One Gorgeous Garden!!

By Kellie Meisl

In May I wrote these words, "Ahhh, summer, when every person has a chance to become a child again. I cannot wait to see what else is in store." At the time I was a little tentative and unsure about what summer would bring. It is now almost halfway through August and my garden is a bounty.

For a long time I resisted the wild brown-eyed Susans that moved into my gardens on their own without being invited. They used to take up one corner of my garden faithfully every year and often I would pluck them out. I had something against their color -- school bus yellow I called it. But then last year they started strategically planting themselves between other flowers in the garden and I fell in love with them, not only for their perseverance, but also for their little pop of gold amongst the pinks. Needless to say, the color has grown on me.

Monarchs are always visiting and here, in this picture, a butterfly perches on pink cone flowers.

In another part of the garden I have a fairy lily. It was born from a hundred-year-old plant that came from my dear friend's grandmother.

I also have what I call "the cosmo forest." Every year cosmos seed themselves here and grow into cosmo trees. The cosmo trees even dwarf my new Japanese red maple and baby flowering crab. Alyssum, snapdragons and even a sunflower from the birds seed themsleves too, so it is a "happy accident" annual garden too!

I planted gladiolas for August blooms and because it is my son's birth flower. They bring cheer for his annual birthday party. This year we will be in the Grand Canyon for his 14th birthday. :)

A few good tomatoes. These are Early Girls. We ate one already. This is only my second year growing tomatoes, I'm doing okay with it. 

Another planter consists of alyssum that reseeded, purple pansies that have thrived quite nicely since spring, due to efficient deadheading, and a fuchsia plant that I snuck from my mother's annual pile one day when I was watering her flowers.

To pay a visit to Kellie Meisl's beautiful backyard, and to read the full garden piece, and see a host of gorgeous garden flowers, go to her blog, called Walk. It's worth the trip! Kellie Meisl is a writer and visual artist living in Pittsfield, MA.