Our garden is at its height of beauty now that summer is waning. Or, to be more accurate, I am talking of only “a corner” of the garden. It’s the area we call the “South Garden” and is the first part of our yard that people see as they enter through the gate on Territory Road. The rest of our garden… not so much. With the exception of Farmer Nyel’s vegetable garden around the back, I hasten to add.

I have to say that I’m inordinately pleased with the South Garden, especially in line with my lifelong words to live by: Appearances Are Everything! I delight in the knowledge that as people pass by the house and as our friends and relatives come and go (and, indeed, as we come and go) it is the South Garden that greets and welcomes. Visitors “ooooh” and “aaaah” and I feel all puffed up.

Of course, I seldom invite them to walk around to the rest of the garden. Nyel does keep it mowed and, luckily, the hundreds (Yes! I counted and I think it’s 190+) of rhodies around the perimeter go a long way toward making it presentable. But there is little in bloom just now to make it feel ‘garden-y’ to me.

I am not bothered by that one twit, though. I am totally happy to confine my admiration to the nasturtiums that spill onto our porch, to the hanging baskets of fuchsias and to the beds crowded with dahlias and lilies and daisies – to say nothing of the black-eyed Susans, the roses climbing the fence and the pots of bright geraniums marching along the porch edge.  And all to be seen right from our doorstep. I look and look and enjoy. It won’t last much longer, I know, but for now… I glory in it every moment I can! Hooray for summer gardens.