Grace's garden

This afternoon, I visited Grace - my neighbor and one of my dearest friends. A couple of weeks ago, I won this Waistie Pouch from Teresa of Gardening with Soule. She held a fun contest "You know you're a gardener when..." that another blogger and I won. It was the story of my little gardener savant 3-year old who would yell "moonbeam coreop-pah-sis!" out of a moving car window that won it for me. Check out the other entries for a laugh. Though the Waistie Pouch has the potential to be a very useful product, I didn't think it would fit my needs as much as it would Grace's, so I've regifted it to her. As you can see in the photo above, Grace has hundreds of blooms in her garden - a veritable rainbow of perennials that encompass her entire front and side yards! She thinks the Waistie Pouch may be useful when deadheading. Continue with me on a tour of Grace's garden - though I warn you - this is the season when there is not a lot to see... Can you imagine what it's like during the height of spring and summer?

Here, a quiet and secluded nook for reading. This is the lush walk to the front door, but as Grace says, the front door is for salesmen, the side door is for friends.

A great two-toned hibiscus

Canna

Reblooming Iris

Snapdragon

Campanula

Notice the different stages of the Angel's Trumpet below...

Cosmos and a tall native sunflower (the sunflower is probably about 8-10 feet tall).

Butterfly Bush

Sedum

Nasturtium - am I the only one who loves the foliage even more than the flower?

Solidago - done with its blooms.

Dahlia

Zinnia

I love this foliage. I believe it's a calla lily.

Monk's Hood behind the porch swing.

Ornamental cherry

Moonflower bloom getting ready to open

A little corner garden in the back.

This is the heuchera corner of the large "Topsy-Turvy" garden in the back. A new side garden that will contain azaleas, a raspberry patch, and other plants will connect the front garden to the Topsy-Turvy garden.

A Hollyhock somehow found its way into the Topsy-Turvy garden.

Grace's Noah's Ark of coleus (except there's only one of each!) potted up and ready to go inside for the winter. In the spring, cuttings and divisions will provide all the rich coleus foliage Grace will need.

A very old ornamental pepper, adding a splash of color to the large shady back deck where Grace relaxes and has dinner every night.

Just past a few houses down the street, Grace tends her aptly named "Creek Garden" where she grows vegetables in a larger space that she shares with another neighbor/gardener. The Malabar spinach grows on a trellis here. Grace loves to add some freshly cut spinach to her soup bowl just before she ladles in her hot soup. For convenience sake, she also keeps a smaller pot of this favorite spinach on her driveway.

Another container on the driveway holds the remains of summer's zucchini and the recent addition of fall's lettuce. Grace also grew some colorful lettuce and herbs in a beautiful wagon wheel shape near the side of her perennial garden this spring.

And finally, what everyone who passes by gets a kick out of - her delicious and beautiful Meyer lemons!