Sweetside Garden in August

I know I'm due for another installment in the "Private Gardens of Stockbridge and Lenox" series I began earlier this week but I want to pause to show you my gardens as they look this week -- New England in early August. This is when my echinachea plants are really showing their stuff. These plants were divisions off my ones at my former home, just two years ago. I was shocked by how huge they were last year and are incredible again this year. They stand about 4' tall and are full of blooms.





























Isn't this a sweet picture? I was taking care of my grand-dog, Lexi this week. She really likes the stream, although I think she prefers the mountain stream at her house with its mud bottom where she can splash around and really dig in.












Here's a picture that shows some of my phlox and a bit of the new patio on the south side overlooking the stream.













Since we added the picket fence this year I decided to add some annuals to the outside of the fence, towards the road. The cleome's are surely eye catching.















I also grew 3 morning glory plants along the fence. I know I might regret it as they are rather unruly and reseed so prolifically but I have such fond memories of growing them as a child and with my own kids when they were young. These were propagated by a local nursery and have a rather unusual color I think. Maybe that will be what redeems them. I love how they have manged to weave themselves through the holes in our fence.




















As I wrap up tonight, here is a picture of the stream taken from the bottom, near the little pond. The plants have grown so large you can hardly make out the winding 30' stream and cannot see all of it from any one spot... but...that after all was the vision.