
Your garden looks wonderful! Loved the slide show up close and personal.
Thank you, Judy. This is the one I tend the most, the rest suffer benign neglect, ha!
Amazing!! So clever 🌼👏
Thank you, Karen! ❤
You have very beautiful gardens Eliza! Enjoyed seeing them!
Thank you, Reed. 🙂
So so very Beautiful Relaxing and Peaceful. Its a treat to see such beauty of natural beauty too. Thank You ❤ ❤ ❤
Thank you!
I *sigh* at the beauty of the flowers in those photos. You’re a talented gardener and it shows in these photos.
Thank you kindly, Ally!
A Perfectly Happy Pollinator Paradise! So many colors. I have 3 pots full of Zinnias…often see the Hummingbirds on them.
It is that, for sure. Thanks, Alice!
Just WOW!
🙂 Thanks! x
Your slideshow delighted me too. Your garden is lovely and has such a beautiful backdrop too.
Thank you, Susan, much appreciated.
thanks for sharing such lush beauty~
Thank you for your visit!
I can see why you sit on your deck and enjoy that view, it’s a gorgeous one! You’ve done lovely work on that bed!
Thank you, Tina! 🙂
Looking beautiful Eliza. So much color and variety
Thank you, Karina! x
I knew you have ‘gardens,’ but I didn’t realize you have something like this. It’s absolutely beautiful, though I can fully understand the need to let some of your others run a bit wild. I stand in awe of the amount of work gardens like this take — or how much knowledge all you gardeners have!
Thank you kindly, Linda. I have an equal amount of garden space spread out around the house, plus I care for a couple client’s gardens. It is usually the case, esp. in spring, where ‘the cobbler’s children have no shoes’ and I scramble to maintain my own. This spring was too much, I had to start letting client work go because I no longer have the stamina for it. Tough decision, as I love the work, but I hope that next spring I will have enough time and energy to care for my own in a balanced way.
I know about that loss of stamina! I’ve often thought that it’s a good thing I don’t have a personal boat to care for any more – my choice has to be for my customers!
You get my dilemma!
Love your beautiful garden and how wonderful to enjoy your days on the deck surrounded by such stunning color and serenity! Fabulous photos and absolutely love the Pinelands Princess!!!
Thank you, S! That dahlia is a favorite, quite the showstopper! 🙂
You’re growing pumpkins, too? How awesome is that, Eliza — thanks for sharing some of your beauties here!
Thank you, Debbie. Compost surprise that I let stay. 😉
That is EXACTLY my kind of garden. Absolutely beautiful, Eliza!
🙂 Many thanks, Dale!
🙂
Your garden looks glorious Eliza, what a treat to see! 💚
Thank you very much, Xenia! x
Gorgeous! I’d never leave my deck 😊.
Ha, right! It is a nice place to sit and relax, but often the siren call of the garden is heard and I must respond. 😉
Beautiful, Eliza. Do you do the gardening yourself?
Thank you, yes, I garden myself with the occasional help when I feel overwhelmed. 🙂
Wonderful!!!
I enjoy your posts so much. Do you do this gardening the whole year or only in particular session?
Our garden season runs from April to October. Everything goes dormant here in the colder months when we get snow, and frost every night. Some days it never gets about freezing. Winters feel rather long!
Lovely! So nice to see your garden again Eliza. The white Cleome really stands out and I love the idea of growing squash in the flower bed. 😃
Thank you, Cathy! Squash usually seeds out of the compost pile and is generally left to grow in the vicinity of the bins, but I decided to let a couple grow where there was room to stretch along a path in the main garden. It is always a guess as to what will come of them and I got lucky with four different gourds; white and orange pumpkins, a decorative gourd and an acorn squash. Good fall soups!
You create such beautiful gardens, Eliza. Such wonderful collections of flowers.
Thank you, Steve. 🙂
So, so beautiful! With a garden as beautiful as this I’m sure you get a lot of enjoyment and rewards in return for your labors. Wonderful flowers and photos too!
Thank you, Denise! I do get lots of enjoyment out of tending the garden and the rewards it gives me in many ways.
Spectacular! And the rabbits let you enjoy those beauties? That purple salvia/verbena combo is great.
Thank you, Susie. I had to put wire cages around many seedlings because of those pesky bunnies. Worth it now that those orange cosmos are blooming. I love the combo of purples and orange.
Such a lovely garden. I am quite jealous as mine keeps getting eaten by squirrels so I don’t get to see many blooming flowers…(Suzanne)
Thank you, Suzanne. Sorry about your squirrel problems – we had rabbit issues earlier in the season and had to resort to fencing. It is always something!
I have put one plant in a cage but I can’t fence the entire garden. The squirrels have a nest in a city tree which is on our front yard so we can easily protect our flowering plants. It is very frustrating…
What a beautiful spot for a garden and how lovely the two parts of it compliment each other. Love the dahlia!
Thank you, Barbara!
You are so right! Gorgeous.
Thank you!
So beautiful!! I love when you share your garden in full bloom ❣️
Thank you, Val, much appreciated! I wish I had more time to do bigger flower posts regularly, but it seems I’m always coming up short, instead offering a photo here and there. ❤
So beautiful… love the pumpkins growing with the flowers 😊
Thanks, Jen. Happy compost surprises. 😉
Eliza, your garden is stunning! I’m so impressed by the color blend and variety. That’s a view I would never want to leave.
🙂 Thanks, Alys. It is the major focus this time of year. All the more special because I know that it’ll be all gone in a couple months. Carpe diem!
Time and again I’m reminded of how lucky I am to garden in California. Clearly you make the most of your gardening time. It’s absolutley stunning.
Do the majority of your perrenials come back year after year? Do any of the annuals reseed?
It’s nice to be following along.
Thanks, Alys. In winter, it is hard not to be envious of your more pleasant weather, but in summer, I am glad to be here. 😉
I rarely lose perennials, but sometimes get vole damage. Most annuals do reseed, which I thin and place where I want them, except for zinnias, which I buy fresh every spring. Dahlias must be dug and stored over winter as they aren’t frost tolerant.
I’m lucky here with below-ground pests. We’re more like to get noshing from squirrels and tree rats. It’s probably just as well, since I don’t have the heart to kill anything. I’ve never had any luck with Dahlias. I think they’re stunning.
Gorgeous!!!!! Where are the weeds? I can send you some, if you’d like.
😀 I try to tend at least ONE garden in a tidy manner. Purslane and oxalis are regulars here. 😉 Thanks, Gary.
Lots of great color. Like the cosmos/cleome combo.
Thank you, Jason. I love having plenty of flowers to cut for the house. Creating bouquets is such fun!
Lovely views Eliza and a timely visit for me to land on your page in the middle of the blooming season. The overall effect of the mixed planting is so colourful and full of variety. Even more wonderful to see the close-up details of the individual blooms. That princess of a dahlia species, the gloriosa daisies, the calendulas are all so charming. Must be very rewarding to celebrate the daily show from the back deck. Here’s to the beauty that nature yields!!
Thank you, Liz, glad you stopped by. This back garden is just cresting peak right now, an event I look forward to every year (esp. in the cold, dark days of winter 🙂 ). Nature’s bounty sustains us!
Wow! Excellent garden ☺️!🌸🌷
Many thanks!
😊👌💓❣️💗❤️🌹🙂My pleasure. God bless you 🙂
Zinnia ‘Green Envy’ definitely has that effect on me!!
🙂 Thanks, Allison! It was seeing it in another blogger’s garden that prompted me to plant them this year. I get lots of inspiration from my gardening friends. 🙂
I love combining the chartreuse of ‘Green Envy’ and Nicotiana langsdorfii with the purples of Salvia guaranitica and Verbena bonariensis with the pop of orange Cosmos sulphureus. Love!
Sounds gorgeous