Favorite Flower in the Garden

I think that I stumped everyone yesterday with a picture of my favorite flower in bud. One is open today...It's a Japanese Anemone. They always bloom when the Black Eyed Susans bloom. Two of my favorites, but the Anemone is my favorite....just like the Red Bud is my favorite tree. I do wish that these flowers were front and center in my garden. They are tucked in along the west side of the house, where it's a little shadier. They would burn up out in the front. Wouldn't it be nice if we could just shift plants around as they come into bloom? We wouldn't have to go to other parts of the yard to see things blooming....Of course my yard would be packed with flowers right in front...maybe that's why I love cottage gardens. I used to drive by a house that had a flower garden that encompassed the whole front yard. A simple picket fence bordered the front. Small flowering trees...red buds I think.No grass in this front yard. It was intriguing to me to see that she had things blooming all the time. Just a simple garden I thought until one day I stopped and talked to the gardener. She said that it was difficult to maintain...trying to have something blooming all the time. Many times it looked messy to her....what with cutting things back and having to leave some plants until the leaves died back. Also trying to decide what to do with bare spots and in spring dealing with mud. She was going to try some grasses at the time. I haven't been by there in years, so I don't know if she gave it up or not.

When I think of gardens in the front, reminds me that I used to have a small veggie garden on the side of our house that extended out to the front. We had so much shade in the back at that time...so wanting a small patch for a few tomatoes, peppers, cukes, and herbs, I put the garden out for everyone to see. I decided that I had to keep it neat as it was seen from the road. (no sidewalks) There were logs stacked along the back of the garden. I bordered the garden with flowers and put the veggies inside of the border. My next door neighbors got a kick out of  my little garden. They had a huge garden in town near their business....65 tomato plants to give you an idea how big it was. They always shared with us.

So, after a nice rain last night...everything is sparkling and beautiful. No watering today. Funny...I was out watering the pots and a few other things just shortly before the storm. The sky was clear and we thought that it wouldn't rain. The storm came up fast and before we knew it the weather radio warned of flooding in our county. I guess some parts of our county had a lot of rain. We had just  a half inch...but every bit counts.

Balisha