We planted a lot of flowers this year. They’ve been blooming since late March and their time has finally come.

I thought about pulling them out and cleaning the garden areas up a bit, but then I saw so many bees, and butterflies and birds enjoying the chaos that I decided cleaning can wait. The dried up sunflowers are quite popular with the little birds.

You know there is something strangely beautiful about a messy garden as flowers grow wherever they choose.

As you might guess, we go to quite few different nurseries. One of our favorite is a large wholesale, one that is off the beaten path, where we often find something unusual and inexpensive.

Last winter we purchased a perennial which the nursery foreman could not remember the name of, calling it a Mexican Sunflower that blooms late summer. We planted about ten of them. They were itty bitty. These plants would not stop growing and took over the area. They grew to over 9 feet tall, but wouldn’t bloom. Finally, just as they were about to bloom a week ago, a thunderstorm passed over and knocked most of them to the ground. Lesson learned: prune them and support them with stakes next year and perhaps find out their real name. (I am putting money on it that Eliza knows what they are.)

Anywho, here is a final shot of some still standing tall and watching the moon. I fooled around with the settings some on the IPhone camera.

Birds, Bees, and Butterflies, what more could gardener ask for?