For this week’s vase, I’ve picked flowers from my garden that to me, simply shout “high summer!”
Pink garden phlox (P. paniculata), 
pinwheels of black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’), goldenrod (Solidago sp.), 
little jewels of striped mallow (Malva sylvestris), white flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata) and spider flower (Cleome hassleriana).
For greens, I’ve used Hosta ‘Blue Angel’ and Geranium macrorrhizum foliage.
The phlox, black-eyed Susan and wild goldenrod are perennials that come back every year. The mallow, cleome and nicotiana are self-sowing annuals that I encourage to return every spring. I’ve done very little planting these past few years as my gardens are full to brimming and it would be madness to add more. I pretty much let Nature take care of the planting and I do my best to keep up with the maintenance. If it weren’t for the use of mulch, I’d be in over my head!
Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In the Garden, who hosts a weekly meme to showcase what is blooming in our gardens by creating arrangements to enjoy inside our homes. Wander over to see what gardeners all over the world are arranging this week. Feel free to join in, sharing your own weekly vase with a link to Cathy’s blog.
Today, I’m celebrating my second blogoversary! I can’t believe how quickly the last year has gone, much faster than the first, when I was ‘learning the ropes’ and finding my niche, so-to-speak. I’ve read that double eights are auspicious, a symbol representing infinity, so may this blog continue to expand and grow 
Eliza Waters 