Growing out of control!

Things are growing out of control around here! It's been a little crazy the past few weeks. I've been out of town for 4 days at a time for the past two weeks. It's been tough being away from my garden because it brings me so much joy to watch the progress of my plants, to see them develop buds and bloom into flowers. The upper garden is beautiful. It's easy to weed and everything is growing as it should. Now, the lower garden is not in the condition I would like it to be in. I'll be the first to admit that I've neglected it a bit. The grass has taken over and the arugula and lettuce are done. Yesterday I spent a few hours getting down and dirty (and getting a sunburn) with the lower garden. It was tough work and there is still work to do in there but it's looking a lot better. There has been so much rain lately, pretty much daily. We even had to unhook the rain barrel because we weren't having to use any of the water and the mosquitos love it in there. It'll be nice when we can hook it back up and use it. But in the meantime, I'll take the rain. My garden and I love it.

Please excuse the quality of these pics. My fancy camera is broken so the old one will have to do for a while.

The perennial flower garden on the side of the house. The echinacea is from last year but everything else we planted this summer.

Yarrow. One of my personal favorites and a very useful medicinal plant. Great for fevers and for staunching wounds.

Echinacea. A classic Kansas prairie plant and wonderful medicinal.

Before shot of the lower garden.

After shots of the lower garden.

Upper garden.

I decided to splurge and get 3 of those collapsible tomato cages.

Chamomile. Great for sleepy-time teas.

Chris and I bought this love-seat for $20 at a yard sale. It was covered in rust and falling apart. My handy dandy mandy brought it back to life. I love it! Check out his blog if you want to see his process.

Cosmos.

Verbena. For the butterflies and the bees.