{ the jaunty magpie }

Gather ye flowers, while ye may... I remember when we first bought our house and the yard was a huge canvas full of possibilities. I wanted to fill it with every possible plant, and there have been as many failures as there have successes in terms of my Green Thumb. It's taken many years, and I don't always baby the yard with the attention it needs, but I'm thankful so many plants have accepted my Neglectful Gardening method and continue to flourish from year to year.
 
I'm loving the summer blooms -- the colorful puffs of hydrangea blossoms and the dramatic look of all our lilies. The Mister gave his hop garden an upgrade, building a huge wooden trellis, creating a tall structure that has now become a canopy of hop vines and blooming cones. I'm thankful that we're finally at the point where I can just sit back in our own yard and enjoy the view, no fussing required. I could always do more, but I'm very much into doing less and just appreciating what's there, instead of striving for next season. Sometimes the art of gardening is just leaving the plants alone and letting nature take its course.

Jaunty Fine Print: Photos by Denise Sakaki