Rain and Summertime Blooms~

Y'all we have had some serious rain here in Atlanta lately. While I do not care for the strong thunderstorms we've experienced most recently, the rain has everything so lush and green this year.

I thought I'd share a few backyard pictures with you today.

Our hydrangeas are huge this year, and the colors so vibrant.

Love the deep crimson and yellow combo of the daylillies.

Our pots started out with just tiny plants and are now full and overflowing.  Potato vine is one of my favorites as it really does well here.

The petunias are gonna need a clip soon as they are getting a little "leggy".

Our Koi just keep getting bigger.  And yes, that would be fishing line across the pond.  We are in close proximity to the Chattahoochee River and the Heron love our Koi!

As I mentioned in an earlier post this week, our herb garden has really benefited from all the rain we've had.  Our sage plants are enormous.

This was our herb garden back in March.

And now.

And, knock out roses are always a win here in the hot south.

Our cherry tomato plant is huge this year as well.  We have already enjoyed handfuls of them.

And, this is my new favorite spot to enjoy it all.  This is the swing #1 built for us for Christmas.

I hope you can get out and enjoy a bit of nature this weekend.

Signs It Is Surely Summer In The South~

Blueberries are ripe for picking! YUM!!

And, Hydrangeas are in full bloom!

The candle is a recent find with a scent called Back Porch...smells Heavenly!

This bush took off this year and is producing blooms like never before!

Love this lavender blue color!

 Summer is officially here!  Hand picked blueberries in our very own back yard, and hydrangeas in full bloom.  Doesn't get any better than this.

Blueberry Season!

This is one of my most favorite times of the year, blueberry season!  We have had a few bushes in our yard now for quite some time.  This time of year, we can't pick them fast enough and the girls can't eat them fast enough.  One is currently out of town and the other working, but both know come this weekend a blueberry feast will be taking place.  They like them plain and au natural!!!!

This was the yield from just one day of picking!   Our bushes have gotten so big that we can't even reach the top branches anymore.  Our friends the Robins love them too however.  And, we are all about sharing!

Care for a Mint?

A very dear friend of mine purchased an old wooden herb crate for me several years ago.  I used to display candles in it from time to time in our family room.  Last summer I decided it would be a nice addition on our back porch, so hubby added some iron brackets to it and we turned it into a window box.  Since it is wood,  I don't like to plant directly in it.  So I purchased a plastic window box from Lowes to set inside it.  This year I decided to fill it with a variety of mint. 

I do have an herb garden, but hate to plant mint in it.  Mint is VERY invasive.  It shoots runners EVERYWHERE!!  There are tips and tricks that help (such as planting inside a coffee can that has had holes drilled for drainage), but I prefer to keep it contained, and even then it sometimes manages to escape!

This year I chose Apple, Orange, Peppermint and Chocolate...Smells heavenly.  I love to add it to iced tea, lemonade and to top off desserts.

This is one of those times I wish we had a scratch and sniff feature on our computer screens!  

Playing In The Dirt~

Been a bit MIA lately.  We've been busy playing in the dirt!  We recently had my brother resod our backyard, moved our garden and established a new one (that meant moving over 100 of those brick concrete stones used for landscape walls), regraded the side where the stone path was (that meant removing the steppings stones, grading, then moving them all back), moved a few perennials around to make room for more grass (rather than pinestraw beds), sprucing up our planters with new spring/summer annuals, and oh...we had to rebuild our entire arbor over our hot tub due to the feast some carpenter ants had! 

All while under a time crunch...our daughter's graduation party is this Saturday!!

Okay, I won't bore you with words any longer...take a look around.

The new herb/vegetable garden.  We used Greene's raised garden kits from Home Depot.  Super easy!!

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme!

Pizza anyone?  Fresh Oregano and Basil, YUM!!

I purchased plant markers from my local nursery, and using my handy dandy label maker I printed out labels for each herb/veggie and applied it to the marker.

One of my all time favorite herbs to cook with!

Our hydrangeas are in full bloom!

The new lawn!

Landscaping around the pond.  Our hostas are huge this year!!

A view of the pond.

The waterfall feature.

These guys will eat you out of house and home!  They swim to the edge the minute they see us and expect to be fed.

The bar we built a couple years ago. We have plans to paint the concrete posts in the near future.

Our hibiscus.  It is beautiful when it blooms.  However, the darn caterpillars LOVE it!!

Lilies we added this year for Mother's Day.

More hydrangeas.  This picture doesn't do the color justice.  They are the deepest purple.  Funny because the plant right next to them has blue blooms!

Outdoor candelabra.

This year I planted several of our containers with foliage only and LOVE them!

Hope you enjoyed the backyard update!  We are in the midst of getting ready for our daughter's graduation party on Saturday, and it is crazy around here.