The Perennial/Herb bed

I have been gone. I wish I could say I was busy gardening, but I had so many obligations, the garden got a little bit left behind. I did manage to stay ahead of the weeds and watering, so it still looks decent. The bugs may have gotten the upper hand for a while, but I'll get them back under control soon!

The Perennial/Herb bed, boosted by colorful annuals, is looking so nice. I never can get a photo that looks as nice as it does when you approach the arbor. I wanted a space that looked unplanned and inviting and I think the garden path does invite you in to explore.

There are layers of flowers constantly surrounded by flitting butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.  I will admit, the weed control in here is hard. We never got around to putting down mulch, but the dense planting is helping a bit. Still I am amazed how many more weeds the flower bed gets than the raised beds do. I could spend as much time weeding that one row than I do weeding all the vegetable beds!

And although I just planted seeds from the seed pack, nature has separated all the yellows and reds to the right and all the pinks to the left. So although it was supposed to be an unplanned look, it ended up looking planned. How funny!

I caught a Swallowtail having breakfast on a Giant Zinnia the other morning.

And this evening I found two of his off-spring on my flat-leaf parsley!

And in spite of the fact that squash borers attacked my spaghetti squash a month ago, it lives on and has one baby spaghetti squash! And the eight-ball squash has been producing steadily.
I had guests touring the garden Thursday evening and one asked if we were going to expand further. I don't think so. This garden isn't complete by any means, there is still so much to be done.

But there is that space in the back there where I could put in another garden....

Linking this to  at An Oregon Cottage.